Dog For a Week

So we had a dog for one week. Everyone who knows me realizes how improbable this was. It is kind of a long story, but it pretty much went like this: Dave went up to Sandy one night to help his brother move here from Arizona, and he came home with a dog, Riley. Since it was only for a week, and since my kids (and Dave) have been begging for a dog for years, I relented. They agreed to clean up after Riley and feed her and all of that. I'm not a dog person. Actually, lest you think I'm prejudiced against dogs, you should know that I really don't like any animals at all. I'm just not an animal person. I don't like to touch them or play with them or anything. I have smell issues and hygiene issues with animals, and then there is the whole poop thing ... I like to look at animals at zoos and take pictures and all that, but once they start to get close, I just don't like it. Sorry animals.

Anyway, as far as dogs go, Riley was really good. She hardly barked at all, and she always pooped in the same place, so it was easy to find for the boys to clean up. The kids and Dave had fun playing with her. London took the responsibility of keeping Riley's food and water full very seriously. T.J. loved her the most I think and really mauled her. Riley was very patient with T.J. The boys dutifully picked up the poop every day (almost), but after only three days announced that dogs were a lot of work and started grumbling about picking up the poop. It looks like my devious plan worked out after all ....

Our week as dog owners did not go without incident. T.J. came in one day covered up to his elbows in "mud" and proudly announced, "Look mom, I played in the mud." Unfortunately the "mud" had a very strong aroma and was quickly discovered to not be mud at all. And off Riley went back to John and Angie. Now we get to visit her at Grandma and Grandpa Leatherwood's house. Works for me. The kids really had a lot of fun with Riley, and I did enjoy seeing how cute the kids were with her.