Overheard: Puppy Love

Josiah (age 9)

It's no secret that there is an intense campaign going on around here for a puppy.  The kids want a puppy.  (OK, Josiah and Grace want a puppy.  Robert (age 14) excludes himself whenever he is lumped together with the younger kids in this discussion, but I still think he'd be perfectly happy if one appeared.)  Jason wants a puppy.  There are lots of conversations on a daily basis that involve the topic of puppies in one way or another, and most of them start off with "It would be great if we had a dog because..."  Here is a glimpse of some of these conversations.


Grace [age 5]:   Mom! It would be good to have a dog! It could be our new Swiffer! ...But it couldn't eat dust.

Can you guess what one of Grace's chores is?
 
~~~~~



Josiah:  We could name the dog "Thunder."


Me:  Or "Swiffer."


Jason:  Or "Invisible."


Josiah didn't especially appreciate Jason's name suggestion.

~~~~~

A favorite book of Josiah's is one that covers most dog breeds.  He was trying to discuss the merits of a particular breed with Grace.

Josiah:  Look at this one!  It's a French bulldog.


Grace:  No, Daddy would want an English bulldog.  That way, he would know what we're saying.


~~~~~

So, why do we not have a dog?  Why the need for the intense campaign for a puppy?  I'm allergic to dogs.  And since I'm 99% sure the kids would want this to be an inside dog, unlike our last dog,, I'm resistant to the idea.  Therefore, the intense pleading recently shifted to an intense search for a hypoallergenic breed that, hopefully, I would not be (as) allergic to.  One of the breeds mentioned was the Portuguese water dog (It turns out that President Obama's daughter has an allergy to dogs, too).  Josiah immediately latched onto this thought and rearranged his glow-in-the-dark stars on his bedroom wall to read 

PWDR

 ...as in "Portuguese Water Dogs Rule." 

I would have taken a picture to share this with you, but it's not quite enough stars to make it make sense without an enthusiastic 9 year old there to explain it to you.

If you have any suggestions of which hypoallergenic dog breeds might be a good match for our family, just pass them along to Josiah.  He'll be glad to talk with you for hours on the subject.  

Hours.  Trust me.