Bow wow pow wow is paws for thought

Sunday Mirror, Feb 4, 2007 by STEPHEN MAGUIRE

FAMILY summit around the kitchen table this week.

There was only one motion down for discussion, but it was a big one.

Would we or wouldn't we get a dog?

Ever since I was a kid I've wanted a mutt of my own.

The closest I came was sharing one with a friend when I was 12.

He was called Limp after he got run over by a bread van as a pup and developed his unusual walking style.

He always stayed at my friend's house but I paid for half his food and I could see him whenever I wanted.

He only lasted six months after his lack of pace and a milk van finally caught up with him.

The longing for another "Limp" never left me, even through my teenage years and my 20s.

But recently the little fella has been asking me when are we going to get a dog of our own.

There's already Scooby down the lane and Holly across the road, but nothing would do him but to get one of his own.

So we decided to sit down and write a list of all the good and bad things about getting a dog of our own.

For some strange reason there is one thing I always think of when I think of dogs and that is dog crap.

Is it just me, or is it every time you see a dog he is cocking his leg or depositing something even more sinister somewhere.

So the one thing I had against getting a dog was that the garden would end up like a minefield.

Of course this was far outweighed by the companionship the old mutt was going to bring to the house and the fun the kids could have with him.

Another bone of contention was that it had to be walked everyday which is a good thing because it might give yours truly the excuse to get fit again - another positive.

It also had to be fed, but we agreed that as the little fella got older it would be his job to make sure he was fed and watered each day.

Another negative was that we'd have to shell out for the cost of the mutt, a kennel for him and of course vet fees if he ever got sick.

I could see the little fella's puzzled face as he realised there was a little bit more to having a dog than just having a dog.

There was also the question of what if he got out and decided to eat next door's cat or deposit a few nice surprises on their driveway.

And of course there was the question of who would look after him whenever we went on holidays?

The chairman (that's me) said that overall he was in support of the motion of getting a dog.

However, he stressed that if the dog was anything less than two feet tall, was called fluffy or shed too much hair, it would accidentally follow in the footsteps of "Limp".

Ideally it should be a Golden Retriever, called something like Madra, which cleaned and fed himself.

It was decided at the family summit that the matter of getting a dog should be revisited at a later stage - perhaps in March or April when the weather was a bit better.

There were a couple of obvious advantages to doing this the chairman pointed out.

The first was it will be brighter when bringing the mutt for a walk.

And also the lambs belonging to the farmer next door will have a fighting chance of getting away if Madra ever takes a shine to them.

I'm just wondering if all families have these dilemmas when deciding to get a dog or not.