Going to the Dogs

I love dogs.  When I was a kid, we got our first dog when I was in the second or third grade.  She was a mutt; half cocker spaniel and half collie.  She was creamed colored and had a white heart in the middle of her forehead.  I was in high school when she passed away.  Shortly after she died, we got a new puppy, another mutt.  I think she was part Labrador and spaniel.

Currently, we do not have a dog in our household.  There are a number of reasons why we don't at this time.   One of the biggest reasons is money.  Pets can be a terribly expensive proposition, especially if they happen to get sick.  We just don't have a lot of extra disposable income for those kinds of things.

Another reason why we never got a dog is because of my son.  For the longest time, he was very frightened by dogs.  When he was small, we took him to a friend's house to watch the Super Bowl.  They had a large dog that was overly friendly and enthusiastic.  For years, he would not get close to a dog.  He has gotten better with dogs, and now will even pet one.

Perhaps the biggest reason why we don't have a dog is time.  They require a lot of attention.  My brother in law has a heart of gold.  A few years ago, he had no dogs.  Currently, he has four dogs that he has either rescued from shelters or from homes he has encountered in his business that are no longer able to care for those things.

It is great that he loves the dogs and has rescued them.  Unfortunately, his work often requires him to be out of the house for several hours at a time.  Many is the time that he has called my wife and desperately asked her to go by his house to walk the dogs so that they don't have an accident in the house.  Unfortunately, they have had a few.

Probably more often than not, my wife is able to go over to walk the dogs.  However, there are times when she is unable to do so for a variety of reasons.  It is at those times, it would be helpful for my brother in law to have an indoor pet potty.  It sure would be a lot less expensive than having to get the carpets cleaned or replaced.