the inevitable parting with our pet

I mentioned in a post about giving away our dog. So J and I once again talked about it last night after having a conversation about our move to the US. The conversation mostly covered my concerns, and tantrums, about the change. I'm not averse to change. I've just gotten comfortable here in NZ, you see. It was easy to move as a single person, but not when you have children and a house! Oh, and a dog!

What we have so far agreed on is to sell the house and rent until we leave. We still don't know when we'll leave but, like I said, it's sometime in 2011 or shortly after J gets a job. Part of what could make our transition easy from living in our home to renting again is getting rid of the dog. It's very rare in NZ to find an apartment (or any rental place really) that allows pets. They would usually allow cats but not dogs. That's a bit unfair in my opinion. For one, dogs are registered here in NZ but not cats. Uhmpf.

Because we are going overseas for Christmas, instead of looking for a house sitter we might be better off giving our dog away. We have not been really good about exercising him anyway. Sourgraping! But every time we discuss giving the dog away, I get emotional. My eyes well up because I love our mutt. I wasn't a dog person before. Life changed me. He has been part of our life here in NZ. Over all, he's a good dog.

So here I am still processing the inevitable. December is close and if we want to give him away we'll probably need to advertise by October. J now thinks that we should at least sell him for $100 just to make sure that we get a family for him that is serious about truly owning a pet. We're scared about just giving him away freely without having a bit of an assurance that the new owners would have some sense of sincerity and responsibility. We think that if you're willing to pay, you must really want a pet to care for.