the journey to a dog

I've been trying to remember how all this started. I think it might have begun when my parents moved to a different house 2 years ago and adopted a fun-loving border collie. My kids took note that when you move to a new house, a dog follows, and filed that fact away in their heads. We moved in May, and started getting questions about when the dog would follow. We do have a fenced in back yard and easy access to a large detention basin, so a dog would make sense.

Still, I had reservations. I grew up on a farm with all kinds of animals, but for me there was nothing that compared to the cats. They were the ones I played with, dressed up, put in my bike basket, and slid down the slide. Some came in the house as pets and literally slept on my head. I mourned the ones who didn't make it and played hard with the ones who did. We had a few family dogs that were cute and friendly, but I didn't pay them too much attention. My cat fetish grew with collections of ceramic cats, cat posters, and actual cats. On the farm we once had over 20 (not a good number when cat diseases strike) and in the house I once convinced Eric to have three at once (not a good number if you want to do anything but vacuum.)

Then we went to the pet store in Rockford while visiting Eric's parents. A little Shiba Inu puppy stole all our hearts. At $800 he did not steal our wallet. But the desire continued to grow until this winter...

A dog? My husband and kids want a dog? But my 2-year-old isn't potty trained!! I could list reasons why a dog was not a good idea, especially right now, and most of them had to do with the 2-year-old. Still, there are 5 people in this family and though my vote may count double being the mom, I'm still outnumbered.

So I was quiet and trusting God. If we shouldn't have a dog, He'd surely intervene. It seemed He did several times as we watched the door to several possibilities slam shut. Whew!

Then Eric started visiting the Humane Society once a week. With the kids. The "no dog" idea was doomed.

Do you know what kind of dog most populates Humane Societies? Labs. They are mellow, good with kids, cute as puppies...but big dogs. We visited with a few and I kept thinking "Wow, that is just a lot of dog in one big body."

There was one dog that stood out in my childhood memories as having a special place in my heart. My grandparents had a little dog named Taffy (named after her unique light coloring, I assume.) She was pretty sweet, but she died when I was still quite small so I didn't remember much about her. I started asking questions and finally tracked down my uncle for the full story. "What kind of dog was she?" I wanted to know. Surely out there was another dog out there something like her.

Meanwhile, we kept visiting dogs. This past Wednesday, we met a little dog named Eddie. "He could be the greeter at Wal-Mart," said one of the volunteers who showed him to me. Eddie does indeed love people, snuggling, and being pet. And he was little! When he jumps on me, he taps on my legs but does not come close to knocking me off my feet. I knew we had found our dog. He looks like a miniature German Shepherd but is described as a terrier mix.

Last night Eddie came home. Waiting was an email from my uncle. He said that because Taffy had always carried her ears erect and because of her head shape, he'd always suspected German Shepherd parentage. The vet described Taffy to them as a terrier mix.