My Pros & Cons list for getting a pet

This post is sponsored by PetArmor.

So, let me tell you our story… we used to have a dog, Duce (in the picture above).   He was really great when we didn’t have kids.  (He is a boxer, so he is full of energy!)   Soon, we had our kids and Duce lost a lot of our attention and our time.  He didn’t get to go on those LONG walks that he loved and he was really making more of a mess than I could keep up with (boxers drool a lot…).   He really didn’t seem “happy” anymore.  This is when our in-laws offered to let Duce move in with them… and we gladly accepted!  He always had a connection with them anyways and LOVES being with them…

So, he lives with our in-laws, where he happily gets all of the attention that he wants!!    We visit him often and still love him like we did when he was here, but we feel like he needed more attention at that time (he was still just a puppy, well three years old.)

This is our favorite video our Duce, watching the Golden Girls… (if you can’t see the video below, you can view it on YouTube by clicking here.)

That brings us back to today, six years later…  While Duce is a nine-year old dog now, happily living with my in-laws, our kids miss him a lot (because they live a few hours away).  The kids really didn’t even really know him when he was here, because he went to live with our in-laws shortly after the kids were born.  Nonetheless, they call him our dog and miss him often and love to see him when we travel back to our hometown a few times a year.  (ps- my husband and I grew up in the same town).

Anyways, our almost 8 year old and our 6 year old boys are BEGGING us for a pet!   Not just once or twice.  They ask on a daily basis!   They ask to bring Duce back home, but I feel like that isn’t fair at all because Duce is very happy living with my in-laws, so that is out of the question!

So, I am going to make a pros & cons list to help you decide and to help us decide:

PROS:
Loyal Friend
Cute
Fun for the kids
Guard Dog (they look scary, even if they aren’t scary)
Companion

CONS:
messy (our dog could shake his head & just make a mess everywhere!)
Husband & nephew are allergic
Runs down the stairs, which can knock over an unstable one year old
jumps on guests (unless we can train him not to… not the case for our boxer)
Expensive (vet bills)
Shedding (more cleaning)

Fleas aren’t on my CON lists, because I honestly don’t worry about fleas because we have always just used PetArmor.   We found a dog once that wasn’t treated for fleas and it was terrible!  We found her on my husband’s grandparent’s farm.  We knew that she was a stray because she was scared and had been roaming the farm for several days.  We picked up PetArmor Plus IGR for dogs (at Walmart) and treated her right away, before calling someone to come and help to find her a family.  I was glad that we did because Fleas and ticks multiply at an alarming rate and can threaten human health as well. Fleas can transmit tapeworms while ticks can carry the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. Getting control of these pests is vital and the solutions are easier than ever with PetArmor Plus IGR for dogs.  Did you know that Fleas and their eggs can live outside in grass, soil and crevices in sidewalks and live inside in rugs and carpets, floor cracks and bedding?  Find out more here: PetArmor Website,  on Facebook, on Twitter.