Mr Perfect’s dog

Since visiting the SPCA last week we’ve been talking about the pros and cons of adding another dog to our family. For some strange reason, Mr. Perfect thought I was against getting a second dog, while I always assumed we would eventually get one. After clearing up this little matter, we agreed that adopting might be worth exploring. I had always thought we would get a second dog after our first kid (since we could see how Pacha reacts to the babe), but is post-partum really the best time to be training a dog? WE realised that this might actually be a good time to introduce a new dog. Mr Perfect would love a Boxer. I, on the other hand have a penchant for Greyhounds. When it comes down to it though, Boxers are a more manageable size than greyhounds.

Over the weekend we set some ground rules: we will not be swayed by a cute face, chemistry and energy has to work with our family, no rash decisions, Pacha’s reaction to a new dog is an essential element in our choice and any dog has to pass my allergy test.

Last night we headed back to the SPCA to see if “Marshall” was still there. When we did our initial sweep of the premise he appeared to be gone. Mr. Perfect was clearly crushed. :-( Then we found out he had already been transferred inside for the night. Yay! We asked to take him out for a walk. We did our best Ceasar Millan imitation and stayed calm and assertive. Marshall seemed to react well to our assertiveness. We waited for him to calm down before heading out for a walk. He wasn’t really that agitated, but you could see by his breathing he was curious/excited. He pulled a little during the first part of the walk, but within 5 minutes (even less) he was calm and walking in a perfect heal position. At the halfway point we made him sit and traded the leach. I had the lead now and I can honestly say it was like walking Pacha – I barely noticed he was there. I corrected him a few times, but that was really only when I noticed he wasn’t perfectly calm... it’s like I stopped his excitement before it escalated and he started pulling. When we gave him back to the SPCA employee, he was noticeably more excited, but you could tell her energy was different too. Where Pacha is calm 100% of the time, Marshall takes his cues from his leader. He’s definitely different than Pacha, but that’s also what we are looking for. I love Pacha more than anything, but she is also one lazy puppy. Hah! It would be nice to have a dog that can play fetch, go for a run and keep up with us on a hike. In that sense, Pacha is like a cat, except that she’s fun. :-P

He also passed the allergy test with flying colours! I rubbed my hands all over his coat and litterly stuck my fingers in my eyeballs! I rubbed my eyes as much as I could and has NO reaction. This is awesome news because I sometimes irritate my eyes just by rubbing them, so this means I'm definitely not allergic to him.

So now we wait for the SPCA to approve our application. We also decided that, since we are going away this weekend, we wouldn’t bring a dog home until Sunday. It’s just not fair to the dog to bring him home for 2 days and then drop him off at a kennel for two days. The SPCA won’t put a dog on hold, so we are leaving it in fates hands – if he’s still there on Sunday, then he’s our dog... if he’s not, we’ll just keep searching. The only problem is, Mr Perfect has already adopted him in his heart. :-)