Dog Envy

So I have a major case of dog envy. I know I can't have one right now. Our house just isn't set up for it, with flighted parrots and all. We have a house that's pretty open, and I have no way to safely contain the parrots in order to let the dog outside, unless I were to put them all in their cages every time.

Additionally, Rocky and Calypso have been a bit dog aggressive in the past, and of course I worry about a dog killing the birds, so I think our current house is just a bit too small to happily house the parrots and a dog.

But it is so hard to be responsible and not add a dog to our house.

I was surfing the Internet last week and stumbled upon the Senior Doberman Project and it was all I could do to not send in my application for one of these older pups. I was rationalizing away: if I adopt a 10 year old dog, he's probably not going to be aggressive against the parrots (especially the ones that basically just need hospice care), I can work around our house layout and let the dog out through the door in our garage, we have the financial resources to pay for additional vet work an older dog may need, etc., etc.

What's really making it hard is that the building where I work is currently being painted, and the painters have been bringing their 2 Australian Shepherds. Every time I walk to/from my car (usually 4 times a day), they come over, begging for attention. One tries to follow me into the building. They are obviously very well loved and social -- they don't beg for attention in a "I'm deprived" way, more like a "I love people!" way.

We'll probably be in our house for 2-6 more years, depending on if we have to move out of the area should Thomas decide to do a fellowship elsewhere. That's a long time to wait for a dog, but I have to stay strong and resist the temptation. But why does it have to be so hard!!!