the dog debate

It's been raging in our house for some time.

Husband is keen, super keen. Me, I'm conceptually into the idea, but the reality... not so appealing. It's the logistics which concern me (obviously, as always, ad finitum blah blah blah); where will this dog poop? how often? who will pick up his/her poop? how often? where will this poop be disposed of? how often? ~ I think you can tell what my main cause for concern is? After 18+ months of literally dealing with someone else's shit, I'm oddly not that keen to take on another being who can't use a flush-loo...

And then - where will it sleep, what will it eat, where will it go for walks (and again, how often?), who will walk it, who will keep it from eating the cats, who will stop the cats from brutalising it, who will keep it from slobbering Frieda to death, who will keep Frieda from pulling it's ears until it's enraged to the point of maiming her for life. I think we all know the answer to most of the above questions... [clue: he/she works from home...]

But I do like the concept. We always had dogs when I was a kid, I love the companionship, I think Frieda will love one (once she's worked out the parameters of acceptable behaviour) - she's getting too strong to romp with the cats so a puppy seems the next obvious step - and then....

... I was awoken early this morning (light already, about 6am) by the sound of someone trying to get through the garden gate outside our bedroom. I crept through to the lounge and looked out the window to see the head and shoulders of a man on the inside of our wall, trying to get out. 

I called the amazingly efficient Police Sector Patrol, the perp got over the wall, I stood in the window shouting 'I can see you, you fucker!' (as one does), Husband roared out the front door and chased perp down the road, me hot on his heels shouting 'DON'T BE A HERO!', perp dropped the box of stuff he was carrying and shot off, cop car screeched round the corner seconds later and took off in hot pursuit, Husband came back shaking and adrenalin-pumped... 

The cops didn't catch the guy unfortunately but I don't think he'll be back around here in a hurry, and thank god the box of pickings weren't ours - we subsequently traced them back to a lodge 2 houses away, seems the thief fence-hopped through to our backyard looking for a way out - but after we'd all calmed down and secured the perimeter etc, we turned to each other and said: 'We need a dog.'

Watch this space....