Have we lost our doggone minds?

It’s early in the morning, I’ve just gotten to work and I receive a text from my husband. The text doesn’t include words, just a picture of two very cute puppies. I reply with some kind of jocose response about how our kids would die if we brought those puppies home. An hour later, my husband calls, says he can’t stop thinking about the pups and he’s taking a road trip to pick them up to bring them home. Of course, I couldn’t resist those faces either. 

We live on a farm with chickens and pigs and cows and horses. We currently have eighteen baby piglets in the barn, parent our three kids and run two businesses, so when I say we’re busy, we are really really busy… so let’s add two puppies to our mix. Oh, did I mention they’re Saint Bernard puppies? Have we lost our minds? Truth is, we need livestock guardian dogs to protect our animals from predators like the racoons and coyotes that seemingly love our chickens. The other truth is that dogs are a big, long-term commitment even if they are outside dogs. They require daily feeding and watering and attention, whereas our other animals could survive alone without humans for a few days. Those responsibilities can sometimes be limiting to two people like my husband and I who love to travel and see the world.

Despite the potentially limiting travel plans, there are so many wonderful things about children growing up with dogs. They learn responsibility, provide companionship, increase physical activity, and let’s not forget that it’s just outright fun! Dogs have a way of weaving themselves into your family like they are an extension of your unit. Their energy and presence become something you can count on in your day. And for us, knowing they are guarding a part of our life made the choice easy for us. 

Remington and Ranger joined our family by surprise and all our kids’ faces lit up one by one when they saw these massive puppies they could now call their own. Immediately, they were invested and it truly was a priceless moment for my husband and I to bear witness of. It was almost like, before our eyes, their hearts grew in size. They had something new to love, something new to love them back. What more could we want for them?

-by Destini McPherson