Formal Introduction to Roger Part 1

For as long as I can remember, so I'd guess I'd have to say 22 years, I've wanted my own dog. Sure, we had a family dog growing up (and I'd be lying if I said he meant anything less than the world to me), but I always wanted a puppy of my own to take care of. I'm not sure if it's just som sort of maternal instinct, or part of the human condition to want to be loved and needed by something/someone else. Regardless, it's what I wanted.

In college, I knew there was no way I would be able to have a dog. This wasn't due to a lack in funds, or even maturity - it was circumstance. I lived in the dorms my entire 4 years at the University of Arizona (as a freshman resident, and then 3 years as a Resident Assistant), and of course, there was a "No pets (save fish) allowed" policy.

My Junior year (2006-2007) I went to Petco and decided that I NEEDED something to take care of. The result was $150 worth of aquarium supplies, and $100 worth of fish and plants that I special ordered off the internet from a local dealer. I remember getting in the elevator and riding it all the way up to the sixth floor, aquarium in hand (well...arms, it was rather large for my body size). I was smiling for a good 4 hours once I got everything set up (there was less smiling during the set up because of various logistical issues such as where I was going to get the water for the tank from and how I was going to lift it onto the high dresser that was a good foot above my comfortable arm reach for heavy things).

This was my first actual aquarium, and it was a serious upgrade from the .99 cent Beta tanks I had growing up. I was determined to to everything possible to make it work, especially since I had poured so much money into it. I should mention that I bought the fish, after I had the tank up and running (have to let the nitrogen cycle start up), and picking them out was like picking out toys for chirstmas, there were so many to chose from and they were all mine! I decided on dwarf puffer fish (the size of a dime), a few algae eaters, and 4 tiger shrimp (these guys were seriously mini...less than 1" long). I was so excited to have my own little ecosystem in my room, and I went about naming all of my fish. One by one, however, they started to act funny and then (inevitably it felt) die. I went to Petco again to get more water treatment chemicals, litmus sticks, testers, and special fish food. This is because the puffers would only eat the small baby snails (after eating 2/3 of my shrimp and both of my algae eaters) that plague the interior of fishtanks across america, rather than the gourmet (and odiforous) bloodworms the fish guide said to buy them. Petco gladly gave me their pest snails (FO FREE), and I proceeded to feed these to my puffers in the vain hopes they wouldn't die.

They all died. As I said, one by one, as if to taunt me in my lack of fish caring skills. $5 down the drain every day for a week. One little guy, who I had named "Hans" lasted longer than the others. He was the last one left, and he had been the smallest of the bunch. On a side note, I'm not really sure if he was a boy fish or not, I just say "he" because I named the fish "Hans." He lasted around a week and a half longer than anyone else, aside from the one lone shrimp. "Shrimpy" as he affectionatly became to be known, outlasted everything in the tank, and when it came time for me to move out of the dorm (for winter break normally, but this time I was travelling abroad to London for a semester abroad in the Spring of 07), I was able to save him by placing him in a vase with an open rooted pothos plant in it. Shrimpy eventually ended up dying while I was abroad, and I felt an empty place in my heart.

I got back from England in May of 2007, and enjoyed my time with our then 14 year old dachshund Chip. My senior year came and went - I graduated, and moved out of the dorms and into my own apartment with Brendan (oooo it has a kitchen and is bigger than 144 square feet!). It was around this time June 2008 that I really started putting the pressure on Brendan for a doggie of our own, because going to my parents house every Thursday wasn't enough to fill the dog void in my life. ...