I swear that one day, B will come home from work and the dogs will be gone. I'll have posted them on Craigslist and someone will come pick them up. I will most likely have to pay someone to take them away. I have a love/hate relationship with the dogs. More hate now that we have a child. It's so cliche and I thought I wouldn't be one of those people who gets rid of the animals once a baby enters the picture but believe me, the thought has crossed my mind. We have two dogs. Sadie, a husky/demon mix, and Carl, our special needs Golden Retriever.
We picked up Sadie the day we got engaged. We'd been trying to get a rescue dog but the Humane Society where we lived would not adopt to us because we both worked and the dog would be alone during the day. Apparently it is better to be unemployed and unable to afford to care for a dog...but I digress. We found Sadie on Craigslist and she was advertised as a husky/golden mix. I called and she was the last one left. This should have been a sign. But we REALLY wanted a pup, so we made the hour long drive up to this place called Paradise (which, if you've ever been there, you know it is the most ironic place name EVER). She was living in a fenced in kennel attached to a rusted out mobile home from the 70's. The breeder was, how shall I say this - tooth challenged. Sadie was filthy and scared. It truly did feel like a rescue. She was mild mannered and timid for about two days. Then she morphed into what our doggie daycare dubbed 'Crazy Sadie.' Sadie went through obedience training, but it never took. I suppose it was more to train us, but again, it never took. She is now five years old and still out of control.
Carl came into the picture when we moved to our current home. We knew we would be working longer days (as our commutes both increased by about an hour) so we thought it would be a good idea to get a companion for Sadie. Oh boy, were we ever wrong. We found Carl from a breeder on the other side of the state. We picked him up in February of 2006. As most Goldens are, he is the sweetest dog. However, Sadie hates and terrorizes him. The result of this is a 100 pound, dumb as a rock dog that is scared of EVERYTHING. He was stuck in our living room all night once because one of G's toys was too scary to pass by.
Not to mention the fact that Carl has had so many bizarre medical problems we've paid ten times more in vet bills than what we originally paid for him. He broke his toe when he was six months old requiring a splint for six weeks. I learned how to wrap the injury on my own after he stepped in his water dish for the fourth time. We had to have him spayed and neutered - he has a congenital defect which meant one of his boy parts did not descend. And, he has chronic ear infections.
I really do love my dogs, but there are days when Carl's high pitched whining and Sadie throwing herself at the back door starts to grate. Especially since this behavior is limited to the times when G is napping.
And the mess - did I mention the mess? The shedding, the dirt...well, it's enough to make a girl lose her mind.
Why don't I post them in the classifieds? Because they are amazing with G. Patient and gentle, and G absolutely adores them.
So, for now, the dogs stay.
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