Didn't budget for this

So, we still have a dog.

When the Westie Resuce adoption agency did our home visit (that is not a joke), they asked me how much I thought we’d spend on a dog in a year. Um, we need to buy dog food and take him for a yearly check-up. In my mind, that equaled about $150, but I didn’t want to sound cheap so I answered “$200?” That number did not please the agent and she began listing all the myriad items we should expect to include for the Dog line item in our budget.

Turns out she was correct; my number was way low. From check-ups to heartworm chews to flea treatments to treats and toys and the four leashes we’ve had to buy since he’s chewed through them all, my number was laughable. But after a year and a half, I thought we’d finally gotten everything we needed for Dakota.

And then we went for his yearly check-up. He’s been chewing on his paws lately so we talked to the vet about his itchy feet. She said it’s most likely a grass allergy…

Y’all. This dog is allergic to grass.

(He’s actually allergic to the pollen in the grass, but at this point that feels a little nit-picky.)

So, the reality of what we learned is that Rebecca’s dog is allergic to his bathroom.

What do we do about this? Grass is everywhere! The vet suggested giving Dakota one Zyrtec each day.

I could not figure out how in the world we were going to get the world’s pickiest dog to take a pill. I’ve watched our neighbor make her cat take a pill and I was pretty sure that would never fly with Dakota. But the vet suggested Rebecca put it in a bit of peanut butter. Dakota does like peanut butter, so I was game.

I had no idea how successful the peanut butter trick would be. The dog LOVES his daily dose of Zyrtec-infused peanut butter. If he could unscrew the lid to the peanut butter I think he’d OD on the stuff. 

Sean takes a Zyrtec daily. Rebecca takes a Zyrtec daily. I take a Zyrtec daily. And now Dakota takes a Zyrtec daily.

We’re bonding over our shared allergy meds.

If we didn’t love our real-life human third-born as much as we do, I can promise you we would not be buying an extra dose of Zyrtec for a dog. Mainly because we wouldn’t have a dog, but you get the point.

The best thing about having Dakota is Rebecca will never be able to doubt how much we love her!