That is the question I am pondering. As it stands, our household consists of not a single furry creature. Unless, that is, you consider the frog that is currently clinging to my outside window. Or the deer that walk through our yard. Or the racoons that we hear clicking and chirping in the woods. Or the thirteen turtles that bask on the log in our pond every morning...
My 6-year old has been asking, nay, begging for a dog in the last several months. These requests could usually be pacified with catching and releasing a turtle, a frog, a caterpillar. But I could tell Jackson still held a hankering, an itch that wasn't scratched, and one that could only be remedied by a canine companion. "I can't play fetch with a turtle." "I can't sleep with a frog in my bed." To the latter: yes, he has tried.
This underlying doggie-desire came to a head yesterday when a stray dog came wandering into the yard. We live pretty remotely and can't actually see any neighbors, in any direction, so a roving rover was cause for alarm. Panic subsided quickly after the necessary precautions and the night was spent petting and playing ball with this new-found feral friend. As one can imagine, innocent playtime quickly turned into, "Can we keep him?"
The emotional cocktail of relief and sadness is hard to describe. Palpable. This was the sentiment when the dog's rightful (I use the term loosely) owner drove in. The kids didn't want him to go. The dog didn't want to go (I'm no super sleuth, but the barking at his owner and then laying down, and then having to be dragged, and then carried to the truck were all pretty swell clues). It was a scene, to be short.
Jackson couldn't pull himself out of it. Most of the night was spent crying, sobbing for a dog. Any dog, really.
I know the easy answer is, "Well, just get the boy a damn dog, already!" However, is that the easy answer? I know the work it takes, the time, the feeding/cleaning/vet visits/ etc it takes. What IS the responsible thing to do?
And so the dog-devotion in Jackson grows stronger tonight, I am sure. And I teeter back and forth with the pros and cons, looking at the 'logical' solution and the one that my (and Jackson's heart) tells me. I think I just may have answered my own question...
