Dogs Free to a Good Home Any Home But Ours

I have HAD it with our dogs. They are killing me and I am, for the first time, seriously considering giving them away. The breaking point was today when I had to ask our neighbor to come over to sit with in the house with the sleeping children while I had to run a quick work errand and BOTH dogs barked so much that Henry woke up. Ugh. Thankfully he went back to sleep, but I am still angry. {A bad emotion to be channeling when you blog, but whatever!}

Culprit #1:

Leia

Background: Named for Princess Leia in Star Wars. She was born on my 21st birthday and Jason and I got her on Halloween weekend in 1999 from the humane society. She was 8 weeks old and 3 pounds. She will be 9 in a few weeks {no birthday jokes in the comments section}. She is "officially" a Dachsund- Poodle mix, but I don't see that. She's just a mutt.

Trademarks: Barks (yips) at anyone who thinks about coming in the door and/ or knocking. Barks (yips) for food. Barks (yips) to go outside. All these can happen at any time of the day {or night}.

Quirks: Makes you let Luke outside when she eats so she can eat by herself.

Positive traits: Still has some spunk in her and loves to play with you- even though she's getting older. Will allow children to pull on her tail and pet her. House trained. Very smart.

Loves: Sitting in your lap and being petted.

Hates: Luke.

Culprit #2:
Luke
Background: Jason and I had said that if we got another dog we wanted a male Bishon and we would name him Luke. My co-worker and friend, Dionne- from the Space Center, came into work one day and asked me if I wanted to take a new dog they had gotten. He was a male Bishon named Luke. So, of course we had to take him. We got him in August 2003 and he was still a puppy, but I'm not sure of his birthday. He's a Bishon and Poodle mix. Named for Luke Skywalker from Star Wars- Leia's brother {sorry if that was a movie ruiner for you}.

Trademarks: Barks very loudly and abruptly at all squirrels, chipmunks and neighbor dogs. Is not house trained. Likes to pee on any corner or new stack of anything that you have on the floor. Doesn't like stairs. Overweight.

Quirks: Only walks certain ways around the house. For instance, he will walk around the whole house to go outside instead of directly to the door.
There are certain areas where Luke doesn't like to be petted. He will growl, then snap at you. Not great with children.

Positive traits: Eats anything that's dropped on the floor by children. As in, I haven't bent over to pick up/ sweep crumbs since we've had him.

Loves: Being petted. Long walks. Leia.

Hates: Above mentioned neighbor dogs.

I know there are many good reasons to have dogs. I just can't think of any of those right now. And, when you think about dogs financially (specifically these dogs), it definitely doesn't make sense.

Here is what we're paying for the dogs (just off the top of my head- I know there are more things):

Trips to the groomer- $45/ mo. on avg.
Dog food (only a certain kind that they'll eat): $10-$15/ week
Dog sitters: $40 every weekend we go out of town
Vet bills: $800- $1000/ year

There was a time when I loved the dogs, happily provided for them and lovingly walked, fed, bathed and took them to the doctor. Here is a picture from that time:
This was summer 2005 when I was pregnant with Ollie and our air conditioning went out. I had a fan blowing on me, no makeup on, was sweating, but still allowed the dogs to lay on me. Now that is love.

I wish I could muster up some of that love now, but it is all gone. Maybe it's the kids or work or life- I don't know. But the love is GONE. Poor dogs. If anyone out there wants the dogs {and I don't know how from the above mentioned traits} you can come get them. You'll know it's our house from the loud barking when you get to the door.