Gonna Buy Me a Dog

So I started thinking that maybe it would be okay for us to get a dog.  I knew we wanted to eventually for the kids and I saw a Craigslist ad for volunteers for dogs on euthanasia lists and I started thinking that maybe we'd be okay with a dog now.  So on Sunday, Titus and Kali and I went to West Maricopa County Animal Care & Control to look around.

I was really nervous about the whole thing, though, as some of you know.  I grew up with lots of pets, but it's been over 10 years now since I have had one and the thought sounded daunting.  And like a big responsibility.

So we went to the shelter and I know this will sound cheesy, but it was the very first dog, in the very first window.  She looked like she would be scared of us and instead she walked right over to the window and put her paws up on the glass.  And she really caught my attention.  So I kept her in mind.  Other dogs reacted in a variety of ways, some of them freaked out at the mere sight of our kids, but in the end, the one that made the impression was the very first dog.  So we visited with her in a meet & greet room and she was really good (and tolerant!) of the kids and their craziness.

But they were closing soon and I am not good with big decisions (or change, for the matter) and decided we go home and talk about it more.  The boy working there gave us her photo to take home:

But she looks crazy in that photo and I don't think it's really how she looks so we took our own too:

So then we thought about it and I had errands to run "up north" today (greater Phoenix area) and we decided that I would pick her up today if she was still there.  But my mind had seriously been thinking about nothing but whether or not to get a dog all of these last days.  So last night I bought a bunch of doggie things in preparation and that made me feel a little better and I was getting a little excited about it.

So after driving all around in Matt's loud, ghetto, no A/C car today (Chandler to Gilbert to Tempe--up by the airport--to Phoenix) and back-tracking a bunch by trying to take downtown Phoenix freeways instead of just driving down Washington the whole way, I got there.  And she was there.  So then I'm there, and I'm there to pick her up, so I get her.  But as I'm filling out paperwork, I have the impulse to back out, change my mind, and run out of there.  ;)  But I let it go and I follow through.

Take her to the car and put her in her crate and she wimpers.  So I take her out to see if she'll ride nicely in the car, but she only wants to sit in my lap.  So it's back to the crate.  And this dog, who has been silent up until now, squeals these high-pitch screeches off-and-on.  (She was fine--she did really well as long as I talked with her, but we had a 50 minute drive in front of us.)  And I only talked to her when she was quiet, because I didn't want to encourage those noises.  But if Matt has trouble ignoring crying kids in the car, this would have driven him crazy.  ;)  And she was fine.  Just wanted to get my attention.

At one point, she was making these crazy noises and I glanced back to see she had pressed her face between the bars.  Almost had me convinced she had gotten her face stuck, but I was pretty sure that wasn't the case.  And it wasn't.  I caught this picture as I drove, because she looked ridiculous.

Also, I should mention that our dog always looks sad.  They think she's a Puguahua (not that they had the coolness to actually write that on her sheet).  But she was listed as Chihuahua and Pug and she really has some Pug-like facial feature and they really make her look sad all of the time.  So I just wanted to mention that as a disclaimer.

I stopped to pick up lunch for myself on the way and opened the door of the crate to see if she wanted a drink of water.  And she wiggled her way out and I let it go.  But she would only sit on my lap so I asked her to try not to get in the way of my driving.  But halfway home she moved to the sleeping bag wedged behind me and the seat.  (Another part of Matt's ghetto car--can't adjust the seat and I can't reach the pedals so I have to drive around with something wedged behind me and the clamshell of the seat partially closed.)  So she sat perched behind me like I was a pirate and she was my bird and we drove home.

Got home right before nap time for the kids.  They were so excited to see their puppy.  They had been talking about her all day.  By the way, this whole time the plan was to try this out and possibly take her back and consider our adoption fee a donation to Animal Care & Control.  So I'm still thinking this the whole time because I'm terrified of the new commitment.  So I'm home and now there's a dog in my house.

And I think, "There's a dog in my house.  What have I done?"  And my impulse is to undo it.

And my kids are crazy just exactly as I remember being over these type of things as a kid.  And I totally sympathize with my parents.  So they're trying to make her go into her crate.  And Titus is carrying it around to move it to wherever she goes.  And they're climbing in it.  And then they want to keep their stuff in it.  And Ella is splashing in the dog's water.  And it is chaos and I want to lose it.  And I'm freaked out that I just brought a dog home.

So we start the process to get the kids in bed and new doggy follows me from room to room as we get them put down.  And after the kids are in bed and it's more or less quiet and calm, I realize how freakishly easy she is.  She's quiet and calm and follows me around and I know she sheds, but I haven't noticed as an issue yet.  And for the first time, I start thinking, "Wow.  I think we have a dog."  And haha, getting a dog for the family really just means that Mommy got a dog.  Because she follows me around and hops in my lap whenever I sit down, but I'm working on making sure she isn't too attached to me.

Also, I keep having to remind myself that Ella is a human baby.  She has little human limbs and is a mini-me and not just another family pet.  :)  Because I'm surprised by how seemingly similar they are.  And I find myself saying the same exact things both to our new dog and to Ella.  ;)  Probably our new canine pet is the better behaved.  Ella's new thing is to throw fits during diaper changes and try to get away and I sure haven't had that problem with Francis yet.  ;)  Oooo, did you catch that?  I said Francis.

So we had also been talking about names for her.  And anytime I asked the kids, they wanted to name her either "Puppy" or "Little Puppy".  And Matt was fine with that, but I really didn't want to name her Puppy.  So we've been talking about girls' names all day and even tonight when I was asking Titus he would think a long time and still only come up with "Puppy".  And I've said a bunch of girls' names out loud and the kids always said "no".

So I was thinking of actresses to get name ideas and I thought of Francis O'Connor and said Francis out loud.  (Right after I think I had just got it through Kali's head that we don't call Kali "Girl" and we have named her instead so we should name the dog.)  And she was all over Francis.  And even left the room and said, "Come on, Francis."  So Francis it is.  :)

Who Kali thinks we named the dog after:

Who we actually named the dog after:

**I should also mention that we are still in our trial period and I don't know for sure if this will work out, but it's definitely looking good right now.