Charlie Bowser

Having a dog is a good window into what is will be like to have a baby.

My theory is that you should start with a house plant, if one of those live, try a fish, then maybe a hamster or some small animal. If you can handle that, a dog is the next big step into taking care of a being other than yourself. Another recommendation is taking care of other peoples' kids. You can see a lot about how to rear a child that way. Then, you might be ready for the challenge of having a child of your own. And that, as I hear, is nothing that anyone is ever ready for. You just kind of do it, somehow.

After years of waiting, we finally got a dog. We found him from an add in the paper that a family put in. They had to find a home for him b/c they were moving, so we adopted him at 1.5 years old. He is a pure bread basset hound. So full of personality that it makes you wonder how he doesn't talk to you! Make no mistake, he can jump into the back of an SUV, run like mad, and stand on his hind legs for 5 maybe 5 minutes. He's no lazy bones.

He is very well behaved. We are being pack leaders (Ceasar Milan would be proud). He is so needy though! We are thinking about getting a friend for him so he isn't so bored when we leave and so I can have him happy when I only pay attention to Jack-a-boy.

Dogs rock. Check out the flying basset.