How did I convince my husband to go from vehemently refusing to let me bring a dog into our home, to loving hikes with our two dogs and happily giving belly rubs 50 times a day? Here’s how….
When I was very young I was a sales rep for a computer company. In sales they teach you how to overcome every objection the customer comes up with to make the sale. To be honest, I wasn’t very good at sales. Now I wanted a dog. Desperately. It was time to get tough, time to break out the big guns and sell the idea of getting a dog to my reluctant husband, John.
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Not everyone likes the daily chores associated with having a pet. |
When someone is vehemently opposed to getting a pet it’s often because
they’re thinking only of the chores and responsibility of pet ownership, not
the unconditional love or the FUN stuff. There may also be
another underlying reason why they don’t want the pet, like maybe they were
bitten by a dog as a child or perhaps their neighbor’s cat was mean &
nasty.
My husband John grew up with 3 brothers, all close in age. Can you imagine a home with 3 mischievous
boys running around and no dog!? If ever
there was a household that needed a dog, there’s was it! They did have a neighbor with a nice dog, a
Collie named Major, which could be a plus in helping me make the “sale”.
During our many conversations, which basically consisted of me begging (no pun intended!) to get a dog. I knew
that one of the key reasons my husband didn’t want a dog was because he had
encountered so many “bad” dogs. As an
insurance rep, he often visited auto body shops in New York. Many body shops keep guard dogs on the
premises to help prevent theft. Sadly,
they train these dogs to be territorial and aggressive toward strangers. These
experiences affected John, his perception of dogs was that most of them
were unfriendly.
I was lucky to have grown up
with an amazing dog as my best friend. Although he had cats, my husband had
never known the joy of taking your dog for walks and hikes, playing in the yard
together, cuddling up on the floor to watch TV together, or the furiously
wagging tail and licks on your face as soon as you get home.
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There are so many fun things to do with a dog, hiking is just one of them! |
Not only am I an extreme animal lover, but I also
volunteered at our county animal shelter in Phoenix, AZ. Can you imagine volunteering day after day,
surrounded by so many amazing dogs but never being able to take one home!? Let me tell you, it was pure torture. I just had to convince my husband to get a
dog! I began to formulate a plan.
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Adorable dogs that were available for adoption at the shelter |
Knowing that John's main objection was thinking most dogs were mean, I
endeavored to show him how loving and wonderful dogs can be! I also had to let him know that I would
happily handle most of the chores like feeding, training, and walking the dog.
I started off by dragging him to every dog
adoption and dog friendly event I could find.
I would point out all the well socialized dogs and how well behaved they were. I would stop by all the dogs available for adoption and try to get him to interact with them.
I also found excuses to bring him to the shelter I volunteer
at, where I would point out this or that dog, how sweet and friendly they
were and talk about their breed characteristics.
“This breed of dog doesn’t shed at all!” I’d say, or “That breed of dog would be a
great hiking companion!”
Every time we
went to the mall I’d even drag him into the puppy store pointing out all the different breeds of dog and talk about their breed traits to see if any particular breed caught his interest.
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Getting a dog is a big decision, you and your partner should both agree that getting a dog is the right decision |
I watched lots of shows
on Animal Planet, especially Victoria Stillwell’s It’s Me Or The Dog. OK, so maybe that was just for me! At first he
couldn’t stand my non-stop Dog TV, but after awhile he would watch some of the
shows with me and we’d have discussions about the family and the dog
in the show. It opened
up a lot of great conversation for us. Instead of talking about how much I
wanted a dog, we were talking about dogs in general. He was slowly learning a lot about dogs and
dog behavior. I thought that if he could
just be around more “good” dogs and learn more about dog behavior and training
he would start to trust dogs and agree to get one.
This isn't Malcolm, but this little guy looks a lot like him |
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The time had finally come for us to get our first dog together! Here she is, our sweet girl Isis, named after the beautiful and loving mythological Goddess, Isis! |
This is one of my favorite photos of John and Isis. The look of love is unmistakable. |
It took a lot of time and patience on my part, but being on the same
page about getting a dog and bringing home a dog that John and I both wanted
was worth the wait! Our Siberian Husky, Isis is our first dog together. It was shocking to see that the guy who did NOT want a dog has so much love in his heart for her! I don't think either of us can imagine life without her now.
Two years after Isis came into our lives, I adopted Phoebe from the shelter I volunteer at and our little family grew by one more!
Our darling girl Phoebe posting in our front yard. She is such a joyful soul! |
Once you get a dog it's pretty much impossible not to fall in love :). We couldn't have dogs for a long time because we lived in apartments and they were not allowed. As soon as we bought our house we adopted Daisy. We both wanted a dog for our son but didn't realize how very much she would mean to our family!! I cannot imagine my world without a dog!!
ReplyDeleteMy husband was the same way! Also, he had lost his family dog about a year before we got Zoe so he didn't feel like he was ready for another one yet. I took him to the shelter to "just look at the dogs". We found Zoe and it was love at first sight! We brought her home and that was that! Then when it was time to get a second he was much more agreeable!
ReplyDeleteMy poor husband knew going in that I would always have dogs. When we got married, I had 3 cats! We bought our first puppy together soon after. We have not been without at least one dog in the last 34 years! I cannot imagine my life without one...or two! ☺ The love John has for Phoebe and Isis was very obvious at BlogPaws. ♥
ReplyDeleteBOL! My dad didn't want 1 dog, and now we have 2! He loves them to pieces, and wouldn't be without them. They're his little mates!
ReplyDeleteI just asked a thousand times everyday and he finally caved. I haven't won on 3, he may have become stuck at 2!
ReplyDeleteI was very fortunate that my husband loved dogs so that was never an issue. However, when we first met I had cats, several cats. He admitted he didn't like cats. We were not married yet, just dating. The deal was it's me and my cats or its not happening. Today we have three cats one that he openly admits is his cat, and he calls her to bed every night. It's amazing what happens when they realize just what kind of unconditional love an animal can provide. Now, not only does he love dogs but cats too, and we are all very happy together.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne
i grew up with 5 dogs, hubby had only grown up with 1, so he wasn't a stranger to dogs, but he knew right from the start that i was a dog person. so far, during our married life, we've had 3 dogs, but only one at a time.
ReplyDeletewags, bailey unleashed
hahahaha! omg, love this post Cathy!
ReplyDeleteღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!
It is important to choose the right pet parents for our lovable dogs.
ReplyDeleteHere's my problem. We have 2 dogs.A Spaniel and a Swiss shepherd I love them to bits but my husband seems mostly annoyed by their presence. The SPCA posted a picture of a puppy that is a Spaniel and Shepherd mix! One of the reasons why I rushed to get my dogs sterilized was because I knew that if they ever were to have puppies, I couldn't part with a single one. Now this beautiful little guy is sitting in a shelter and he would be what their offspring would look like. I'm really struggling with this one.
ReplyDeleteI also know that now probably isn't the right time to get a puppy. I'm 26 weeks pregnant with our second baby and already worried about where I'm going to find time for everything once baby arrives.
But then I see that little face and I just really really feel like I's be sorry if I didn't get this one out of the shelter.
I'm definitely the dog lover in our family, I had a dog before I was engaged, so my husband knew what he was getting into. I'm glad you were able to convince John that dogs are awesome!
ReplyDeleteI really want to have a pully but my husband if dead set against me having a puppy please somone help me convince him to let me have a puppy !!!!
ReplyDelete