Is a Dog Right for You?

Neither my husband nor I grew up with pets so it didn't even come up as a topic of conversation when we had kids. It wasn't until the kids turned about 7 and 9 that my husband brought up the topic of getting a dog again, saying that it would be good for the kids to learn responsibility and have more empathy. He said we'd be able to enjoy the dog as a family before the kids became teenagers and didn't want to hang around us anymore. All valid points but my main concern was bringing a dog into our family and not being able to spend enough time with it. I didn't think that would be fair to the dog. My husband and I were both working, and the kids were in school all day. To me, there wasn't a point in getting a dog that we'd be away from for 10 hours a day. End of story.

Wow. And then something happened that no one ever saw coming: COVID-19. All of a sudden, our relatively routine lives were turned on its head, and we were all forced to acclimate to a set of new rules. March 16, 2020, the day lock down began. Being a healthcare worker, I was still going in to work like normal, even though it was far from being normal there. My husband began working from home, and the kids began remote learning. It was a challenge, to say the least, but we all did our best to adjust. Let's just say summer break couldn't come any sooner.

For some reason, the idea of getting a dog came back to me that summer. I figured now would be the best time to get a dog since three out of four of us was home all the time. I decided to bring up the topic again with my husband before we talked to the kids. I asked him what the likelihood of him going back to the office was. If things ever got back to normal, what would happen if we got a dog? I told him it was now or never so we had to think about it seriously and realistically.

So we ended up putting a deposit down for Milo in July 2020. At the end of our discussion, there were a few main reasons that led to our decision:

1. The fact that my husband was working from home.

2. I work 32 hours and rotating weekends so I could watch the dog on my weekdays off if my husband did end up having to go back into the office.

3. We found a relatively inexpensive doggy daycare for those days that both my husband and I would have to work.

4. The kids were getting older and our time with them was getting shorter.

Did we overthink getting a dog? I don't think so. We have to be responsible pet owners, and one of the first questions you should ask yourself is :"Is a dog right for you?"