Little Brother

Some friends of ours moved from Michigan back to Utah this past weekend and needed a family to care for their dog until they could have it shipped to them. That is how Little Brother, the Beagle, came to be living with us. He arrived at our home on Saturday afternoon, and if the weather is warm enough, will be flying home to his family on Friday. Little Brother (or "Brody" as I've been calling him) has been teaching me a lot about what life is like with a dog.

I bought Brody a bone at Kroger today because I've noticed that he wants to chew on something, and we don't really have anything that seems like a good candidate for that honor. I handed it to him right before our afternoon walk. He reluctantly left it by the front door, and then picked it back up when we got home. At that point he started whining and asking to be let out. I've never seen him do this after a walk before, and thought maybe he had to go to the bathroom. I let him out and he took his bone and went right to the back yard with it. He found a pile of dead leaves under a saw horse and began digging. He dug and dug and dug, buried his bone, and then diligently covered it back up. What a cutie! It just melted my heart to see him do that with his brand new bone.

I have never lived with a dog before. I've been begging Dan for a dog ever since we bought our house four and a half years ago. The main reason I have wanted a dog is so that I can have a walking companion. Since Brody arrived, I have been out walking several times a day, in spite of the single digit temperatures. I can assure you that without a dog, taking a walk would not have crossed my mind this week. But in spite of learning first hand what good exercise motivators dogs can be, I also discovered that having four children, including one baby, and then adding a dog to the mix, is a bit more than I want to deal with right now. So when we say goodbye to Brody, I think I will also be ready to say goodbye to my dream of having four small children and a dog.