What have we done...

Meet our newest family member, Samwise Gamgee.

Don't worry - I don't think I'll be taking more pictures of the dog
than of the kids (as if that were possible).
Mainly because it's really hard to get a photograph of him
that looks like anything other than a solid black dog-shape.

Yes, that feeling of shock is the same one that my close friends and parents also expressed at this news. To quote one friend, "Nothing you could've done would have been more surprising to me."

We are not Dog People. We both grew up with family dogs (outside dogs, dogs that were fed mostly table scraps and were expected to take care of themselves), but we have never elected to own a dog ourselves as adults. We haven't even had pets - other than His Royal Highness, Prince Albert (may he rest in peace), who was really more of an experiment in adulting that I forced P into during the first years of our marriage, and who was happily relocated soon after to my parents' farm, where he became a Wild Thing and lived his last years as nature intended.

But a dog is serious business. Not just a dog, a puppy.

What were we thinking?!?!?

Y'all, it's like having a newborn, except you don't love him quite that much and there are no extra hormones to keep you going when your patience has worn off completely. And on top of the 24/7 puddle-or-poop watch, virtual confinement to our home, and Operation Save the Furniture, I am also dealing with a threenager who was most assuredly not prepared to share his "I'm the Baby" Throne with a four-legged stink-bomb with needle-sharp teeth. Ahem, I mean, with a dog.

"If I sleep in the dog bed, will you make me the center
of your attention again??"

And yet.... I must grudgingly admit that a dog has its benefits. For one thing, it has taken my mind off other matters that might be driving me to the brink right now (such as taking charge of our church nursery this year, or having a threenager, or reading the news each morning...). Also, I swear our floors have never been cleaner (at least, until the next Surprise occurs). And it has been really good for our family and, as we'd hoped, especially for our kids. We don't expect them to do all the feeding and house training (yet), but they have been great about taking Samwise outside in the afternoon so that I can retreat to my room for 30 minutes of dog-free bliss, and they are quickly learning to help give him potty breaks, or train him to chew his toys and not their fingers. And best of all, our living room has never been tidier, thanks to the sacrifice of a few stray toys in a lesson I'd like to call, "If You Leave It, He Will Eat It."

And you guys, we've lived in our house five years now, and every. single. spring. I spend who knows how much time and money working on our backyard so that the kids will play outside instead of begging me incessantly for screen time. My efforts generally pay off for two or three days. But y'all - a dog! A dog did it in wintertime! He has them begging to go outside and then spending all of the daylight on the swings and trampoline, digging out toys and treasures that they buried back in their pirate days, soaking up the sun as all kids should! It's amazing. I should've done this sooner.

Except, it's a lot of work, and I am sure we couldn't have done this sooner. But by my calculations, this timing is just about right - by the time the kids are truly too big to spend all their afternoons playing freely outside, the puppy will be a dog, who will hopefully be more content to sit by their side while they do homework or practice the piano. And by the time the kids are leaving home and freeing P and me for all the world travels we have planned, there's a pretty good chance we'll be saying goodbye to Samwise as well (I'm not trying to be morbid, just practical. [Sorry to the dog lovers. See the first sentence in Paragraph 3.]).

Or, if that doesn't work, P and I already have a long list of Possible Ways to Rid Ourselves of Our New Puppy, and they don't all involve a drop-kick. After all, my parents have such a nice place with lots of land, and always seem so very happy to take in grandpets.... [insert evil laughter, and a guilty glance at Mom and Dad.... Hi, Mom and Dad! I love you!!!]