Surprise Part Two: Fleas!

Our new puppy came packing new houseguests! My wife was shocked.

Carrie's never been a dog-owner, but I've done this song and dance before. Carrie treated the dog with Frontline, and half a day later I gave him his first flea bath. It's going to be wash-rinse-repeat until it's time for the next Frontline treatment in a month. From there it should be clean sailing until winter. Nothing kills fleas better than a nice freeze, IMO. I'll never forget how horrified Carrie was when she brushed the puppy and saw a flea hit the kitchen floor. Then she saw there was more than one! I popped them all for good measure.

With our first dog in Texas, the fleas got so bad I had them as a kid for a little bit. My parents had to flea bomb the house and the little bloodsuckers kept coming back! We moved to where there was winter, threw the dog out in the snow, and POOF no more flea re-occurrences. That was before Frontline, though. This stuff seems to work really well, so there's a good chance it's game-over for the wee nuisances already. If it doesn't work, we just have to hold out until winter (assuming winter is an actual winter and not just a late fall with all of the 100+ degree weather).

It was after this discovery, my wife asked if she'd jumped into dog ownership too quickly.

I disagreed.

To begin with, my wife does not like dogs. She picked out Indiana for my parents, but she's always been uncomfortable around her. Indiana is high energy and weighs less than Shane. She's harmless, but she can jump in excitement. This bothers Carrie. My wife used to work at an animal hospital. She's wrestled much larger dogs than Indiana, but wrangling scared and aggressive dogs has left it's mark. I've always figured I would have to find an angle to work if I ever wanted a Fido.

When we bought the new house, I started teasing my dog-fearing wife that "We can own a dog! We have a yard now!" It was not appreciated (but then again, that helped make it funny for me....I'm bad).

A little over a week ago, we talked about how much Shane loved Indiana and how I thought dogs were a great companion for little boys. I then said "We aren't ready for a dog, period. Puppies are a lot of work. Shane needs to be older. Maybe some time after your boss retires, and if you're a stay-at-home mom. Two to three years?"

Carrie, no longer worried I would be bringing a dog home or forcing the issue for years, started to do research on what type of dog she'd be okay with. She did a ton of research on her own. Several days later, we talked and looked up a breed or two together. One of the breeds was the Burmese Mountain Dog. I believe Carrie then mentioned something about "maybe getting a retriever, because they're good with kids."

Saturday was the perfect storm. Shane and I were out of the house. Carrie ended up working from home. The mysterious call for Carrie to show a horse from someone Carrie had never heard of came. Carrie showed the horse. The puppy was at the barn being manhandled by a two-year old. The puppy is big enough and old enough that Shane couldn't kill him.

The rest is history.

My mom is ECSTATIC, btw. I told her I wanted a dog at some point, but the plan was years from now! Nana had this quote for me, "God laughs at the plans of men." Ain't it true? I think this is one of those situations where everything happens so perfectly, you would have to be a stubborn fool to fight against the flow of events.

I wanted a dog one day. I got him yesterday. I decided to be happy about it.

And I am.