Dog?

Is this for me?

I suppose that's not completely true. I had a hamster when I was in eighth grade or so. It stopped eating after about five and a half months, and it stopped moving and breathing after about six months.

What I really mean is that I've never had an animal that was free to roam around my home at its own leisure --- nothing I had to factor into my daily life. I've never had a dog or a cat. There were fish present in my home, but I spent very little time caring about them*.

But I think I want a pet.

It's possible likely that I have no idea what owning a pet entails. I'm sure it's stressful, and I'm not particularly interested in stress. If pets are anything like people (and they almost certainly are) the animal will also accuse me of not calling it on the phone, even though it doesn't call me either, then get unreasonably concerned about whether or not I leave my car phone charger plugged into the socket when the car isn't running and ask me, "What's wrong?" every time I smile at it.

So, yeah, having a pet sounds like more overall good than bad.

There's a number of problems involved. My landlord won't let me have one, for instance. I don't like the idea of being covered in animal hair all the time. I have no idea how to take care of another living thing. I wouldn't know where to take it if it got sick or something. I like dogs more than cats**, but I also like calmness more than loud noises and drool.

My sister has a couple dogs now (Golden Doodles), and they're fun. Ellie is probably a little too bitey. I like some of my friends' dogs after they get used to me. The last girl I dated has a dog, and it was pretty neat that the dog started getting more comfortable with me and stuff***.

Recently I've been looking online for different breads of dogs to find one that would fit my taste. In theory, if I get a dog, I'd rather just get a rescue dog that I would imagine is not any worse than a privileged pet store dog. But I also want something that is calm and quiet and doesn't shed, which I'm not sure could be guaranteed from a shelter dog.

And I also would like my dog to be on the small end of medium-sized. Not so small that I'd trip over it, but not large enough to reach the counter or make it difficult for me to overpower it.

So if such a dog exists, lemme know. Then remind me of it once my lease is up. Thanks!

(*) My sister and I each got a goldfish at the same time once. The goldfish had baby goldfish, which all eventually got washed down the drain "accidentally" when my mom cleaned their bowl.
(**) Because cats poop in the house and it makes the whole house smell like cat poop.
(***) Unfortunately the girl (and pretty much every other people that sees me with a dog) mistook my awkwardness with petting the animal for my not liking it.