Louie, Louie

We now have an INDOOR dog. We already have Charlotte, a very OUTDOOR dog, but the children wanted a pet that they could cuddle with on the couch in the evenings or to take for a walk on a leash. I think they may be envisioning some film version of child and dog with soft music in the background and lots of slow motion scenes of playful pet bath times.

After the Gold Fish Incident, you all will think I've lost my mind. Actually those are the exact words of my niece when I told her about the dog:  "You have lost your mind." It isn't that she thinks having pets inside is a bad thing. My niece has several indoor dogs. She loves them. But, she has heard me (on repeated occasions) adamantly object to a dog in my house.

The kids have been pleading and as we considered the adopting a dog, instead of pondering all of the reasons NOT to get one, we tried to think of reasons that it would be good to get one.

Dinah has had all summer with her siblings and with them gone to school everyday, I feel it is a bit lonely for her. I can't take her outside to play or to town for a diversion when she wants or needs it because we have to work around Granny's schedule. A dog would be a playmate for her and we could provide a home and love to a pet that needed it.  The older children are (somewhat) responsible and caring for a pet would only foster qualities of dutifulness and dependability. And it would make them all terribly happy.

My mom and I looked at the Corinth Animal Shelter and on Petfinder.com to browse pets that needed homes.  We had decided that an older dog would be better because we wanted one that was more settled because of Granny. We didn't want an excited puppy getting under her feet. We found a Cocker Spaniel in Madison, Alabama at the Animal Rescue Foundation that we thought would be a great fit for our home. He was 3 years old, neutered, house trained and good with kids. I showed Eric and Ty. They agreed that he was wonderful. I e-mailed to get particulars and we readied ourselves.

Then....

We got a call from my niece to tell us that a friend of a friend needed to find a new home for their dog, Honey, because they moved to a leased condo and didn't need to have the dog there. We reasoned that it would be better to get the pet closer to home and this dog was going to be free of charge. So I emailed the Madison foster-owner to tell her that we wouldn't be getting the cocker spaniel. We contacted Honey's owner and planned to pick the pup up on the following Saturday. Through that week, I felt a bit disappointed about the dog in Alabama. I kind-of bonded with his picture. I knew that it made more sense to get Honey but I was sad for the dog that I would never meet. I called Honey's owner Friday night to plan our meeting.

Guess what?

The owner changed her mind.

Surprisingly, I felt relieved. I was so thankful that I had not shown the picture to the girls or told them anything. I quickly e-mailed my new friend at MARF (Madison Animal Rescue Foundation) and let her know that our circumstances had changed again and that if our dog was still available, we would be coming to get him on Saturday. He was still available. Teresa came to sit with Granny while Mom and I drove to the outskirts of Huntsville.

Meet Louie.

Louie was very excited to see us and had no qualms about leaving his home state to travel with us.
He sat in my lap half of the drive home.

(Now all you pet lovers may find this next part a bit cruel. But I have held to a rule of honesty in all my parenting and I felt that I should hold fast to this as a pet owner as well. I wanted to be up front with Louie so that he would not be disappointed.)

I reminded him that all this cuddling with me was only temporary because he was the kids' dog and not mine. I explained that he and I would be friends but that is all. We would not sleep together. I would not let him lick my face. I would not be referring to him as my child. I told him that he would have at least 4 others that would love him sooooo much that he would be glad that I kept my distance. By the time we arrived home, I felt we had achieved an understanding.

We are masters at surprise. The kids were delighted. (As you can tell from the picture above.) Louie loved the attention and got busy sniffing out the house. (He's going to be very useful because he found a moldy tortilla with refried beans in it behind the dining room buffet table within an hour in residence. No. I do not move the buffet when I clean.)

Louie was walked and fed and watered. He had as much love and attention as any dog could want or stand.

There was only one problem.

He kept following ME.

All my speeches and honesty did not have any affect on this sweet dog. He didn't seem to care that I kept pointing him to the children. He didn't notice that I was changing seats around the living room after he came to sit with me. He didn't even get the hint when I went into Granny's room to lose him. 

I wanted to call the foundation and ask if he had any hearing problems that they didn't tell us about. Remember what I said about him not sleeping with me earlier. He must not have heard that. This is where he settled in that night when I went to bed. 

Yes, that is a pillow and the head of my double bed. He apparently thinks the doggy pillow we bought him is only for daytime use. I roused him from his comfy place and sent him packing to Ty's room.

On Monday when the children were gone, he assigned himself to help me with the housecleaning. He licked the silverware that I placed in the dish washer to clean. I must not have rinsed them well enough? He sat in my dirt as I swept the floors. Maybe to keep it from scattering? Dinah kept shouting, "Wouie! Get out of her dirt!" (I say that a lot to the kids while I'm sweeping. They always walk through the pile I've made.) He made sure he sat in front of the dryer as I tried to put the wet clothes in. Maybe he thought he would help pass them over?

I reminded him of the 7 day trial period the rescue foundation had written in the form I filled out and I may have mentioned the words foster-care a few times.

All in all, he's a great dog though. He's wonderful with the children. He revels in their affection and tolerates it so well when they try to put sunglasses on him before I can tell them not to. He hasn't had any accidents in the house. He is eating away at my defenses with his constant devotion. Any being that can love me like that is pretty special.

The trial period was over yesterday and he's a keeper.

(I may or may not have referred to myself as his mama yesterday.)