i've been thinking about getting a puppy.

And now that I'm moving, and I'm sure I'll be a bit lonely for a couple months, it'd be nice to have a little furball to come home to. But, puppies are like babies, right? hmmm. Seems like we've had this discussion before.

Today I saw a little nightstand on the curbside outside my house for garbage pickup. I thought "Wow, that's too nice to throw out," and just as I considered giving it a new home, I noticed dozens of teethmarks all over the top of it--and several chunks had been bitten out of it. Damn.

A little backstory: My neighbors have a puppy from the darkside, and by darkside, I mean hell. It's gotten so out of hand, they've hired a doggy nanny to try and tame her. When they first brought Doggie home, my roomie and I noticed right away. We didn't see her, but oh, the screeching and howling sounds coming from the basement spelled either anarchy--or a new doggie--or in this case, a little bit of both.

For the first week or so, we thought "poor Doggie. She doesn't like being home alone." But that thought quickly faded as we were subjected to regularly scheduled howling attacks during our evening TV shows. Then, things got considerably worse, not for us, but for the neighbors. One day, when taking the trash out, I saw two sets of shutters in the neighbors recycling bin. First off, are shutters even recycle-able? And secondly, the poor shutters had been ripped apart and were covered with doggie teeth marks. I guess, pressing her little doggy face against the windows while the neighbors were away at work wasn't convincing enough. She had to further prove the point that she wanted out...and what better way than by destroying what she saw as the thing preventing that? Makes sense. If I were trapped all day in a basement, I'd completely bite away at the shutters.

During the next several weeks, the "Doggie situation" did not improve. Me and the roomie got used to it, and maybe the neighbors just learned to conform to Doggie's whims and destructive behaviors. At least once a month, there was another ruined piece of their aparment on the curbside for garbage pickup--a 2nd pair of shutters (yikes), a lamp shade, other things damaged beyond recognition, and today, a cute little wooden nightstand.

Now, my thought about Doggie is of course "There's no freakin' way!" I'm not that patient with anyone, and I definitely wouldn't keep a dog that chewed away at my apartment. Plus I adhere to the fool-me-once-fool-me-twice rule of thumb. These people must have the patience of Mother Theresa--or maybe they're prepping for parenthood. Either way, they must really love that little devil.

Whatever it is, they've ruined (temporarily I hope) my desire for a puppy. Besides, I think it might be a bit cruel to keep an active doggy cooped up in a NY apartment. Maybe I'll adopt an old lazy cat instead.