choices three

the husband has forbidden me from saying one more word about dogs tonight, so here i am. my muscles are aching after walking three big, bouncy and boisterous dogs, pets that have clearly overwhelmed their previous owners, but who all have a very loving nature. i'm ashamed to say that i rejected the labrador as too pedestrian -- it's the dog everyone and his neighbour has in norway, and i find it nice, but not too interesting. so i'm a breedist. that's good to know.

i've also realised that the dog for me is big, and therefore strong. the great dane i walked, however, proved a bit too big and strong, as it knocked over our little daughter, and even pulled over my own sturdy self as i tried to help her. in addition, this dog didn't have the redeeming feature (to her) of being soft.

that leaves sam, the northern inuit dog. he looks like a wolf, walks like a cat, bounces like a rabbit -- so that's all the pets we wanted in one -- and flees from cars like a sheep. animal bonus! he seems never to have had any training, but if he gets some, i think he'll make a perfect pet.

my husband and his ears would like to extend a warm thank you to everyone who read this!

whatever happened to british bureacucracy?

we went to the RSCPA animal rescue home on saturday afternoon. a volunteer contacted us in the evening and arranged a home visit the next day. today, we received a call from the home to say we were approved, and they hoped to see us soon. obviously, i'll be there to check out a dog tomorrow morning.

are all charitable organisations this efficient? are they the ones that actually run britain? so many questions... but who cares? we're gettin' us a doggie! oh boy oh boy!

the beginning

with four toy horses, six soft rabbits and approximately 111 teddy bears, we thought our house was a little short on pets, so we went to the local RSPCA shelter to look at the rabbits.

so we walked past the dogs and looked at the rabbits and the hamsters and the cats, and i fell totally in love with a cheeky male who reminded me of my parents' old mog -- leo the dog-cat. the husband refused a bird killing machine, and i had to agree, we didn't need that in a garden as twittery as ours.

then we went back to the dogs. then the husband took our daughter back to miaow to the cats while i spoke to the dogs. then our daughter took me to miaow to the cats while he checked out the dogs. and then we went and arranged a home visit to see if we'd be suitable owners for a dog.

they got us connected with a volunteer with amazing efficiency, and we'll be vetted (heh) tomorrow. the toughest part was convincing our daughter that she wanted a dog rather than a cat or a rabbit. but if she can live without live bears or horses, she can probably manage without those. however, we've still got some work to do to make her consider something else than a brown dog.