Lamest. Wife. Ever.

Yep, that's me today: the lamest wife ever (LWE for short)... Why, you ask? Read on, my friend and you'll soon see.

Meet Sugar, an 8-month old, rescued dachshund. Sugar was our dog for the 27 hours between noon yesterday and 3:00 pm today. However, she is no longer ours...

You see, ever since we bought our house, Shane has been asking if we could get a dog. Having grown up without any pets, it was hard for me to even imagine owning a dog, so it was hard to decide if I'd enjoy living with one. Luckily, everyone around us has a dog: Shane's parents have a yorkie, Amy and Change have a yorkie, Tom and Ashley have a puggle, the Guthries have frenchton puppies...so I've learned to love them all. We even babysat two dogs for a week at our house. Despite their many accidents and crying through the night, I was still warming up to the idea of having our own dog.

Shane eventually convinced me that the dog wouldn't feel neglected during the day while we were at work and sent me pictures of cute dogs whenever he found one on the internet. We even figured out a way that the dog would be able to go outside at it's leisure without letting it roam free in our house during the day. So we were all set and Shane started his search... Growing up, he had Brown Dog, who (in Shane's mind) was a dachshund, so that's what he wanted. After searching for a while, he finally posted a want ad on craig's list indicating he was interested in buying a dachshund and was directed to the Doxie Rescue website, where he filled out an adoption form. The lady called within a day saying she had Sugar, who she thought would be perfect for us.

So, Sugar came to visit... She was so cute and loveable. The lady from the rescue said our yard was perfect for her and was so excited that it might work out. However, the reason for her visit was so my skin could see if it was compatible with the dog...

You see, I have very fickle skin. It wasn't until the most recent warm spell that I really discovered how fickle it was. After holding the Guthrie's puppies in short sleeves, my arms would burn and itch and I'd end up with little bumps all over my forearms. They'd go away once I stopped touching the puppies and washed my arms off. That's not a big deal when I only see them once or twice a week, but we were worried that I'd have a similar reaction to Sugar, which would make me miserable (because enough arm itching eventually leads to nose itching, which leads to a stuffy nose, which leads to grumpy Jessica).

Well, within 10 minutes of holding Sugar, I had little prickles all over my arms and neck (she's a very snuggly dog). But the lady from the rescue saw how much we liked her and suggested we keep her overnight and try out some anti-allergy shampoo. We got the shampoo and washed her twice. Throughout the day on Saturday I interacted with 3 cats, 4 dogs, and Sugar, so I wasn't exactly sure which was causing all my itching. So this morning, I showered, put on clothes that hadn't been touched by any animal, put lotion on my arms (so my skin could recover from the day of itchy bumpiness) and went to church.

After church, Sugar and I sat down on the couch together. I hoped and hoped that my arms would be fine, but after about 20 minutes, the prickles began. By the end of lunch I had bumps all over... So, we had to call the lady from the rescue and have her take Sugar away...

Minus the itchy arms, it was really fun having a dog around. She got to meet almost all the dogs we know, found her new favorite toy, and played in grass for the first time in her life. She even slept in our bed last night (on Shane's side) because she wouldn't stop crying from her kennel...

We're hoping to do a few tests with the other dogs we know to see if I react this way to all dogs or if there's a pattern. Once we have a better idea, we'll try and find a dog that will work in our home. Until then, Shane will have to fill the void by playing with everyone else's dogs...