So Paul and I have been kicking around the idea of getting a dog for, oh, six months or a year. We talk about it occasionally.

Last week I idly started flipping through PetFinder.org again, something I do every once in a while, and found this adorable corgi mix pup. I went out on my lunch hour yesterday to visit her, and then Paul and I went back that evening.

She's the absolute, perfect, most ideal dog we could get -- if we want a dog. She's tiny, sedate, affectionate, curious, doesn't chase cats, and is pretty much full grown at about twelve to fifteen pounds. I can guarantee our boy-cat's taller than she is. She's about six months, which means she's still very trainable, and has a big enough bladder to make crate-training and housebreaking vastly easier than with a puppy. She let us touch her eyes, ears, paws, tail, belly, chest and nose with no biting or mouthing, which makes me believe that she'll be fine around (responsible) kids. She seems utterly eager to please, which will make training go easer. She loves to be petted and touched, and literally stops whatever she's doing to be petted. She gets on fine with the other dogs in her kennel. Forty-five dogs in that yard, all barking. Baby corgi? Only one not barking. She has the most adorable face; she looks like a pembroke corgi, mostly, with possibly some Shiba Inu or maybe some Pomeranian, based on how foxy her face is. She looks just like a little fox.

Now for the cons: She's probably not housebroken, has probably lived in a kennel her entire life, and has no commands or training whatsoever. She'll be coming into a house with two geriatric cats that have never been with dog full-time, two cats who can't be fed on a table or dryer or whatever to keep the dog from eatiing their cat chow. We have no backyard or fenced in area where she could be put out to relieve herself, which means that we'd have to walk/scoop every time she needs to go out.

So after speaking with Pam and Karen last night (Pam: You totally rock, and Paul and I were both most impressed with your attitude, knowledge, and realistic outlook on training), we're still deciding. We talked it over for about an hour last night, slept on it, talked for an hour this morning, and are still discussing. I refuse to rush a decision on a living being.

If we do not wind up taking her, for reasons of lifestyle, schedule and cat, I really truly must recommend this heartstring-tugger to anyone currently looking for an apartment-size canine. She's wonderful, and she'll make someone an outstanding pet, even if it isn't us. We can also both very much vouch for the no-kill shelter at which she's lodged; it smelled like sixty wet dogs, but not sixty wet dogs and sixty dogs' worth of dog excreta, which is pretty difficult to pull off. All dogs in the yard were in good health and quite social, and most were under fifty pounds. On the west side of the state and looking for a small dog? Check these guys out.