Wednesday, April 18, 2012

A New Addition

I have a little confession to make. I think I may have bitten off a little more than I can chew. A couple months ago, I was perusing the classifieds, looking to price a little kid potty (and to see if it was weird to sell a toilet), I came across a lab for sale (free). A two year old male, house trained, kept outside during the day. I instantly fell in love! I texted the guy all day, I was seriously considering getting him. I know I want a lab one day. I love them. And I want one that has been trained and is 2 yrs old. I decided to check up on about how much this animal would cost me to keep. So I phoned my sister-in-law, who happened to have a yellow lab. WELLLLL.... she had given her to the Humane Society the day before, and was feeling terribly guilty. They live in an apartment, on the 4th floor, and just felt like it was not working out. The dog ate walls, barked a lot when they were not home. Both things that have solutions, btw, but I think they just decided she needed a new home. Anyway, I was like, maybe this was meant to be.. SO my SIL offered to go pick her up from the HS and pay the fee to bring her home, if I would take her. SO I did, she got sick, had pneumonia, SIL had to pay $$ at the vet blah blah blah. So she was at our place, gone for a week, then back, but she was still pretty mellow from being sick. I was enjoying her, even though she was a bit more work than I had expected.
Fast forward a few weeks. A few circumstances in my life have changed.  This dog follows me around like crazy and and I am getting very cranky with her. I want her to be with my kids. To play with them. She wants to play with me. They throw something, she brings it to me. She plops down in the kitchen (right in the way, I might add) anytime I am in there.  She did not do this at first, but just this week, she is jumping up on the counters (front paws) more, stealing food from table etc. All things that I would have scolded her for, but chuckled at the nature of the beast. But now, she just makes me downright mad! She is shedding like a freaking wildebeest! (Do they shed? Sounded good...) Hair EVERYWHERE. I mean, if I do not vacuum at least once a day, it piles up. It is grossing me out.
All the things that drive me nuts about this dog might be fixed with frequent baths, brushing, bones, a shock collar, and maybe even an electric fence outside (did I mention she takes off if anyone opens the door... add that to THREE kids, one of which would kill him to actually SHUT the door behind him???). She is potty trained, and a very good natured dog. She is good to my abusive children (picture Aidan, with his whole body laying over her whole body), she wants to please me (even though her lab puppiness wins out, usually). She is very friendly, etc.
SOOOOOOOOOOOOO. I am just at a spot where I really need to figure out what the heck to do with her.  Realize that I may have thought I am equipped to deal with this kind of responsibility, albeit easier than a brand new puppy (even though she has a little seriously annoying programming that needs undoing), but it is just not going to work out right now, and try to find her a home (and sell of the kennel I had to buy)? Or do I suck it up, put aside my crazy bad feelings towards her (I really have no desire to be nice to her... I tell her to go play with someone who likes her... I am a serious animal lover, but she just crossed a few lines recently and for some reason I can not let go...), spend $$$ (what I did NOT want to do) and work hard to obedience train her, knowing that she will be a great dog for our family in a year or so when she has matured more?
I am at a loss as to what to do with her. I know she just wants to please me and is a good dog. But I know things have changed, since I obtained her, and now I just do not feel like I can handle her. I am too tired to vacuum her fur up every freaking day, and deal with her shenanigans. I feel bad saying all of this cause she is really a good-natured dog with loads of heart. That makes me feel guilty, and that she came from my sister in law, so I feel a bit guilty if I ended up getting rid of her... I feel like I let her down a little too. I know I need to do what is right for me, I am just not exactly sure what that is at the moment.

2 comments:

Morgan said...

What about making the dog an outside dog? That would be my ONLY exception to having a dog for those very reasons. You have a fenced yard, why not? I bet it'll be hard for the family and the dog to be just an outside dog, but that might be a better compromise than getting rid of the dog period. Just a thought and best of luck!

Lisa said...

One thing I'm not sure I said before was, I have noticed the more exercise Tika gets the better behaved she is. Otherwise she makes me crazy some days and want to boot her and I just stick her in the Kennel because I don't know what else to do.