A boy and His dog...

So, all our married lives John has encouraged us to steer clear of canines as family additions. He has been the voice of reason, the true voice of courage against the majority. All the kids and mom against dad when the discussion of having a dog was ever raised. Funny how things change on a dime...

We had discussed giving the priviledge of pet ownership to our kids in honor of Mason's 12th birthday. Research had begun on breeds and breeders. A visit to the pound with our 3 youngest children (a field trip for them...) was undertaken to see if any potential matches could be made. Still, we were discussing, not necessarily committing, to an animal in the family.

I knew the entire community, my extended family, probably my adoption agencies and anyone who knew anything about those looney Grahams on the corner of Hillsden and Northwood would surely count us crazy if we invited an animal into our already hectic, child ridden life. I wasn't so sure I needed the suggestion of insanity to come my way; I feel pretty insane on a regular basis without the true verbal reinforcement of my neighbors and family. I put my foot down against a puppy because of this. If the dog were house trained, that would be one thing. A show of reason and sanity for an otherwise crazy idea. Definately not a puppy...

The breed was selected, largely by John but he is so much better at that kind of stuff than I and I really didn't have a huge preference. A breeder was found with dogs reasonabley priced. Only thing is, the dogs were young. Not tiny puppies;but 5 months old and needing to be housetrained. Emails with the breeder (Shirley Jacobsen of jacobsen cockers) led us to believe it would be a snap. She was even making her way to Salt Lake on the weekend and we could meet the dog. My impression was that after our meeting she would then take the dog away and we would mull it over, decide, and make arrangements to bring the dog back to our excited and happy home if our choice was in the affirmative. My secret hope was that I'd buy a little time, she'd train the dog to poo and pee outside, and then we'd bring him to live happily ever after as the chosen dog for the Graham clan.

The dog came. "Dog sitting for a friend" we told our kids. "No, not buying a dog any time soon" we said. "Really no plans to own a dog at this point" we exclaimed. Hours passed, Shirley came back to see how things were going. A choice needed to be made. There was absolutely nothing doing to my theory that cute little puppy would go home for a week to be potty trained and then return to its eagerly awaited home. Nope, you've socialized with the dog, now you keep the dog or I take him home. What to do.

See those eyes, the ones staring at you in the picture at the top of this post? No, not the dog's eyes-my husband's. Those eyes are the reason the puppy stayed. The tender love for that animal expressed in those eyes is the absolute reason I did not break the hearts of all my children and send the dog away to a different fate and a different family. The eyes of a boy who would love his dog stared at mine, and I melted in a moment.

So, here he is. Cooper the Cocker. And I think I'm glad (check back with me later). If the eyes of my sweet boy-man husband stay so full of love for that little animal, I know I'll be glad we endured the puppy training and the accidents on the floor in the kitchen. Those eyes will make this dog a special and tender part of our crazy happy life. Welcome Cooper boy. Welcome.