The result of LOTS of research!

Earlier I shared a little of the journey my daughter went through before being allowed to get a puppy of her own. Below is the letter we gave her of all the tasks and questions she had to complete in order for us to discuss it further. She did above and beyond this, which further showed us her level of commitment and responsibility.

If you are facing the same situation (of a tween asking for a new dog or puppy) or are considering getting a new family dog or puppy, this might be useful.

…Shannon

Dear <name>

Thank you for your letter requesting a dog. The puppy you picked out is very
cute! However, before we can get a dog, we need you to do some more
research and planning, and provide us with more information.

1. Please check out a couple books from the library – one on training a
dog and one on caring for a dog. Read the books.

2. Do some research online about this breed of dog.

• How big will the dog get?
• What is its temperament?
• How long will it live?
• Is it a dog that is really tolerant of children? (remember any dog
  we get has to endure your little sister pulling on it. We don’t want it hurt or her bit)
• How much social interaction does this breed need?
• How much training?
• Is it easy to train or will you have to spend a lot of time training
  it?
• How strong is the dog?
• Will you be able to walk it or will it walk you?

3. And finally, we need you to put together a plan for the dog.

• How would we get it?
• Where would it live?
• Who would feed, water, walk, and bathe it?
• Who would train it?
• Who would pick up its poop?
• How much does it cost to have a dog? While this puppy is free, we
  need to know what the costs are going to be: food, spaying/neutering, shots,
  training, equipment (leash, collar, house, toys, etc.), boarding or pet
  sitting frees, grooming, etc.
• Talk to a dog owner to find out what else you need to know and plan
  for.

Once you pull this information together (on paper) and give it to us, we
will discuss it more. We need to know that you fully understand what type of
responsibility it is to care for a dog. We need to decide if this breed of
dog is right for our family and we need to make sure we understand the costs
and can afford it.

We love you and look forward to working this out with you.

Love,

Mom and Dad

Jazzy, my daughter’s new Bichon Frise puppy

Last week, on my daughter’s 12th birthday, we added a new member to our family – a new Bichon Frise puppy.  But this wasn’t an easy decision.

Eight months ago, our then 11 year old daughter approached us (again) about getting a dog. Up to now my answer has been “No, not until you can completely take care of it yourself”  But this time was different.

She came citing all the areas she had demonstrated being responsible (specifically babysitting and doing some light housekeeping for another family), and how she felt she understood that she would responsible for the dog and what that would entail.

Now our family already has six cats and five fish, besides the six humans that live here. So I really don’t need anything else to take care of, but I felt that she had a good argument and her father agreed.  And so we wrote her out a list of things she needed to do before we could agree to this.

I expected it would take her a while to do everything on the list, but I was wrong. She spent the next week researching her heart out. She did everything and more, learning everything she could about dogs, puppies, breeds, etc. She researched breeds, and then when she selected a breed she researched everything she could about that breed. She switched breeds three times –first it was a Pug, then a Beagle, and finally it was a Bichon.

But then she had to wait for us to be able to afford and find the dog she wanted. But it worked out perfectly. The week of her birthday, we found a 9-week-old Bichon Frise puppy, raised by a family (around kids!) near us. And so, on her birthday, we added a new member to our family.