Looking for a Dog

For years, the children have been pestering me and Kent to get a dog. At least once a week, one or the other of them has said, "Can we please get a dog?" And if one says it, the other quickly joins in with a "Yeah! Please can we get a dog?" I've been resistant because a dog is just one more thing to take care of, to feed, to walk, to deal with. I've been unwilling.

Then, at Christmas, we watched Emmet, the Stovall's dog. He's so charming. He was here for three weeks, and I realized, at the end of his stay, when he was going home, that I had really, really liked him being here. It was so nice to be happily greeted every time I came home. Emmet was glad to see me every time. In his defense, Brandt is also happy to see me every time I come home, but he is also a bit more demanding about food as soon as I walk in the door, so having Emmet there, only wanting a scratch, was refreshing. 

So, I told the kids we could get a dog. 

I've been looking around for a suitable furry friend, but I've had very specific qualifications for a dog. We can't have a puppy because there is no one around to take care of the baby, the dog had to be housetrained, not too big because Blythe doesn't like big dogs, and the dog had to be good with children and other dogs because of Mikayla's kids and the other, extended family dogs. Does that seem like a lot to ask? 

This week is spring break, and I took two days off work to take the children to look for a dog. I told them if we could find a suitable beast, we would bring it home. We had looked online at Utah Valley Animal Rescue and at the South Valley Animal Shelter, and we found a couple of options we thought might work. So, this morning, we drove to far west Spanish Fork (really Lake Shore) to look at dogs. 

We went to UVAR first. The woman who worked there was very patient as we had her bring us out several dogs. She was good to tell us about the dogs. The first one we looked at and had thought we would really like was an outdoor dog that liked to chase cows. The woman said if we had horses, that dog would be perfect. We don't have horses and want an indoor dog. Then we looked at another dog that was pleasant but big. He put his paws up on Brandt's shoulders and was nearly as tall as he is. He was too much dog for Blythe. There was another dog that had just had puppies, but she was a bit too energetic. 

Finally, the worker brought us a cute dog called Moo Moo. She is part corgi, black and white, with a pleasant disposition. We were told she was very pleasant, likes the other dogs, and would be a good dog. She came when she was called, she didn't bark, and she wasn't too big for Blythe who fell in love with her immediately. We said we were very interested, but Moo Moo hadn't been fixed yet, and UVAR won't let a dog be adopted until it has been fixed. So, although she is scheduled for surgery on Tuesday, we couldn't take her away with us. Everyone was fairly crushed.

We soldiered on, however, making a stop at the South Valley Animal Shelter. There were lots of dogs there, but we happened into the building 10 minutes before they closed for lunch, and so we weren't able to really look at all the dogs. Our quick perusal didn't seem to present many appropriate options, so we went home. As we had looked and looked prior to going on our search, and then didn't see any other dogs that felt like our dog, I called UVAR and told them we would take Moo Moo and we would pick her up Tuesday evening, after her surgery. 

We are super hopeful that Moo Moo will be a good dog and that we won't regret making the decision to add a furry beastie to the family.