What's One More?

For those who don't know, or remember, we lost our beloved Pit, Jesse, this past Decemeber. Last week, I got a yen to go onto Petfinder and search for adoptable female Pits. As expected, there were many. But, unexpectedly, I came across one that looked almost exactly like Jess did when we first adopted her.

When hubby got home that night, I asked him to talk me out of emailing the contact. He did not. I was put in touch with the foster who called a few days later. The dog sounds absolutely wonderful and I was all ready to meet her. But when talking with my husband again he had some more, good logical questions. After some more Q&A and a good night's sleep, we decided it's not the right time for us to adopt a third dog.

Yes, you read me right. We already have two adult dogs. Our 11-year old Golden is actually one of the main reasons we decided not to adopt again. He is starting to slow down and require a bit more care. As it is, I have taken to walking the two dogs separately. Chloe, our hound, needs more exercise, while Buddy is needing less. Also, when we meet other dogs on the street, it's much easier handling one dog. Do I really want to walk a minimum of 3 times a day?

Another reason we decided to wait and rethink is our kids. When we adopted Jesse, we had no kids and thus, much more time to devote to her special needs. Yes, we've done it before and I could do it again. But I can't assume it will be the same. Our lifestyles have changed. People very often forget to consider this when they get the adopting-bug.

Finances also factored into our decision. We feed our current two a high-quality (cha-ching) diet of frozen raw and canned tripe. I don't want to have to cut back on quality to account for quantity if it's avoidable. The rescue dog would also have required a lot of up-front veterinary care that woulbe be better put aside for Buddy as he is aging.

While there would, of course, be emotional benefits to rescuing a third dog it's just not the right dog at the right time.