The dog that almost was('nt).

Lately there has been a lot of talk from my our NoVa friends on adding a new member to our family.  I am talking about the four-legged kind.  Without realizing it, friends from each of the areas of my life (Mom's club friends, preschool moms, etc) who know me well have all been campaigning hard to Jeff to convince him we need this in our lives.  I agree our Toppall team does not feel complete. 

Jeff feels strongly that he is not ready to go down this path again.  However, the argument can be made that when he met me I had Bailey and therefore, a dog is grandfathered in.  He knew what he was getting into by marrying me.  It wasn't like I sprung a dog on him after we were together.

One last reason I firmly believe we need another dog; not for me, but for the kids.  I feel very strongly that kids should grow up with a dog.  I always thought one would be a staple in our life and it wouldn't even be a question that our children didn't have a dog in their lives.

When I was down in Orlando by myself in September for my sister's baby shower, the topic of getting another dog came up.  My dad and I are on the same page.  Heck, the whole family down in Florida would love to see us have another German Shepherd.  I came very close to agreeing to let my dad buy me one and surprise the family with it on Sunday night when I flew back home.  Oh, how sweet that would be. 

Here's the thing.  I love Jeff way too much to do something I knew he wouldn't be on board with.  How could I intentionally cause strife in an otherwise healthy and great marriage?  I just wish I knew how upset Jeff would be.  Would it be a week, a month, a year, forever?  At what point would Jeff get over it and be ok with the idea?  If it was a week or a month I could deal with that.  But what happens if the dog needed unforeseen medical treatment or was causing excess damage to the furniture and our shoes?  What if the dog barked non-stop or had other behavioral issues.  You hope this isn't the case, but you never know.  And I wouldn't want to be a stressed-out mess waiting to see how Jeff was going to handle each issue that was anything but sunshine and roses.

Jeff is getting aggravated hearing from everyone about the dog thing.  It is definitely having the opposite reaction.  He is more adamant than ever about us not getting one.  I keep thinking there is gong to be something that happens and the right dog will come into our lives.  Either a dog that needs to be rescued, or it will be a stray that find his/her way to our house or someone will ignore Jeff's wishes and get us one anyway.

So now all I can do is wait and hope the perfect opportunity comes along soon enough.  I've stopped talking about it to Jeff, but the desire for a dog is still very much there.

It probably doesn't help that I am Facebook friends with the page "I love my German Shepherd".  It is basically a compilation of pictures of German Shepherds posted each day.  This one has been my favorite by far.

Gosh I love this picture.  It truly captures how wonderful and loving a German Shepherd can be.