Kids and dogs insights

Kids and dogs

There is something enchanting about kids and dogs.

Ever since I can remember myself I wanted a dog. My sister and I used to pull tricks on my mom, try to get her to sign a piece of paper that would later be filled out with a promise to get us a dog or a statement that allows us to bring a dog home. Of course she knew us well enough to never attempt to sign those papers and so we ended up trying different approaches; once we even tried to bring a dog while mom was away for the weekend, thinking she might let us get away with it if she comes back and sees we already have a dog and we are taking good care of it while also prove we can take good care of the house. But none of these had ever worked for us and she promised that when each of us grows up and has her own house, she would buy us any dog we would like. So when I got married and moved to live with my husband in our well maintained house, mom at her first visit asked what kind of dog I wanted and I laughed, finally realizing the point she was trying to make for all those years. 'too late for me' I thought, gradually giving up the idea of having a dog. But it all changed back again when my own kids got to the age of dog begging. Now I became the mom that was standing in the way for their dream, and suddenly having a dog was no longer a long lost dream of mine, that was their dream, but I could still feel that itch every time I saw owners walking their dogs or kids giggling and playing around with their canine friend. There are so many studies that claim that growing up with a dog improves so many different aspects in our lives; self esteem, confidence, satisfaction and happiness just to name a few. It is also claimed to increase life expectancy and overall health. I felt like there was a whole distinct experience I was missing. So we decided to get a dog. We went to at least a dozen adoption events but the small dogs were not for placement with families with young kids and the bigger dogs seemed too intimidating for my inexperienced dog owner kids. So we ended up getting a Pug puppy, which is also my husband's favorite breed ever since Men in Black came to theaters. She was eight weeks when we got her, not much bigger than a scrawl, but made such a huge mess!!!

Now she is already 4.5 months old and is growing up to be an amazing dog and an amazing canine friend for all of us. Her number one priority is food of course, but right after that she is all into us. Especially the kids. And when we hear the sound of their giggles and see the smiles on their faces while playing together with her or holding her like a baby in their arms (although she is almost 10 pounds and is getting bigger and heavier) we know that we are doing the right thing for our kids. And not only that, having a dog finally makes them realize what responsibility is and teaches them to care for others.