Why did you get a dog?

[Lovelyideas]

Just wondering as it seems to repeat lots of the bad bits of parenthood

Because -

They give love unconditionally
Stroking a dog reduces your stress levels
They're entertaining
They make me exercise but dog walking doesn't feel like a chore
They smell lovely
However miserable I might feel my dogs always cheer me up
They all have their own personalities
They think everyone in their family is amazing!

We got our first dog at a point when our dcs were moving into their teens. Dogs are great family unifiers. However stroppy or bad tempered people are, nobody is ever cross with a dog and they help to diffuse arguments. There's also more chance of a teen going for a walk with you if there's a dog involved and walking with teens provides a great opportunity to talk to them without other distractions.

Watching my tough 20 year old DS on the floor this afternoon with his head buried in our old Lab's neck having a last snuggle and chat with her before going back to uni says it all really.

:)

It is nice to be reminded of the good doggy things.

Because I couldn't get a dinosaur

Dd went to university. We moved house to somewhere really fun with loads of great parks.

My last dog died 2 years ago along with all of our other very elderly cats and I can honestly say the 'year of death' was the hardest ever. I loved them all so much as you would after 20 years.

So 3 weeks ago after lots of research into the best dog for us we got the most joyful little creature ever. I couldn't bear an older dog again because I want as long as possible with them. All of my previous animals were rescues.

Even though I'm getting up twice a night to take her for a wee and she's having mad moments the utter joy of watching her bounce around makes the last year of horrible stress worth it (moving, house falling through, nasty buyers who dropped the price by 10% on the day of exchange).

She just makes everything beautiful and a total joy. She's smart, hilarious, sweet, cheerful.

And she looks like this: