Temp: 36
Scorcher! Wow, where did THAT come from? Nice! I did my standard watering, gardening, and hanging out soaking up the sun after gettign home from work.
For dinner we zipped out to Boston Pizza, and after dinner we went to Petcetera to check out the puppies... yeah, we've been talking a lot lately about getting a dog. Ironically, it took years of softening up the ground to even get Carole to THINK about having a dog, and then even after I got her to the "okay, maybe someday, but certainly not anytime soon" stage of acceptance, it was still a lot of slow and steady subtle reinforcement to get her to say 'yes' (in case you hadn't guessed, I've really wanted a dog for a very long time) - but then suddenly, one day a couple weeks ago, Carole suddenly went from "No, absolutely not - not as long as we live in a townhome" one night, to "I think we should get a dog now" the very next morning.
I was stunned, I surely thought I still have another year or so of gentle prodding ahead of me! Suddently I'm the one caught unprepared! Over the next two weeks my inbox has been inundated with links to cute puppies for sale, SPCA adoptions, breeders, breed information, and just random "cute dog" images and stories...
Whoah, we haven't even agreed on a breed, or an age (buy adult, or buy puppy?), or a budget, or a timeframe! Er, at least I didn't know we had agreed... but according to Caole, we're looking for a Golden Retriever or a retriever cross. Um... well, I'm still holding out for a Collie. Actually, truth be told, I'll take in anything that doesn't shed, doesn't need haircuts, WON'T fit in a purse, (but WILL fit in a travel kennel), with a good temperment, and moderate energy, without being totally restless, hyper, or feel the need to roam free all over the neighbourhood. It's gotta be friendly, loyal, easy going, happy, personable, and of good temperment, but not a sloth, and not a lapdog! I don't mind if it barks when it's happy, but it can't be a chronic barker, must not be a yapper, and can't have any aggression problems. A lot to ask for? I don't think so - and if you asked Carole, what I'm describing is a Golden Retriever - but at $800 for the cheapest we can find, I'm willing to relax my criteria a bit if it saves me a few hundred bucks. So, in my mind, more research is required.
So anyway, we've started looking into owning a dog.
The rest of Friday night, I spent in the basement - playing Need for Speed ... I'm sooooooooo close to the end!
Posted by Calvin at July 21, 2006 01:07 PM