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.