I Think The Time Is Right

This week we started the search for a new dog. It felt like it was time.

For those of you who don’t know, our Beagle, Oscar, past away almost a year ago. This past February we made the difficult decision to put our beloved Golden Retriever, Baxter, down.

“Let the grieving process take it’s course.”

While some people may rush out and get another dog right away to fill that empty void, we have always waited after the death of a pet. Let the grieving process take it’s course. We always felt we would know when the timing was right.

It was actually the kids idea. They had their usual “conference call” for Mother’s Day gift ideas and Matt suggested it was time. My wife, Priscilla, had been really missing having a dog at home. In fact, a recent Facebook post said:

Mom knows

Don’t worry, I’m not revealing any secrets here! We decided to let her in on the plans so that she could have a say into which dog is selected. Ironically, we didn’t have a say in the last two wonderful dogs we had. Baxter was a gift and we inherited Oscar when Sarah moved once. Now that I think of it, we haven’t selected our own dog in over 20 years.

I’m sure this will shock you: it’s much different now. I said something about going to the animal shelter and the kids said, “Dad, they’re all online.” Sure enough, you can find pictures, details about the breed, everything you need.

Yes we have questions

We have many questions as we begin the search, like whether or not to go to a shelter, rescue a dog, or try a breeder. There are a few things we know for sure: We want a puppy and we don’t want another huge dog. Priscilla wants one that I can take for walks. Baxter was too strong and we always thought I’d go rolling down the hill if he saw something. (“Squirrel!”) I don’t want a “Paris Hilton” dog that could fit in a small carrying bag. Priscilla also wants a smaller dog for our many trips to Virginia Beach. She said lifting Baxter’s arthritic bones into the truck was no fun.

To begin I did what anyone does when they want answers—- I went to Google the other night looking for “small to medium dogs.” I got plenty of sites to check out and learned about Cocker Spaniels, Basset Hounds, Beagles and many more. I even found something called a “Beago.” Ever heard of it? It a Beagle/Golden Retriever mix!

I truly loved our Golden Retriever but I don’t know if I could walk him after the puppy stage.