Epic Mom Fail

I'm feeling like a pretty crappy mom right now. I know a lot of families make this mistake, and I fell right into it.

Last week our neighbors were dog sitting their aunt's adorable 3 year old toy poodle Bruce. Bruce was so dang cute and getting a dog has been on my mind for a while. When I was doting on him, my friend said that they were thinking about selling him. I got excited, begged and begged Marshall (who was against it from the start), and we decided to "test-drive" the dog for a few days. Well, all it took was a few hours and we were all in love with him, but especially Mason. Marshall gave in and I decided we would probably adopt it as long as he checked out at the vet.  Then the next morning I started feeling not great about it, but I ignored it because it was so opposite of my initial feelings and Mason was so thrilled. But I kept feeling worse and worse about it. Finally on Wednesday it got groomed and shots and when they brought it back I was shocked at how small and delicate he was. His legs were exactly the width of my fingers. When he was all poofy he looked a lot bigger, but at this size he looked so fragile. I started having nightmares about the kids accidentally crushing it and being traumatized for life. So I got online and did some research and discovered that a simple shove off the bed or couch would easily break his legs. The next morning he was super-grumpy and nipped and each of the kids and wouldn't let Mason put on his leash to go for a walk. Mason was devastated that "Bruce didn't like me anymore" and we talked about how maybe he wasn't the right dog for our family. Mason sadly agreed, and made up some fliers saying his was Bruce's Official Dog Sitter. Later that morning we gave Bruce back to his owners. Mason was devastated and bawled for at least an hour. It broke my heart. I know we made the right decision but I so wish I had been less impulsive and realized that a tiny 5 lb dog was not a good fit for three rowdy boys a little earlier.  Here are a few pics of our precious short time with Bruce.

Comments

Mrs.Goates said…
I didn't realize it was a teacup poodle! Oh my gosh those things break like teacups - my grandma has had 2 of them. It was a good choice to take him back, even though the boys were sad... though a slightly bigger poodle would be better - maybe a toy?
8:28 AM
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