Do We Even Want a Dog?

”Do we even want a dog?” We’d been thinking about it, talking about it, dreaming about it but still weren’t sure it was what we wanted to do, knowing the love, care, and commitment that come with owning a pet, any kind of pet. Up until now, our lifestyle had been one of travel and exploration, foot loose and fancy free we had been. BUT lately, we’ve been settling in here in Lander and somehow, a dog seemed to go with the territory.

Back and forth we went in our conversations about having a dog….do we or don’t we. Should we get a puppy? A purebred? A rescue? What kind of a dog would we want? Couldn’t make up our minds. In a past life, my husband was blind and had a series of service dogs from Guide Dogs for the Blind so I learned a lot about guide dogs and how to maintain their training but had no idea how to get there with a non-working dog. 

Our past motto has always been, if you can’t decide, then don’t do anything. So that’s the route we took this time, continuing our daily affairs until we dropped in to see a friend at Edward Jones for a Christmas Open House. Of course, the conversation turned to dogs. A little while later, we received a call from our friend to tell us that The Lander Pet Connection was having “AN EVENT.” Again we dithered, undecided, afraid to go in the event there would be the cutest puppies there and we wouldn’t be able to resist taking one home. BUT in the end, we decided to just go and see what was what. 

Yes, there were the cutest puppies and we watched them for a while and chatted with “rescue experts” Ellie and “D”. They took us on a visit to see the dogs waiting for their “forever homes.” Ellie and D asked us if we might be interested in fostering to begin with. We thought about it and decided that that might work to help us decide if we wanted a longer commitment, as in – adoption!

They introduced us to Marley, a 9 month old pup who’d had some kind of accident (car accident most likely) when he was 5 months old which shattered his left front leg. It didn’t heal well and in addition to some deformity in the leg, he had a deep infection of the bone which wasn’t healing even after antibiotic treatment. When we met him he was labelled a “medical foster” and had already been scheduled for surgery to have the leg amputated just before Christmas. 

We sat outside, in the sun, watching Marley, getting to know him, and very quickly falling in love with his sweet, gentle, loving nature. As quickly as that, the decision was made. Marley came home with us the same day.