Can a Dog Make Your Life Better?
Bryant December 6th, 2008
This is the question that my family and I had been trying to answer for a while. Would adding a dog to our family make it better? Or would it make things worse by adding more stress and responsibility to an already busy family?
We’d heard many stories of busy families who had gotten dogs and then regretted it three months later. Sometimes it was because the dogs kept them up at night. Other times it had to do with stained carpet. For some, the newness just wore off and now they were stuck with the responsibility for 10+ years.
I also saw many examples of people who were going through a hard time and thought that getting a dog would fix their problems. But often times, it just made them worse. If you don’t have any time or energy, and you are afraid of a commitment, a dog will not help that. It will make it worse.
But, if you have extra time and energy that you are looking to channel into the next big thing in your life then a dog could be perfect for you. If you are willing to spend time and energy to build a relationship with the dog, you will get unconditional love in return — something that is hard to find many other places in this world.
Oftentimes dogs take the place of children because a childless couple has the time, energy and resources to commit to something. If they don’t have kids, a dog can be a great outlet for that.
I’ll always remember how a guy I used to work with would have stories about his young dogs that exactly matched stories about my young children.
My kids would keep me up at night; so would his dogs. My kids would act up when I wasn’t around; so would his dogs. I would struggle with the right way to discipline the kids; he would struggle with the right way to discipline his dogs (luckily, I never had to resort to the shock collar).
In our current situation, we felt that we were most likely done having kids (knock on wood). And with our youngest turning three and becoming more autonomous, we were looking for the “next thing” to put our energy into.
We had been reluctant for years because of all the horror stories we’d heard, and were just protective about our time. But, at this point in our lives, it felt like the time was finally right.
We spent a lot of time researching breeds and visiting shelters. After playing with a variety of dogs, we found the perfect one from a local animal shelter.
Her name is Dolly and she’s a lab/whippet mix. At one year old, she is already housebroken and loves the kids. She is playful yet still knows when to relax on the couch with us, and she’s already shaping up to be an awesome running partner for Molly and I. We’re not sure how we ever got along without her.
It’s probably still too early to declare total victory, but at this point we are very happy with our decision. The dog has made our life busier as there’s a lot to learn and do, but in so many ways she has made our life better.
We were ready for the commitment, and the time was right.
We long for an affection altogether ignorant of our faults. Heaven has accorded this to us in the uncritical canine attachment.
~George Eliot
