Thanks for all the feedback about Rocket. I respect everybody's opinion and have given people the same advice for as long as I can remember. I know all too well about the dogs and cats in shelters because I have $22,000 in debt from a rescue I ran the past couple years trying to save these animals. I placed hundreds of shelter cats and dogs and know what wonderful pets they make. I also had each one evaluated by an animal behavior specialist before placing them in a home and 99% of them had issues that needed to be addressed if they were to be completely safe in a home. I'm not saying that most rescue dogs have problems in homes, a lot of times people get lucky and the situations that would provoke the animal never come up. Just most shelters and rescues place them without paying for evaluations and training and then you don't really know what COULD go wrong. Many rescues I know have had really bad incidents because of this. I have to consider that I have 5 cats in my home that mean the world to me and that I will be bringing a newborn into my home. Even if I rescued a dog and had him evaluated, we don't have months to work on fixing those issues before introducing the dog to a newborn. I'm due in 5 weeks.
So to make a long story short, we have decided against a dog for now. I don't really think it is the right decision for us but everybody on the list and off the list seems to agree that a puppy and a baby would be too much. I don't want either one to feel cheated or neglected so I guess we will wait and see. If it was just me and my husband, we would rescue a Dane today. I just think we have to be more responsible parents than to go and bring a dog with a questionable history into a home with a tiny baby. With the puppy, we would start from scratch, do obedience, etc. I know what gentle souls Danes our and I have no concerns about a baby pulling at them or upsetting them. Raised correctly, they just aren't the sort of dog that would react. Thanks again for all the advice. I'm still looking at puppies every day but I will try my hardest to wait til after the baby is here before getting one. Amy Amy Weygandt Woof Wagon www.woofwagon.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com
