Dogs you can give back

I'm sure there are times when mothers would like to give their children back. When they're on the floor of the supermarket throwing a tantrum for example. Well, you can't really return children. Once they're born, they're yours, which may be why some people decide not to have them at all.
There have been moments this week when we wanted to give our new dog, Halle Berry Lick, back. I mean, we have seriously discussed it. The shy pooch we met at Safe Haven Humane Society bears only physical resemblance to the creature who jumps up and plants her paws around my neck while I'm trying to eat breakfast and won't let anyone sit on the couch for more than 30 seconds without trying put all 56 pounds of herself in their lap. We have already signed her up for school and gotten some emergency advice from the dog trainer. We have also spent a fortune on a crate, food, leash, shots, license, treats, chewbones, toys and dog-training books. Halle destroyed three balls, a coaster and a ceramic pot in two days, has tried to eat at least four of my husband's shoes, and keeps trying to eat the fuzzy slippers right off my feet.
I haven't had a full night's sleep since she arrived.
And yet, there are moments when she is so sweet and such good company. She makes us laugh often, and she forces us to take breaks from work and worries.
The trainer and the vet both assure me that she can be trained and become a wonderful companion, but right now it's constant hand-to-paw combat. I do see progress, but it's in tiny increments, and somehow she seems so much bigger in our house than she seemed at the kennel.
This dog isn't dumb. She has mastered "sit" and showed me yesterday that she already knows how to shake hands. Sometimes she'll come when we call.
So what does this have to do with childlessness? Well, when I didn't have a dog, I felt like a mother with no kids. I'm a dog mom. It's part of my identity. Everywhere I looked, I saw people with dogs, and I felt so left out. When H.B. joined us, I showed her picture to everyone, called the family to announce her arrival, got her a name tag and a license, in other words did everything to stake my claim and show her off, just like someone would do with a baby.
Give her back? We've gone too far. Part of me really misses the quiet peace of our house before Halle came, the long nights of uninterrupted sleep, the ability to leave my stuff out without it getting chewed up. It's the same with a toddler who gets into everything. If it's too quiet, they're into something.
In fact, Halle just stopped barking, so I have to go.
But the truth is, you can give a dog away if you get tired of parenting it. Can't do that with a child even if you'd like to claim no knowledge of the red-faced screaming toddler on the floor between the soup and the pasta. Then again, kids rarely eat your library books or chew up your favorite shoes.

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