The Only Child

We thought about getting a second dog so that Mia could have a buddy to have fun with around the house.  She's a very social dog and loves being around other dogs and humans so we figured - why not?  People usually say that the big jump is going from 0 dogs to 1 dog, and adding another dog isn't that big of a deal.  That sounded great to us, we love dogs so the more the merrier.

We talked to her trainer who said that he would keep an eye out for us, and we went onto Petfinder as well.  Of course there was a super cute dog on Petfinder, he is a golden / lab mix who had a really nice personality and was about the same age as Mia.  I emailed the rescue group to see what that steps were when there is already a dog in the house - can they meet? etc.  We even filled out an application for this particular dog.  A couple voice mail exchanges were made and it was left as: the application looks great, they'd call us back soon to talk.  - This was over a week ago... and they never called us back.  During that period of time, we actually changed our mind.  It's not that we didn't want that dog, I Really wanted that dog!  However, we came to the sad realization that we are just not home enough to add another dog to our family and we can't afford daycare and dog walkers for two while also taking on the financial burden of all our new house projects.  We're gone from 7am - 7pm most days, that means that Mia goes to daycare (she really loves daycare) during the work week which is in the neighborhood of $350/month.  On weekends we will occasionally need to crate her while we spend a few hours doing errands / spend the night out doing social things, and then we have a neighborhood kid come by and take her for a long trail walk (which is totally loves) which is about $10 or like $50 per month.  All of that is totally affordable for one dog.... imagine doubling that.  Mia is super important to us, and we wanted her in our family no matter the cost but we can't fathom spending over $500 per month in daycare/walking because we're not around... that's the problem, we're just not around enough.  Until one of us is home more often on a regular basis, then this just isn't possible and it likely just might never be possible for us.

This is a real bummer, but it's better that we figured that out now before we got another dog in here.  There are other more important things in life, and Mia is a happy dog.  She has lots of friends at daycare, and at the park so she'll survive without a buddy at home.

I can't believe the rescue group never called us back...