Doggie Tales

It´s amazing how kids know how to press just the right buttons to make you say yes to anything... especially when they know where you´ve stored up your residual guilt about dragging them away from their friends and across continents to live in Brazil.

So when the question of acquiring a puppy came up for the umpteenth time we didn´t even stop to argue. No more thought, no more discussion, no planning for the future and wondering how we were going to fiance the puppy food. The same afternoon saw us hot-footing it to the pet shop which we left an hour later with a ton of Science Diet, huge doggie bed, an array of plastic toys and a Labrador pup in tow.

The kids of course were ecstatic but as we feared, I’m noticing it in the food bill. Not only does he consume 3 times the recommended daily allowance of puppy food but he also has an expensive taste for Havaianas. Not that they´re pricey in themselves, they´re fantastically cheap, but no matter where we hide them he hunts them down and chews his way through them at a rate of around a pair a week.