because what we really need right now is a puppy...

 Just like there is no good time to have a baby, there is definitely no good time to get a puppy.  Especially when your entire house (life) in under renovation and there just aren't enough hours in the day (week, month, year) to begin to make a dent in the to-do list.

We had a dog for 14 years.  He died seven years ago. We have had seven years of doglessness (note: not petlessness which is an entirely different category). Two of our three children have been pleading for a dog. For years.  As the years go by the pleading gets more creative, with letters to Santa and the Easter Bunny. We have said:  no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO, yes??

Which of course teaching them that the more persistent you are, the more you can possibly finally wear down your parents.  Great life lesson.  But I digress.

Actually, we have had two close calls...  My helpful Mother actually brought a puppy to last June's birthday party.  We said NO and made her take it back.  That was fun.  Then we went to Puerto Rico in November and found four puppies born under the neighbor's truck.    The mother was a starving stray, very skittish and we couldn't get near her never mind catch her.  We took the puppies to the animal shelter who tried to save them, but they didn't make it.  It was absolutely heartbreaking.  We considered adopting a different dog from the PR shelter, but we were too sad. Then we found out they fly the dogs to Massachusetts and a number of them end up at the shelter in OUR HOMETOWN!

If that isn't the universe speaking, then it certainly is a lot of puppy-related coincidences.

In December, our Elf on the Shelf, Jolly received a letter stating "I would really like a puppy for Christmas, but if you can't I understand..."  followed by a phone call from the big guy himself (AKA Santa) and finally we agreed, that in the summer, once school was out and I had 8 weeks off of work we would rescue a puppy, hopefully from Puerto Rico.

So, this spring I did what any potential future dog adopter would do, I began stalking the adoptable puppies at the local animal shelter and saving them to my Pinterest board (note: all these puppies pictured have been adopted).

Follow The Pigeon Wants a Puppy on Pinterest.

I discovered that the puppies usually arrive on Monday or Tuesdays.  They are spayed/neutered usually the day after they arrived, and then they are available for adoption at the end of the week, usually on Thursdays or Fridays.  Most were adopted within hours of being available!  Those puppies go fast!  I had no idea there were so many other crazy people out there looking to rescue a puppy.

Anyway, last Friday we decided to go a look at the puppies.  This was a bad idea.  You cannot go and look at puppies and play with puppies and then go home without one.  What was I thinking?   I blame it on my subconscious. Of course we met the sweetest puppy who loved playing with the kids, who didn't bark (not once until we got home and she saw herself in a mirror), who seemed very friendly and who came home with us that day...five weeks early.

The husband has not quite forgiven me yet.  He wants to know what happened to our summer puppy agreement. The last time he checked, it was still spring.  I need to encourage him to get these things in writing.  So I am in trouble.  Again.

In time he will come around.  I am sure he will, and until then, well...perhaps I can give distract him with a bathroom to renovate...