Jackson

This winter we babysat a little dog named Simon. We had the option to keep him if we liked him at the end of the week. I hadn't had a dog in years. I had a little dog when I was 18, but life happened and I moved into an apartment in Portage where I couldn't have pets. We left Chloe with Steven's mom, always intending to take her back once we had a pet-friendly place to live. It didn't happen for six  years. Steven and I bought a house and took back our dog. By then she was eight years old, wasn't all that excited about the kids, had many many accidents in the house and didn't get the attention that she needed with me working part time, Steven working more than full time and us having a toddler and a baby on the way. We decided to find a better home for her.

This winter we babysat Simon. He was a cute little bugger, and it was more my idea than Steven's. He said no. I said let's take him and see how you feel in a few days. Steven may have been somewhat pouty all week. I felt kind of guilty for pushing him to take the dog so we returned him. The kids were sad to see him go, but didn't know that we had the option to keep him so they weren't heartbroken.

They've been asking about Simon ever since. They missed him. I had kind of remembered how nice it was to have a pet.  I've been considering it, but knew that Steven wouldn't let it happen.

Then Steven forgot Mother's Day.

I hate to out you on the Internet honey, but it's true.

I was somewhat grumpy at him a couple of nights later, the kids had been on about a dog again that day and I thought "Well maybe I should get a dog for mother's day." I started looking into it. Then it got kind of fun. Friends started emailing me ads for dogs in kijiji and through PAWS. I went to the PAWS website myself and looked through the pictures of adoptable dogs. I knew by the time I got to the bottom of the page which dog I wanted.

He was labeled as a miniature pincher blend. Friends told me they were small and that the kids would hurt it, and that they'd hurt themselves if they hopped off a couch or bed. That didn't sound like something that would work here in this rambunctious house, but I was sort of hung up on his freaking cute little face and on the "blend" part. I wondered if maybe he was bigger than a normal miniature pincher. I called the foster house and they assured me that there was nothing miniature about this dog and that we should come see him. We did. We liked the hyper little devil right away. Even Steven. I know it. He's totally in love, even if he won't admit it.

We had some other dogs to look at too, but I ended up cancelling the appointments and filled out the application for our dog. Of course they accepted right away, who wouldn't want to give my children a dog? We picked him up on Monday after we came home from camping, named him Jackson, and the rest is history.

Of course I waited a few days to admit to Steven that if we changed our mind in the first two weeks we'd get a full refund on the dog. By now he's developed a begrudging acceptance of Jackson's presence, and I know his feelings are blooming into full-out puppy love. I just know it.

Besides, we need an excuse to keep this around: