The Egon Experiment is Over

Well, he is a beautiful French bulldog.  Egon spent a full week with us.  But Saturday, Valerie picked him up and he will be joining a loving family in Nebraska.

We decided we weren't ready for a second dog.

It wasn't because he peed on Alex's bed (on a rather expensive down quilt), requiring me to figure out how to successfully launder a down quilt.  (He peed on Bella's bed too, but that was just a regular old comforter.  Still inconvenient, but not as big of a deal.)  And it wasn't because the very next day, he peed on Alex's bed again, on the same, freshly laundered down quilt.  As infuriating as that was, we know that it was a territory thing.  An adjustment period thing.

And it wasn't even because he bit Alex on Christmas day, drawing blood, after Alex got too close while he was chewing a rawhide bone.  We hadn't done the "dominance down" thing with all the kids, so Egon didn't see Alex as higher in the pecking order.  After this quick dominance exercise (thanks Valerie!) Alex could now take a steak from Egon's mouth without so much as a growl.

No, the reason we decided against a second dog is because I realized that it's more work than I want to add to my life right now.

It reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago.  A man of modest means was depressed that his house was so small and his wife just had their third child.  So he went to the village wiseman and asked what he should do.  "Get yourself 2 chickens."  Though this advice seemed strange, the man did as the wiseman instructed and brought two chickens home.  He squeezed their pen into the kitchen, which was now even more cramped.  He went back to the wiseman the next day.  "You need a goat."  So he got a goat.  It had to stand by the bed that he and his wife slept in.  He kept returning to the wiseman, hoping to get relief for his overcrowded home, but each time, the man advised him to get something else.  Soon he had 2 chickens, a goat, 3 dogs, several old tires, 8 pigeons, a rusty bicycle, 4 cats, and a cow, all crammed into his tiny shack.  When he went to the wiseman the next day, he put his foot down.  "We have no more room!  We have to eat our meals with dogs between our feet and at night the cow stands over our bed and keeps me awake.  Please help me!"  And the wiseman said "Take all those things out of your house now and give them away, and your problem will be solved."  The man did as he was told, and was amazed at how much room there now was in his home for his himself, his wife, and his 3 children.  They all felt like they lived in a mansion.

So the problem with Egon wasn't so much space, although our house is not that big, but just the extra work of tending to another animal was not something I wanted to add to our busy lives.  Having Egon for a week reminded me of how easy Vivien is.  Egon had some traits, some habits, that Vivien just doesn't have.  He was more of a licker (not our favorite).  He jumped up on everything (including our bed).  He liked to roam if he got out the door, and didn't come when called.  I know all these things are trainable behaviors, but that's exactly my point.  I don't have the time right now to deal with modifying these behaviors.  Or I should say I didn't want to make the time.  It made me appreciate how great of a dog she is.  So for now, Vivien will be our only dog.

Thanks for the visit, Egon.  And remember that it was nothing personal!