dog people

want to feel like the best mom? get your kids a dog!

want to feel like the worst mom ever? take the dog back an hour later because it won't stop biting the kids!

athena blythe has been researching chihuahuas for months, complete with watching youtube dog training videos and writing and sending multiple letters to "mexico's pet shop", since chihuahuas are from mexico. thomas and i agreed to make athena blythe's dreams come true for christmas. we've had a dog in the past and we do feel it's important for our family to have a dog to teach responsibility and to help some of our more special kids learn to adapt to unpredictable circumstances. we found a 3 year old chihuahua from the local prison rescue program, (inmates training dogs as part of their own personal rehabilitation program. brilliant. everyone gets saved.) and contacted the officer in charge. he approved our application and we went to meet paco! paco was a delight! well mannered! darling! low energy! loved all of us! we paid the fee and took paco with us! everything was going great! 

then we arrived at home. we let paco take his time to get acclimated. he ran around a bit, marked his territory, and then we all went inside. i told all the kids to give him all the space he needed. he trotted about a bit and laid down on the couch. i'm the best mom! even reagan was acting a little interested, if from a good distance. after a few minutes, paco decided he didn't want anyone near him but me. he followed me around the kitchen and that was a fine development too. then i went and sat on the couch with him. he jumped right on my lap. the kids joined us. again, very low key. none of our regular unruliness. herschel reached to pet paco and paco lunged at him and snapped at his hand. herschel was frightened but everything was still okay. new dog, new surroundings. we were being calm and patient. we went back to just quietly sitting. i pet paco. other attempts were made by the kids to pet paco. he growled and bared his teeth at everyone but me. several more attempts by paco were made to bite the children. everyone ran screaming from the room. this is not my first foray into pet owning. i'm not a dog person anymore, but i have enough know how to know when a dog is very anxious and uncomfortable to be displaying such strong aggressive behavior toward children. this dog was not going to be a dog we could handle. at this point, everyone is cowering and crying because of this tiny dog. we had finally worked with reagan long enough that he didn't run screaming from dogs on leashes at the park. all this progress this was being undone in one hour. this dog clearly needed further obedience training that we could not provide. 

i called the officer in charge of the program and left a message on his voicemail about paco. i'm pretty sure he loved deciphering that bawling message from me. he called me back and said he was very surprised at this change in paco behavior from the dog he knew and to immediately bring him back to him. 

of course, this is when further crying ensued from herschel and athena blythe as they begged me to let us keep paco even though they were both terrified. 

i made the drive back with the sweet and cuddly version of paco on my lap, since all the kids stayed home, and surrendered him back to the jail dogs program. the officer was so understanding and even refunded my non-refundable adoption fee. i cried some more. 

thomas my hero called as i was driving home to help me feel better. which is ironic, because i didn't even WANT A DOG. at home i discovered this fresh new trauma:

someone had eaten my secret stash of peanut butter m&ms and scribbled all over my pillowcase with a pen. the culprit left behind his special blankie. 

that's white nail polish on my bedspread from a previous misadventure.

so famous amos had to rescue me again, like he did all those times during pregnancy when i need to eat a lot of something fast to feel better. 

and that's the terrible true story of how we had a dog for an hour.