OPEN LETTER TO PARENTS WHO WANT A DOG

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Dear Parents who want a dog and are raising children,

     I am sure you have heard it all before like "You'll end up taking care of the dog!" and you have probably closed your ears to the advice of outsiders. But, I am telling you to seriously think through keeping your family just the way it is. Why you might ask? I thought you would say that. I put together a list of scenarios that may or may not change your ever wavering heart for becoming a fur parent.

     With dogs come many responsibilities like: taking them out when you are trying to feed your kids breakfast, cleaning up accidents your dog has made while trying to get the kids and the groceries in the house, remembering to give them water after your kids have played in the bowl and spilled it all over the floor, picking the piles of poop up while trying to juggle a leash and two babies, telling your toddler to stop pulling on your dog's hair and modeling over and over again how to gently pet your dog, feeling guilty when your dog wants you to pet them, but you shoo them away because you need a minute to yourself, taking your dog on real life walks and not just the kind where you walk them out for two seconds to let them use the bathroom, having a contingency plan for the long days you have planned out of the house and how your dog is going to properly dispose of their feces and urine, and not finally, but I will wrap up with the responsibility of having to spend more money on finding people to watch your pet when you want to go on a family vacation. 

     You see, the struggle of being a fur parent as well as raising children is real. Do you think you can still fit in time for yourself? Do you have the stamina it takes to get through the list of responsibilities in the above paragraph and much more? If, yes I said if, I could go back in time and tell my college self to push through the loneliness and attachment to the idea of wanting a dog, I would. I would tell me to save my 'dream' until later.  The later might never come, but the stress and time wasted on shedding tears over feeling crazy would be well worth it. 

Your parent friend,

Rachel