One thing Aaron and I definitely talked about before adopting our dogs was the financial responsibility we would be taking on over the course of their lifetimes, especially considering we have a few other obligations in the coming years...ahem...starting with the truckload of 500 8- ft wooden posts that we just bought that were dumped in our yard that we'll be using to build trellises this month in the vineyard. That is, if the ground isn't FROZEN! Can you believe we are getting SNOW in Minnesota already??
I figured the costs of owning dogs were pretty explicit- buy them food, pay for their vet bills, get all the necessary dog accessories. I hadn't thought about the other unexpected costs, like replacing chewed up phone chargers or actually considering buying a bigger SUV just so they can fit in the car together if we go on any roadtrips. You know...those "replacement" costs never crossed my mind before. Nevermind the fact that they eat 6 cups of food a day and I'm on a first name basis with the cashier at PetSmart.
But I have to admit I found humor in the fact that their tendency to be money eating creatures became quite literal the other day. In a brief moment when we were negligent parents and not paying attention to our puppys' whereabouts, they managed to find Aaron's pants in our bedroom and chew a hole in the back pocket. When we found them, they were cheerfully gnawing on his wallet, with singles and twenties scattered all around them that they had apparently pawed out of the wallet. Jackpot! We're not sure if they were after the cash and were planning a rendezvous in a dark field with the German Shepherd dog biscuit dealer to buy some good stuff, trying to get at the plastic so they could trot down to Target and run up the card on a shopping spree, or simply just liked the taste of the leather wallet. We're hoping the latter. In all the things we considered with expenses, never did we think they may actually just try to steal from us...or literally eat our money.
See them here getting a nice little belly rub and how sly they are getting in a sniff of Aaron's back pocket? Little did we know what they would be up to just days later.
Yet another thing we need to do if we are hope to open our doors to the public someday: Teach our dogs that pickpocketing is naughty!