Plan C

Plan A was not to have a dog.

As a little girl, Lauren became something of an expert on dogs.  She pored over gigantic books from the library, and could rattle off origins and personality traits of species I’d never heard of.  Her powers of persuasion were (and are) formidable, but The Meanest Parents In The World were unyielding in their practicality:  two working adults, two school-age kids, early morning walks, some allergy issues, other responsibilities…  The topic came up now and then but we stayed the course for more than a decade.

Fast forward about ten years.  Lauren (17) and Zack (15) are very good friends with each other.  While she was in France this Spring, we were touched to see how much he missed her.  Zack then started his own research on dogs and made some initial contacts.  He also walks a neighbor’s dog regularly, which creates a credibility problem:  he has more.  Plan B took shape calling for an older, mellow, mostly indoor dog with short hair or no hair.

Plan C arrived a couple of weeks ago in the form of a 1-1/2 year-old Sheltie and Corgi mix.  “Odie” (his formal name is Otis; his really-formal name is Odysseus) is sweet, cute, mellow, and long-haired.  He follows Zack around like a shadow, and their mutual affection is of the classic boy-and-his-dog stuff.

We’ll have to empty the vacuum canister more often, but for a family that resisted a dog for so long, it’s been a pretty smooth transition to loving this little guy.