My Daughter Wants A Puppy @Solsticepublish

I want to mention just to start with that I have posted the first chapter of “The Sapphire Crucible” on my website at  http://www.rivalgates.com/chapter-11.html  In my day job I am a salesman and I take great pride in my ethical portrayal of that role.  One thing I know, however, is if someone is trying to sell me.  Enter my youngest daughter.  While I love all my children equally, she is like a big cube of sugar.  She is that sweet.  I know it.  Her mother knows it.  And I am saddened to say, she knows it all too well.  That girl can work the cute angle like no one I’ve ever known.  It scares me for when she’s old enough to date.  But that will be a blog years from not.  I’m only just adjusting to her older sister having a boyfriend.  Back to my point.  My youngest daughter usually finds a method of getting her way.  We had a great dog for about 12 years and then she pasted about a year and a half ago.  I really do like dogs but right now is just not a good time to have one for a number of reasons.  Ever since then my daughter has been on the “I want a puppy” bandwagon.  There are several methods she uses.  The first one I call the Heartstring Approach.  She brings out pictures of our old dog and reminds us of fond memories of her.  Then she tells us how much she misses having a pet to love.  She even found a friend whose dog just had pups and was giving them away.  This was compelling and my wife caved but I did not budge.  From then on I was labeled “The Dog Hater”.  After a few months of that, my daughter moved on in full force to what I call The Guilt Approach.  She pointed out that her older brother was able to get a puppy all those years ago and it was always “his” dog.  Going a step further, she pointed out that both my wife and I grew up having dogs and it was unfair that she couldn’t have one.  My wife buckled (she loves animals) but stood firm.  I maintained my new name and told her I didn’t care.  We were not getting another dog.  Undeterred, my daughter moved on to The Onion Approach.  As a parent you have to be on your toes with this one.  This is the argument where she asks for all the reasons we can’t have a dog and then proves why they are invalid arguments one after another.  They are peeled away like layers of an onion.  She liked to pull this one out when we were tired from work.  We told her that our yard in the house we are in right now is not fenced and a dog would be running away all the time.  So, for her birthday that year she asked for a fence.  That wasn’t exactly in the birthday budget and didn’t happen.  She knew that would be the case and filled the rest of her birthday gift list with the word “Puppy” over and over with pictures of puppies copied from the internet and placed in strategic locations.  Then she pointed out that we just kept out previous dog on a chain when she needed to go out and we could do it again.  No sale.  We told her that a dog was hard on the house; particularly the carpets.  She promised to keep the dog exercised and clean up after her.  We explained that my wife was allergic to all dogs to some degree.  My daughter pointed out that our beagle previously gave her few problems and we could get one again.  I told her they were very expensive dogs and she turned around and said she wouldn’t need another Christmas or birthday gift.  Whatever excuse you give her, she will overcome it.  I admit even I am running out of reasons not to get a new dog.  It has reached the “Because I said so” phase which only reinforces my dog-hater persona.  We are at a test of wills and I don’t know how long I can hold out.  I still think I can outlast her