Will the third time be the charm?

We got our first family pet in late 1999 when we got Coco, our big black cat. Coco has been the dream pet...easy to take care of, affectionate without being overly needy, friendly in an almost dog-like way.

We love dogs, too, and Alex especially wanted a dog badly. Dog was actually his first word. We finally got our first dog in 2003. Our beagle, Lily, was beautiful and sweet, but she presented challenges that we hadn't dealt with before. She was incredibly difficult to house train, she was hard to confine (an escape artist), and she, like all dogs bred for hunting, was a compulsive follower of her nose. An accidentally left-open gate led to her demise when she was hit by a car in front of our house.

Devastated, we didn't feel ready for another dog until 2006, when we were settled in our new house in Arizona. Learning from our experiences with Lily, we decided we would like to get a grown dog, rather than a puppy. We still wanted a small dog, since we have a small house and small yard. I did some research and narrowed my top choices down to three breeds: pug, Boston terrier, or French bulldog. All 3 breeds have some similarities. Short hair, small bodies, and cute "smooshed" faces that I've always found appealing. The pug had a few more health issues than the others, so that was my third choice. French bulldogs were great, but seemed harder to find and beyond our acceptable price range. So that left the Boston terrier as my first choice. After researching Boston terriers and waiting for a good time to start a dog adventure again, Cristina saw a little black and white dog, a basenji mix, for adoption at PetSmart. He seemed perfect...small, short haired, full-grown, and inexpensive. After some deep thought and family consultation, we adopted Cade.

Cade was full of life. Maybe too full for us to handle. He needed a lot of exercise to burn that energy. And since he'd been a stray, his housetraining wasn't where we thought an adult dog's would be. Worst of all, Alex's play would constantly get Cade riled up and crazy, which would then lead to Cade jumping on people and nipping and biting. We tried a private trainer, which had some nice results, but the fact remained...Cade required a lot more work than we felt we had the time and energy to give. My parents had just lost their dog to old age, and when they enjoyed Cade so much during a visit, we asked if they would like to "adopt" Cade for a while. 3 months after we adopted him, Cade went to live with my parents in North Carolina. He was happy there, my parents loved him, and we were dog-free again.

We all but swore that we'd never try to own a dog again. We even discussed getting a second cat.

Here in Phoenix, our friend Valerie markets and sells dogs for a breeder in Hungary (http://www.scrumptiouspups.com/). Valerie had been aware of our dog difficulties all through our Cade period. Before we got Cade, she had been working on getting us a Boston terrier, but things fell through and it didn't happen. Summer 2007, she had a "Frenchie" (French bulldog) that she was convinced would be perfect for us. She knew that what we basically wanted was a dog that had many of the attributes of a cat. Not hyper, not too much need for exercise and frequent walks, small, short-haired, sweet and affectionate, and relatively quiet.

Vivien fit the bill. Not only are Frenchies small, but Vivien is a small Frenchie, about 10 pounds. That's 6 pounds lighter than our cat! And she's used to cats, and does not chase them, which should bode well for Coco, who has yet to meet a dog he liked. She doesn't need to be walked a lot, she's very calm, mild-mannered. She doesn't jump up on you and get all crazy. She's not a licker. She can be playful, but not in a rough way. In many positive ways, she's like a cat. But like most dogs, she loves to be pet and rubbed and coddled.

So we picked her up yesterday and we're giving her a 3 week trial. She's 7 months old, so she's pretty much done growing. She needs some housetraining, as she was used to having a doggy door, which we don't have. She's never slept in a crate, and we believe in crate-training, so last night was her first night in the crate. She did fine. She peed when I first put her in it, but after I put a fresh towel in and went to bed, she didn't make a peep all night.

And she lightly snores. It's very endearing.

I love her. And most importantly, Cristina seems to love her. Cristina has had the hardest time with our previous dog experiences, and since she's at home more than I am, it's important that she really enjoy the dog. I hope third time is the charm.