My Children Want a Puppy

Once again, my children brought up the subject of keeping a puppy. I discouraged them by saying, "They're smelly." Alyssa said, "I know. We will clean it. You will grow to like the puppy. My friend said so."

Of course I'm aware of that. I used to have a pekinese as a pet. Initially, I wasn't keen but grew to love Susie. My father, siblings and I (were in our young adulthood) were busy with our work / studies etc, but we did our best to take care of Susie. We brought Susie along to many places, including shopping centres, parks, Mc Donald's (they used to allow pets in). But still my brother, Terence, felt that we had not done enough for Susie. I could tell Terencfe was (and still is) a dog lover. When Susie fell sick, my brother, Terence, gave me 2 fifty dollar notes without hesitation and told met to bring her to the vet. He had to rush to work. Once, he took some meat from the kitchen to feed a stray dog nearby our flat. "The poor fellow was howling away," he told me. On another occassion, while driving, he spotted an abandoned dog on the opposite side of the road. He then made a U-turn intending to pick it up. He was dissappointed when he couldn't locate it. When Susie passed on, he was the one who sent it to Mt Pleansant to be cremated. He didn't allow me and my sis to follow because he felt we were too distraught by the loss and would cause a scene in public.

I feel that neither I nor my children are ready to keep a puppy, nor any other pets. "It is a heavy responsibility and I don't think we have time for a puppy," I explained to them. We will discuss again some other time. They keep their hopes high.

Terence has daughters who are dog lovers like him. However, my sister-in-law has an adversion to dogs. So they have to give up the idea (completely, I think).