by Cathy
If you've been following our blog, you know by now that Patti has recently become the proud new parent of a little smushy-faced, cuddly French bulldog named Gaucho. After years of repeated attempts with various pets (including a cat, another dog, birds, a guinea pig and a hamster, which they still have) and having all the stars align in terms of a buying a single-family home, moving to the suburbs, convincing her stubborn Argentinian husband to commit to a dog and at the same time, giving her daughter S a sibling, it all came to fruition recently.
As for us, we are in an opposite situation. We live in a second floor condo in the city of Chicago, we have two kids and not much space left and my husband has allergies to pet dander. Me? I've never been a dog person. I never coveted dogs when I would see other kids play with them in the park. I would never even go near them and was actually afraid of them until I got to be a teenager. In fact, this past weekend was the very first time I ever held a dog - Gaucho.
Way since before Patti got Gaucho, my kids would squeal in tight-hugged unison as they Googled pictures of cute little dogs or saw them on television. They would print out these pictures of dogs and put them up on their bedroom wall. In fact there is a collage of black-and-white dog pictures up adorning their room. Good grief, I thought. Why can't they just put up pictures of Justin Beiber or Lemonade Mouth or other cute little Disney characters the way I put up pictures of Duran Duran? They drop hints here and there by commenting, "Isn't that dog cute?" or "Which one do you like?" How could two non-dog lovers spawn kids with such a connection to dogs?
I keep reminding them that our living situation is not conducive to keeping a dog and that even more importantly, once the cuteness and playful factors wear off, dogs are a HUGE responsibility. My youngest one, Ari, not fully comprehending this, thought I was referring to how expensive they are, which is another point on my list of cons, and says, "Well, how much bucks are they??"
So for now, folks, instead of a Gaucho, we will contend with our Gucci, the adorable FAO Schwarz, caramel-colored stuffed dog sent all the way from the U.K. to my oldest daughter when she was born, by my good friend Sue. A Gucci ribbon taken off of a gift given to me from my husband became his leash and that's how Gucci, our dog, came to be.
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| Our dog Gucci and his brand-name ribbon leash. |
We've had Gucci now for almost 11 years and he's perfect. Adorable, quiet, provides hours of playtime fun, and cheap. No walks, no poop, no pee, no barking, no space hogging, no smelling.
What's funny is that he is the same size and color as Gaucho is now - parallel lives!
For now, he's the perfect little dog for our family, until we move or finally break down and give in.
