Jen's dog (very long and more than you want to know)

[Jennifer Piersol]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "Amy Z" <aiz24 at h...> wrote:
> Jen Piersol posted to the main list that her sister had found a 
taker 
> for their dog--
> 
> Why do you have to give away your dog?
> 
> :-(
> Amy Z

Well, it's fairly involved, but here goes.. 

(note:  the following may be offensive to dog lovers everywhere - not 
that there's been any abuse of said dog, but because I am not a dog 
lover...)

My husband and I had been married for almost a year when he came home 
one afternoon after work and told me, "My boss is coming over to show 
us a couple of dogs he has to give away - I told him we might be able 
to take one."  My reaction: shock.  We had two cats and a rat (in a 
cage, in a cage...) as well as some fish that my husband *almost* 
neglected.  And now a dog?  And I don't like dogs at all... they're 
way too "in your face", and I got knocked down by overly-aggressive 
dogs a lot while I was young, so I've never been comfortable with 
them.  Well, my hubby's boss came over with two dogs, one a medium 
sized puppy, and one small, almost full-grown dog.  Well, my husband 
was completely taken with the puppy and asked me if we could take her 
in front of his boss.  Me, being the wimp that I am, didn't give him 
a straight "no" or even a bendy "can we talk about this first?" - so 
he took my "welll....." as a "yes" and we basically got a dog.  

Then we bought a house, had a kid, and took on more hours at work to 
pay for this house and kid, so the dog basically languishes in the 
back yard with nobody home to give her much attention.  And I admit, 
when I am home, I'm not too anxious to spend a lot of "quality" time 
with her - she is a dog, and I don't like dogs.  She gets so bored 
out there that she digs holes under the fence and escapes - she digs 
holes to chase gophers, she digs holes probably to trip my husband 
when he mows the grass back there just for her own amusement.  She's 
WAY too smart for her own good - I think she gets most of her fun by 
thinking up ways to get out of the yard - and then hides them from 
us.... this happened once, and we didn't find out how she was getting 
out for almost a month.  Turns out she was jumping a 5ft high fence.

The main reason, however, is that she's very VERY friendly with 
children... which is great in that I'm never worried that my daughter 
will get bitten or hurt in any *intentional* way, but Ginger has been 
knocked down many times by an enthusiastic greeting, and it's now to 
the point that she whimpers and wants to be picked up whenever she 
meets ANY medium- to big-sized dog... even ours.  She loves the dog 
when she's safe: in her high chair, in my arms, looking out the 
window.  But once the dog gets on her level, she gets this look on 
her face that tells me that she's starting to panic and would I get 
this dog out of here pronto??

So we decided that Maddie, though we take care of her well and make 
sure she has plenty to eat and drink - and bring her in at night to 
sleep in our room - really should get more love and affection.  She 
needs a family with bigger kids to play with, with parents who *both* 
like dogs and will spend time playing with her.  My sister's friend 
and her husband jog every day (Maddie would love that), and their 
daughter is 5 and big for her age (her mom and dad are both over 
6ft).  They're moving into a 5 bedroom house (we have a small 1100sf 
home with a medium-sized back yard), Maddie will be more of an 
indoor dog, and it seems that she'd be much happier over there.  

Not to mention that I'd have no more holes in my back yard.

Jen (don't worry, she's going to tell the woman about the holes... 
sheesh)

ps.  if this *does* sound bad to dog-lover ears, listen to this.  My 
husband's cousin had two dogs.  She professed to be an animal rights 
activist, loved all animals, etc.  But she locked these animals in 
the garage ALL DAY... in a small kennel.  All day.  And when they 
finally worked their way out (not that there was much more space in 
the garage - it was crammed full of stuff) and tore stuff up trying 
to get out, she yelled at them and hit them... and wondered why they 
were such devil dogs.  So finally, she sent them to a no-kill shelter 
- after being on a list for a month, and then lying about having 
allergies - and then once again, started up with her animal rights 
bs - "I just couldn't send them to a regular shelter - they're 
good-looking dogs, someone will want them."

Now THAT's terrible.

Besides... my husband and I realize that when we took the dog, we 
took on responsibility, and we can't just find an easy way to get out 
of that responsibility.  If this family doesn't work out, well, we're 
keeping the dog.  If it does, we're giving her to a more affectionate 
home.  Hopefully, that's not irresponsible of us.

me again