Jesse

Day 3. The phone's not exactly ringing off the hook for someone to adopt this little dog we've been fostering now for a few days. He is still up on the Rescue Center's website and shows as available and adoptable. Jim's been home from work this week (and the last few weeks) so he's getting a little uptight about the dog. If he was at work, it would be much more of a non-issue.

Jim never really wanted a dog but succumbed to the pressure from Jimmy. So many people grow up with pets, including Jim--he grew up with a family dog, so I'm not sure where all the resistance is coming from. How did their family of five kids and two parents get by with a dog? I can't imagine Jim's parents fighting over a dog or about getting a dog or about taking care of a dog, it was just something everyone did. And it wasn't such a big deal.

Besides companionship, there's a lot of good lessons for a little boy to learn from having a dog of his own. Caregiving. Ownership. Loyalty. Responsibility. Kindness. Patience. Unconditional love.

Me? I could take it or leave it. The dog has had a couple of accidents in the house. He pooped on the floor twice and peed on the wall which grossed Jim out. But, it's still a new environment and for some reason it takes a lot to get this dog to bark, so it's not like he lets us know when he has to do his business. We were told explicitly how the dog was potty trained and crate trained. Uhm. No. I would have to say no on both of those. I have to physically force the dog to go into the crate, and so far, that is the only time I've heard it bark. And the pooping indoors, that's not my idea of potty trained.

Other than that, the dog has been pretty good. Really good. He did chew through his leash but once he got off the leash outside, he stuck around. He definitely likes us. Oh and he ran into the creek today and got all wet and muddy too. But, he's a very sweet, calm dog. Very well behaved and I think he will only get better with time so part of me wants to adopt him. The other part of me remembers what it is was like to not have a dog and worry about what it's doing and what it's peeing on.

So if the phone rang tomorrow, and someone wanted to adopt little Jesse, I have no idea how I will feel but I think I know pretty well how Jim will feel.