At 8 years old, Christopher is now the perfect age to have a pet to keep him out of our hair occupied. For the past few months he’s been talking about a snake, which has been gently but firmly vetoed by Mama.
We’ve had cats in the past, but our last cat had a little bit too much hunting instinct for Christopher’s taste and he has no interest in a new one.
Now Christopher is talking about a dog. That would win over the Mama vote, and I have fond memories of the dog I had as a child. We have enough room and open space for a dog, and our nearby business means we’re almost always home. Our wooden parquet floor is already all scratched all to hell, dog claws won’t make it any worse. I’m slightly allergic to dogs, but that shouldn’t be a problem. My experience has a child showed that the best cure is constant exposure.
Now Christopher isn’t talking about just any dog, he wants a Dalmatian. Why? “They’re so cute, and black and white are my favorite colors!” (N.B. Check if Christopher has inherited my color blindness.) It’s worth considering, but we need to decide whether the size, energy and personality of a Dalmatian would fit into our family, or whether a mixed-breed dog from the local shelter would be better for us. That’s going to take some time, and we’re not going to rush into a decision. We’ll visit some animal shelters and some breeders together with Christopher, and do a lot of talking about the responsibility for all us of bringing a dog into the family.
(PS This post is also a test whether MarsEdit works with the new Wordpress 2.5. Seems to work!)
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Does Mars Edit play nicely with WordPress’ native tagging (as of v. 2.3)? Does it support meta keys and values like the native WordPress editing screens do?
If yes, then I’m worried I might like it too much.
I’ve tried ScribeFire, but I didn’t like some of it formatty things (non-breaking spaces where I didn’t ask for them, and such). I’m really worried I’ll only want to blog from my Mac, and since that’s a mini, it’ll mean I’ll be compelled to purchase some kind of mobile Mac.
Think really carefully about dalmations. This is a breed that has been overbred and has both physical and emotional challenges.
You know, a mutt makes a better pet.
Thanks, Shelley. We’re not rushing into any decision, though. I hope my post made clear that we’re aware that Christopher “wants” a dalmation for all the wrong reasons (and he hasn’t even a seen a certain Disney film about dalmations).
The dalmation situation might be different here. Looking at the lists of certified breeders, I can’t find any within 50 miles, and that near Germany’s second largest city where there are enough people with money for such things. The hobby farms are full of horses, but not dogs, I guess.
@cliff1976 I’ve never used tags in WordPress, but MarsEdit claims to support them.
The WordPress edit page has meta keys? Never used them either.