Life With A Dog In The House

  I am not a "dog in the house," kind of person.  
As far as I am concerned, dogs belong outside along with every other member of the animal kingdom. Dogs stink, chew on things and make lots of noise. On the other hand they can make good pets and I have often been glad for our big dogs, living in the woods as we do. But those dogs have lived outside and all of their dirt stayed outside with them.`
   When we first thought about getting a service dog, I thought it was a great idea. Then Dean reminded me that the dog would need to live in the house. I thought that would be okay, after all we wouldn't be getting a dog for a number of years anyway. I would worry about it when the time came.
   Then Emmie died and Joseph's behavior problems became more pronounced. We promised the children another puppy and it only made sense to look for a puppy who could help Joseph. There was one problem, where would the dog live? I refused to think about it, hoping a solution would present itself, it didn't.
     Monday evening Kobi slept in his dog carrier in the basement. Slept is to generous a term for the howling, yowling and whining that woke us from a sound sleep and left us all bleary eyed. Tristan gave up sleeping in his bed and slept on the basement sofa instead but even then Kobi kept up his racket. 
   Last night, Tristan came into our room and said in a shaky voice, "Kobi just won't sleep!" So the dog was banished to the shop for the remainder of the night and we all slept in peace and quiet.
  The novelty of Kobi is wearing off and today the responsibility of watching him is constantly being shuffled from one child to the next. Tristan isn't as diligent in taking him to the potty and Kobi had several accidents today. Kobi chewed on my rug and dumped his water dish umpteen times. 
   I don't think Tristan realized all the work that would be involved when he agreed to train Kobi. One evening several weeks ago, Tristan was having a hard time accepting Joseph's disabilities and he asked Dean if there was anything we could do to make Joseph better. Dean told him there is one thing we are thinking about and told Tristan we thought a dog might help Joseph. The dog would need lots of training, though, "Would you be interested in training him?" Dean asked. It took a little convincing to persuade Tristan but he soon got into reading and researching how to train your own dog. 
  The fact that I have spent the past two days with a nasty flu probably isn't helping me feel loving towards this cute, little trouble maker. The children have been fending for themselves, this is their first week of summer vacation, mom has the flu and they are responsible for a dog, no wonder things look n sound a little chaotic around here!
   So if you stop by in the next several days, watch your step, you might find dog food on my kitchen floor and a cool whip dish of water setting just inside the door or you might see Lia standing on the table screaming and Kobi with his paws on the chair trying to get up to her. Lia is still dreadfully frightened of him and he seems to delight in chasing her. We needed more chaos, right???
    Someone told Dean it isn't very "Mennonite" to have a dog in the house. Dean agreed but like he told me, "Sometimes we have to think outside the box." I replied that sometimes I would rather it be someone else who is doing such unconventional things.

Lia isn't afraid of Kobi as long as he is sleeping