In Search of the *Perfect* Dog

My youngest son has been begging us for years to get a dog. My husband's answer has always been "If we get a dog, the only problem is that it will be 'my' dog" (meaning he will be the one that ends up taking care of it). So we told Cooper he needed to show us that he could take care of a dog.

The journey started about 6 years ago, when I thought, hey, maybe I'll get him one of those robot dogs and see how he does. I figured, well at least he wouldn't be able to starve the dog, and hey, the robot dog wouldn't make a mess. So, a robot dog it was, and he took care of it for about a week. So, at age 7, it wasn't time to get a dog.

A couple of years passed and Cooper continued to beg us for a dog. So, we got a cat. She was a beautiful Blue Lynx point Ragdoll kitten we called Zoe. I love cats and we figured, if he could take care of a cat, maybe we would reconsider getting a dog. So Cooper's job was to clean the cat box and feed it a scoop of food in the morning and a scoop of food at night. Well, we had to continually remind Cooper to do both. So at age 9, it wasn't time to get a dog.

A couple more years passed and along came another cat - this one was a rescue, of sorts, Gabbie - a 6 year old Seal Bicolor Ragdoll, whose family couldn't keep her. So Cooper's job continued to be to clean the cat box and feed the cats a scoop of food in the morning and a scoop of food at night. Cooper still had trouble remembering to do that, so at age 11, it wasn't time to get a dog.

Last year, Cooper gave up. He figured we were NEVER going to get a dog and wanted to stop feeding the cats and cleaning the cat box - when we reminded him. The only problem was, those were still his chores, so even though he had given up on getting a dog, he still had to do his chores.

Now, at 13, Cooper has been doing better at remember to feed the cats (cleaning the cat box is still hit-and-miss). But, a few months ago, Pete agreed that we could start looking for a dog. Imagine our surprise (read: shock!) when he said this, so I started scouring the internet to try to find a dog that might fit well into our family.

My first thought was a Golden Retriever because they are so gentle and loving, but I kept hearing my friend Mary saying "Small dog - small poop; big dog - big poop," so I wanted to get a dog that was small.

Next, we thought about a beagle. I talked to people who had beagles and they gave me the pros and cons. I wasn't sure how well our family would adjust to a hound that might howl and "follow his nose" out of the yard. So, even though a beagle sounds like a good dog, we kept looking.

Next we looked at Chihuahuas and Yorkies, but I was worried they might be too small and would easily get hurt, so we kept looking. Then we met someone with a Corgi and they looked like such happy dogs! Always smiling and with those perky ears that were so big, but after talking to a Corgi breeder, I was worried that their herding instincts might make them to try to herd the cats, so we kept looking.

Now, we are looking for an American Eskimo Dog - probably a miniature. The American Eskimo Dog comes in Toy, Miniature and Standard sizes and seem to have traits that would fit in with our family. So, we are looking at the rescue organizations and at the local breeders so we can meet the dogs and find out what they are like. We are hoping some day soon to find that *perfect* dog to add to our family.

College Searches and a Trip to Texas

Well, last weekend my son and I took a trip to Longview, Texas to check out a college there, and to find out if he is really interested in Biomedical Engineering. It really was a good trip - I got to see more of Texas, and Nemo got to take a couple of Physics classes and find out about the field he wanted to look into.

Our trip started with a flight into Dallas, where we got bumped from the "puddle jumper" flight to Longview because they overbooked the plane. There was another boy at the airport who was going to the school too, and he was also bumped, so we all stuck together to figure out what the next step would be.

I wanted to rent the car from Dallas and drive to Longview, a 2-1/2 hour drive, which would have put us in Longview about 6:30pm. But when we talked to the school rep, he suggested we fly to Shreveport, LA and they would pick us up and drive us to the airport to get out luggage. The drive from Shreveport to Longview was only 45 minutes, but we had to wait 2 hours for the flight to leave. But it did give us a chance to have some dinner, so we were able to find a TGIFriday's at Dallas' Terminal D and I was finally able to try Bada-Bing Betty's dish. It was yummy and the soup was excellent!

So by the time we got our luggage and picked up a snack, we got to the school about 8:30pm. Oh, well. Once I dropped Nemo off at the college, I headed to my hotel, but thought I would stop in at the KFC near the hotel to get something. I ran into a very nice Longview Police Officer, who I struck up a conversation with and found out that the school is excellent, but the area of Longview where the school is, isn't the best, and she advised me that if I did decide to send my son to that school, that I talk to him about being aware of the surrounding area and warn him of the dangers. She said the students think they can go anywhere, but if they do, they could find themselves in a bad situation.

I also asked her about the hotel I was staying in and whether I needed to be aware of anything, and she said that the one I had chosen was the best one in the area and they hadn't had problems there in awhile. So, when I got to my room, which was very nice, I locked the door and said a prayer for guidance and protection.

The next day, Nemo followed the students' tract where he learned about the program and took part in a project where they had to take some motors, balloons, and paper and "create" a plane that would go around a preplanned course.

The parents learned about the school, financial aid, housing, etc - you know, all the stuff parents worry about. At the end of the day, we got to watch the results of the project, which was fun.

By the end of the visit, Nemo had decided that he didn't want to go into Biomedical Engineering, but I was very glad he was able to get a more indepth overview rather than just having an ethereal idea of what Biomedical Engineering was about. What the parents learned about the Biomedical Engineering major, was that it is an awesome field and the results learned will help people tremendously.

The flight from Longview to Dallas was a little scary as we approached Dallas because there were high winds that blew the plane around a little. It was quite an odd feeling flying straight, but having the plane move sideways! But our flight from Dallas home was pretty smooth.

So, now we start over in the college search and need to remember to rely on God for His direction in Nemo's life.