The Third Rail of the Brigham-Allen Relationship

Maybe therapy is the only answer. But I can't see spending big bucks on a therapist for me during today's economy and while we still don't have a college fund for either of the girls. Yes, the emotional third rail of our marriage has once again reared its ugly head and it is (drum roll please)... not money (we're both saver - types), not nookie, but yes, dogs. Yes, the "I want a dog" bug is back. Perhaps some of you may recall the 8000 annoying, tedious posts that I wrote about six months ago going on and on about dogs.

I must say that dog ownership has never been a big togetherness point for Mitch and I. Yes, he was a big supporter of my dog miya who I had when we met. And yes he was a great dad to Cleo and took excellent care of her and pretty much managed her cancer treatment single-handedly. But my obsession with dogs and somewhat neurotic need to always have a pet dog has thrown a monkey wrench into our relationship more than once.

There was the limping pound dog incident of 1998 (summary - two weeks sleeping on the couch because of dog fights - eventual re-homing) and now, most recently, the jeb foster dog debacle. The stress of the jeb situation and the tension/fights that inspired were enough to put me off dogs for a while. I was hoping that "not now" feeling about dog ownership would last a good long time.

But now it is back. The "where is my furry friend" feeling. Cats just don't cut it. I think I'm probably lacking some key human relationship gene/behavior/coping strategy and instead channel that energy into dogs.

Anyway Mitch is still strongly in the "are you insane? our kids are very little. we already don't sleep through the night. we already have piles of clean and dirty laundry in our living room. what about this situation says "let's introduce a needy, shedding, potentially biting NEW organism into this mix," camp. Yes, I can see how his viewpoint may be the one derived from the rational realm. But what can I say, that still doesn't erase the "my dog wherefore art thou" feeling...