The pros and cons

TJ and I had visited a couple in Williamsburg on Saturday.  Apparently they are the contemplative sort, or at least one of them is, and wanted to think it over, making a list of pros and cons after our visit.  I can appreciate that, and would rather someone make a considered decision rather than a rash one.  I hadn't heard from them by the time I left for Sterling today so TJ came along with me.  I was telling some VGSR volunteers about our visit to Williamsburg and the pros and cons list.  A wise woman said that the cons will always outnumber the pros, and I believe she was correct:

Cons:

• Dogs want to eat twice a day but have no job
• They have medical expenses but no insurance
• They dig
• They get in the trash
• They pull things off the kitchen counter
• Dogs stink when wet
• They smell only slightly better when dry
• They shed all over
• Sooner or later, all dogs will shit/pee/barf in your house
• They chew shoes and remote controls
• They gnaw and scratch up table legs, woodwork, door frames
• Dogs have bad days, bad judgment and may occasionally bite you, your friends, or a visiting relative
• They bark, often for no apparent reason
• They commit dietary indiscretions, enough said

The list of "cons" could go on and on, these are just a few of the things that occurred to me based on experiences from the past few days.  The list of "pros" is always much shorter.  It can and has been printed on a bumper sticker:  Dog is Love. 

Few people are capable of the pure, unselfish love and devotion that dogs give so freely.  Even fewer people are deserving of it.  Dogs give us something that we can not get from other people, and they are a humbling reminder of the shortcomings of our own species.  

In a numbered list of pros and cons, the cons will always win.  It would appear that there is no rational reason to have a dog.  Why then is TJ pictured here with a cart full of products that his people bought for him today?  Why did they drive 3+ hours from Williamsburg to Sterling to make sure they weren't too late to adopt him?  Math is complicated.  The adoption equation requires a weighing of the pros and cons, not a simple sum total of each column.

I guess love conquers all, at least in canine calculus.