A Man and His Dog

When I returned home from Florida Tuesday night, the first thing I thought as I walked through the door was NOT, thank God I’m home.

Instead I thought, What the *BLEEP* is that smell?

Ahem.

You see, the kids and I were gone for 14 days.  For 5 of the 14 days, Lee was also gone.  For the remaining 9 days that he was home, he worked long hours which means our dog had the run of the joint for 14 DAYS.

And our house smelled like a dog had been living in it for 14 days.  She’s a good dog so there were no accidents on the floor (bless her heart) but the house just smelled like a dog.  And an old person…I don’t know what to think about that…

I don’t know how Lee survived because I could hardly breathe.  The only room that didn’t suffocate me, thankfully, was my bedroom.  And her bed is in our bedroom, which leads me to believe that when we’re away, she sets up shop in the living room.

But not on the furniture because she’s not allowed. 

And I walked the length of my couch with my nose pressed to the fabric and my butt up in the air inhaling deeply just to make sure that she obeyed the rules while I was gone.  Unless she figured out how to cover her tracks (which clearly, given the stench in the rest of the house, she has not), it appears that she is indeed staying off the couch.

So yesterday I hauled my kiddos to the store where I stocked up on Pine-Sol, Swiffer Wet Jets, Pledge, rags and food since my husband apparently lived on chips and salsa while we were gone.  Since the weather here is still bizarrely beautiful, I opened the windows, kicked nudged the kids out the door and gave my house a good old fashioned scrubbing.

I think it helped a little.  But only a little.  Now I’m just paranoid.  I keep rounding corners and sniffing the air (a bit like a dog myself) and I swear I still smell that oldladymustydog smell.  Not that I think old ladies smell like musty dogs or anything.  You know, it’s just sometimes – oh, never mind…

I think we need to get new carpet, really.  But I don’t want to buy new carpet, because Lee and I are already talking about the trip we want to take next year for our 10th anniversary (it’s gonna be good), and I don’t want boring carpet to take the place of an awesome vacation.  Is that so wrong?

Honestly, I’ve illuded to it before, but we really are thinking about giving our dog away.  She’s a great dog – we seriously couldn’t have found a better family dog.  She’s sweet, great with kids, fun, obedient, hardly eats anything at all, which means it costs next to nothing to keep her and so on and so on.  The problem is that she is a bit needy.  She requires a lot of attention – a lot more than we’re able to give her.  And she’s extremely athletic and we don’t have time to give her the proper exercise.

In short, I feel like she’s leading a sad little life with us and would be better with a family that actually had the time for her.

But every time I think about giving her away I get cold feet.  She has become a part of the family whether we like it or not and it breaks my heart to think of abandoning her. 

So I’m not sure.  If I knew I could find a home where she would be loved and well taken care of, I think I’d be able to do it – but I won’t just give her to anyone.  And I refuse to take her to the pound.  There’s no way I could live with that.

What do you think we should do?  Should we tough it out and keep her with us or find her a new home?  Ah!  It’s a dilemma.