ARGGGGGGG!!! Not A Pirate Post.

I'm just fed up.

After this- no more pets. I swear.

Today I was playing Buddy's favorite game...throw the rope. I throw the rope across the room- and he runs and fetches it and brings it back to be thrown again til I decide I'm exhausted and put the rope on the back of the chair to signal playtime is over. He could go on for hours...I know this because I played this game for two hours one night and he was still going strong when I called it quits.
Buddy has been extremely good for the past week or so- so I decided that I'd chance it and take him outside without his lead for a bit of a nicer (freer) game of fetch the rope.
Well, we went out, I threw the rope- he charged after it....ran past it and then ran back to me. So then I had to go fetch the rope and throw it again, after which he charged after it, ran past it, and ran back to me.
Twice more we did this routine before he decided enough was enough and promptly ran off towards the house three doors down (his girlfriends house) completely ignoring me calling him back.
So Paul and I end up having to go after him, Paul on foot while I got in the car in case Buddy decided to make a run of the neighborhood instead of coming to Paul when he called him, which is usually the case.
Luckily, Buddy decided to come back when Paul spotted and called him so the car wasn't necessary this time, but the fact remains he still ran off .............again.

It seems our entire lives revolve around our pet. That's just how it seems at the moment.

We haven't had a vacation in 5 years. So we decide to take a few days off, but Buddy isn't very sociable so we don't have the option of having someone just come by and let him out and feed and water him while we're gone. We have to find a kennel to board him for the two nights we'll be gone.

So I call two dozen places- and they all say the same thing......he has to have paperwork with his vaccination records to be boarded.
He just showed up on our doorstep when he wasn't hardly old enough to be weaned and has always been an inside(mostly) dog so we haven't gotten his vaccinations. So now we have to get those at 85 dollars. Then the rate for kenneling him is another 16 dollars a day, but whether or not we pick him up on Sunday afternoon, they still charge us for Sunday night. Add another 50 dollars. And now we need to treat him for fleas BEFORE we bring him to be kenneled which is yet ANOTHER 20 dollars. So we're almost to 160 dollars for him before we even begin adding up costs for US.

I think maybe we should just go get his vaccinations and get him treated for the fleas and then just take yet another day-trip and save up til I get my vacation paycheck in July so we only have to pay for having him Kenneled while we're gone as opposed to all these costs hitting us at once.

All these expenses we weren't expecting are adding up and I certainly don't want to drive four or five hours there, spend 6 hours walking around just looking at stuff, then have to drive four hours back again because we can't afford to spend the night and the dog needs to be let out and fed. We did that last time and my back hurt for days and we didn't even stop and walk around on that trip either.

I just want to be able to GO and DO something without having it turn into a major undertaking.

I'm tired. I'm sick. And I don't want to deal with the stress.

I KNOW having a pet is a big responsibility that has to be dealt with. But for years it's been someone or something always being put ahead of my wants and needs...........and right now I NEED to relax and DE-stress and this isn't doing it for me. Not even coming close. I'm almost to the point where I want to scream that I don't Effing CARE what needs to be done- I just want to get some QUIET TIME with my husband. PERIOD.

Damn the job- Damn the chores- and damn the pet.

So in the future, I don't want another pet unless it's a fish.


Just sayin'.