LOVE

In the last few months, I've talked a lot about love. The love between Jason and I, the love we both have for Colton, and the love of feeling like a family. Well...this morning, I felt a love renewed. Let me explain...

About two years ago, just before Jason's birthday, we made a life changing decision. Something I swore we would never do, because, well, let's face it...I'd never had it growing up, and was dead set against it. But for some odd reason, we both decided that we were going to purchase a dog. Because we lived in town, it wasn't going to be some big/outside dog. No, we'd watched how cute his parents shih tzu was, and we decided we'd like something similar. They don't shed, they're good dogs, laid back, etc. So, on October 6th, we found, bought, and fell immediately in love with Murphy Stockment, leaping shih tzu. All was fine and well for the next several months. Jason and I were learning how to care for someone other than ourselves, "great practice for parenthood some day" we'd tell ourselves. We'd blame his little accidents on ourselves, because we weren't being watchful with him, looking for those signs. We experimented with in the cage, out of the cage, in the laundry room...where to keep him all day long. Murphy loved to play outside, loved to run sprints around our little house, and even loved sitting on his perch, watching the traffic flow of St. Rd. 18 whiz by the front window. Changes came when we decided to move to the country. In our own three month transition period, Murphy became regular house guest at Grandma & Grandpa Stockments, while we resided with my parents in Wolcott. He handled it okay...but was all over the place between Brookston/Chalmers/Wolcott. His sense of routine was shot. Then came the new house, which meant new adjustments. We had about 2 months to get him settled in, and we did fairly well, until we threw another wrench in the plans. A baby. Again, Murphy did fairly well, until he realized, he was no longer the center of our attention. And, perhaps he hit his terrible twos...I don't know. Regardless...he suddenly found a newfound interest in shredding every piece of cotton toilet paper or kleenex that hit the trash can. He found it fun "have accidents" in our living room, or you string his food out clear across the dining room, rather than eating it out of the bowl in the kitchen. He enjoyed running off, and not coming back when you'd call for him after letting him out to pee. He loved running through the cow pies in the barn lot even when we told him that was "bad dog!"  Finally, most recently, he's been growling at us at 3am for a potty break (mind you, the child now sleeps all through the night, but the dog does not...) and has inch by inch destroyed one of our blinds hanging on the living room doors. I hope by now you see the progression this sweet, innocent, cute little leaping shih tzu has made.

Last night, it all came to a head. That's it. We're not giving him the attention he needs. We're not home enough to take care of him and play with him, and we hate having to put him in his cage all the time. Put an ad in the paper we decided. List him somewhere, and let's rehome him. We were together on this decision. We just can't afford to keep cleaning up the messes, losing sleep and dealing with the over all "puppiness" of this dog. So, I listed him on craigslist this morning, at 8:15. Determined. At 9:30am, I already had an email from someone in Battleground interested in him. And to make matters worse, she seemed like the perfect owner. She was a work from home kind of lady with two kids, 4 & 9. She just wanted a dog to be her buddy, ride around with her in the car while she took her kids here and there, and keep her company throughout the day. She even said he'd sleep her and hubby at night. It sounded like the perfect home for Murphy...which got me to thinking, and suddenly...crying at my desk at work while I read this email. Why are we not good enough to give Murphy a home like this? Do we really want to give up on him that easily? Is he really that bad of a dog? What would I do at night if I didn't have anyone to let out as soon as I get home from work? And Colton, he'll never get to know Murphy...Murph's been so good to Colton, they love to snuggle together. And suddenly, there it was. A love renewed. We both realized that as obnoxious as Murphy can be sometimes, and destructive as he can be (which, really, isn't all that bad...he doesn't do the above listed things daily...just here and there), he really is a good dog. We both talked about how cute it is that his new thing is to sleep under our bed, like it's his own little hide out. Or how he'll come running to you as soon as you walk int he door. Who else is so enthusiastic about seeing you at the end of the day? And, after a few tearful phone calls, and bringing up some great memories...we decided that we'll try harder with Murphy, that he is still a puppy, and that more often than not, he's a good dog. Afterall, we're not going to give up on Colton or anyone of our future kids if they are destructive or obnoxious, so how could we give up so easily on our first baby....Murphy? So, we regretfully emailed back our potential buyer, and let her know that he was no longer on the market.

So, the next time I log into Xanga, and I start complaining about what a pain Murphy has been lately, just remind me of this day, and how I felt when we almost gave him away. Hopefully, it will always be a love renewed. Now for some xanga love for Murphy...

This is Murphy the day we got him...no, the date stamp is not right...

See how much he loved us...he always has an eye on us...

Sleeping on the coffee table that he now prefers to chew on...

Murphy's throne...

Static Electricity is Murphy's best pal...


Okay...seriously, how could you not love him?