Charlie wants a dog

[charliesmum]

At least I think he wants a dog. He's been talking about it, but he is also imitating Verruca Salt as he does so. "Mommy.' He says, speaking in a clipped and almost British voice. "I Want. A. Dog."

I pointed out to him he has $95, and could possibly buy a dog for himself, and he actually considered it.

I'd toyed with the idea before, but I just don't think we have the time or money for a dog. (though, working 10 minutes from home does help - one could theoretically go home at lunch and let the dog out)

I have to keep reminding myself that dogs are fairly high maintenance, and probably aren't cheap to keep in food.

Because...look at this really cute dog. I want him.

Comments

[sing1118.livejournal.com]

THere are a lot of small breeds that are smart and all, but my bitty dog is a Shih Tzu, so notsomuch.

The other dog I have is an Australian Shepherd. They are bigger dogs- Bailey is about 60 lb- but they're incredibly intelligent. Bailey was housetrained in less than 3 weeks and has had a total of 2 accidents since then, and she's seven. They're very territorial, but very friendly. They bark at new people, but aren't hostile unless they see a threat to their family. The territorial thing means taht they don't run away. We can go out in the front yard with Bailey and she might wander around a bit, but she rarely leaves the yard- if she does, she's generally just sniffing the neighbor's bushes, well within sight of us. Bailey is seriously so smart- she can sense if someone needs to be treated more gently or whatever, like my neighbor's grandson who had a tumor at 18 months.

The other thing about Aussies is that unlike some breeds, like Border Collies, Aussies can adjust to what exercise they're getting. If they get 4 walks a day, fine. If they only get one, that's fine, they'll adjust. If you have a Border Collie, they'd go crazy cooped up with one walk a day. My parents did their research when getting Bailey for us, and they chose a wonderful breed and a sweet smart puppy. And she's pretty! And they make cute puppies:

A random puppy:


(I don't have a pic of Bailey to post, but look at my icon.)

And an Aussie info site:
http://www.maculated.com/1/index.html