Re-connecting even when I don't want to...

Its been two days since I threw down the gauntlet and challenged my fiancé that I could give him 365 days worth of massages in exchange for a second dachshund.

I had had what felt like a really long week at my stressful nursing-home job and was looking forward to an evening of relaxation and comfort from my two family members. After taking the Bob out for his evening bike ride (yes he runs beside my bike, and yes people point and laugh at us) I found my pre-husband already upstairs playing Starcraft 2. This he continued to do for the next five hours, stopping only to eat my leftover pizza and then disappear back upstairs.

As you can imagine I was not feeling particularly giving at this point in the evening, but with some positive self-talk about how glorious it will be to have another dog in our lives, I trudged upstairs to offer up a hand/back/neck massage. Unconsciously picking up on my tone of voice I think he was suspicious of my intentions at first, but quickly fell into a blissful computer gaming state of man-happiness.

As I massaged his neck and shoulders, I realized what was really bothering me was his lack of interest in doing anything with me on a Friday night while most of my coupled-up friends were with their partners, going out for dinners or staying in together and being happy, happy, happy.

I vowed to go out into the world and find some new girlfriends, ones who weren't all coupled up and happy to go out and explore the culture and nightlife of Portland.

When my hand and finger muscles started to ache I stopped massaging him, and he suggested we go get ice cream, which is one of my favorite Friday night rituals...only 363 more days to go!

The Challenge

I live in Portland, Oregon with my fiance and our short-haired dachshund Bob. When my fiance was working extremely long hours three years ago I spotted adorable three year old Bob on Craigslist. After a few weeks of searching on Petfinder.com and going to various Petsmarts to check out their adoptable dogs, we decided to visit Bob and his family out in Hillsboro. That Sunday evening, without meaning to... we came home with a new family member!

Its been three years since that day and I have noticed over the years that Bob only plays with other dachshunds and when we come home from our neighbours house (who owns another doxie) Bob seems glum. This was when I started working on my man to get another dog.

At first I played the "lonely dog" card, citing facts that dogs are better in packs...etc. This did not seem to affect my fiance on any kind of emotional level, so I kept quiet for a few weeks and thought about another route of engagement.

I finally realized that what he was looking for was a trade-off, because he already thought our little family of three was perfect. I kept racking my brain trying to think of how getting another dog could be construed as a win for Tyler. Last Wednesday, while we were watching Better off Ted, I finally came up with an idea.

I offered Tyler a trade...that if I gave him a massage a day for an entire year, that he would agree to get a second doxie. Tyler was torn, because he loves massages almost as much as he loves me! After a few minutes of deep thought, he agreed and we sat down to iron out the details and parameters of the next 365 days.