I have fallen in love with a mangy boxer puppy. I am not in danger of bringing her home (watch my husband sigh in relief) but she is oh-so-adorable. She does not tempt me (much) because she is very young, very cute (underneath the mange, which is being treated) and well-behaved. This translates to adoptability, so while her life is a little hard now, I have no doubt she will end up just fine.
I worked at the animal shelter ysterday. I spent a fair amount of time with the 2 young puppies who are in isolation and plagued by (non-contagious) mange. Another volunteer and I bathed them and then I cleaned out their kennels and sat with them and held/played with them for a while. I cuddled with the boxer. The baby pit bull on the other hand I mostly tried to teach not to nip (it was all good natured puppy stuff). They have no names (yet) as far as I know but I called them Snuggle Bug and Ornery.
I took Rosie for another walk as well. She is really making strides. This time I got her out of her kennel without any damage to my face from her jumping, and she walked politely for me almost the entire time. We only had 2 issues—first over my scarf, which she seemed to regard as a chew toy that needed to be destroyed immediately, and then later we had a big clash of wills over getting her to sit while I tied my shoe as she preferred to knock me down and attack my scarf again.
I won.
Which is of course mostly what she needs. When we came back inside I petted her for a while and she was really sweet. A lot of the volunteers find her too strong to walk, but honestly I think my dogs are as strong or stronger, so it has not been a concern.
My biggest temptation is the cats, which is ironic because I am a dog person. But I love both, and I am a dog person with 3 dogs and no cats. We had 2 cats, but they both died in the last 2 years. I have missed owning a cat and Alex is so eager to play with cats (we got her a book with a cat in it for Christmas and she has been pretty obsessed with it). John and I both want our daughters exposed to both cats and dogs. But we want to own our house first before getting a cat rather than stress about it in a rental. Plus this particular rental is way too small.
So that is why the cats are tempting. There is a young (maybe 4-6 months?) Siamese cat there who is SO friendly and laid back, you can tell he would be a great kid cat. John’s family has always had Siamese cats. And there are also some really sweet solid grey cats, which is my personal weakness. John worries I will arrive home with a dog in tow, but he is totally barking up the wrong tree (ha I swear I don’t usually offer up such terrible puns).
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