Last Sunday I was handed (in a very rushed manner) two Chihuahuas. We were told they were about a year old, only to later find out they were about 3 months old from a vet. I love these dogs, named Ninja & Bruce, but now I’m wondering if my household can handle it. I’ve been weighing the pros and cons and I still can’t come to a decision. Please help me!

THE PROLOGUE

I originally took both dogs because I couldn’t decide which ONE to keep (I only ever in-visioned having one dog). After a few hours their cuteness took me over and the fact they were brothers, made it hard for me to break them up. I then (after a day) decide to keep both, but now it seems a bit too much. I went from basically never having a dog (I’ve had one bunny and 4 turtles before, but not the same) to having two untrained puppies.

MY HOUSEHOLD

For the past 10 years, I’ve been an only child and my parents work almost all day everyday, leaving me at home alone. With this, that is why I’ve wanted a dog, a single dog, to keep me company. Now that I have them, I see that maybe our household isn’t right for a dog. We cannot install a doggy door in our back door so I have to let them out manually all day from 7am until 1am the next day. This has been leaving me with less than 6 hours of sleep a night and even less energy the next day to take care of them. My parents leave early in the morning so it’s mostly up to me, which is stressing me out. On Sunday and Saturday though, my dad lets them out in the morning and watches them at night. Other than that, it’s me.

I’m the type of person that if I do something it has to be done right or close to perfect, or not at all. So when I watch them I’m REALLY watching them. If I let them out, I make sure they both pee/poo so they don’t in my house. My parents aren’t so diligent with that so we do find pee/poo around the house. When they growl or do something wrong, I spray them immediately with the water bottle and that stops them. But I can’t do that ALL DAY, not if I wanted any energy or time left to do my regular chores. Now what REALLY concerns me, is that they are not trained at all and school is coming up in 2 weeks.

THE SET UP

I’m trying to slowly explain to my parents that maybe we shouldn’t have the dogs, but I don’t have the heart too. It’s hard to say no now when my dad is already outside (as I write this) dog proofing the backyard, he’s build an indoor cage for them, and we have all the dog toys and I just dropped $200 for their shots and $100 for their food/toys/leashes/collars.

THE HELP

Some of the toys we have for them now are from my aunt, who also has dogs. One of my other aunts has volunteered to watch them everyday after work until 7pm (when my parents get home). That’s great but I’m worried she won’t train them the way I do. In the mornings I watch them by myself and I can never get any work done.

THE OPINIONS

My boyfriend thinks that these dogs will bring lots of joy to us in the long run, I have no doubt of this. To me it just seemed like a bad time to get them, (3 months old and 2 weeks before school, unhouse-trained). My mom says my aunt will help but I still think that if we have dogs, we should be able to handle it ON OUR OWN. If we can’t we shouldn’t have dogs. Just normally there is no one home… Either way my boyfriend REALLY wants to make sure I don’t make this decision at all on their cute factor (-_-)

THE OPTIONS (so far… although I’ll take suggestions)

A. Give both the dogs back to my Uncle or to my grandma
B. Keep only ONE dog (but I feel so bad for separating the brothers)
C. Just try my best this quarter with both dogs and hope for the best

HELP!!