I'm being a little dramatic, of course. My life as a dog owner has been postponed, merely. After lots of misery and long discussions, A. and I finally decided the adoption was not working out. Yesterday, we took Pup back to the Humane Society.

I was sick over this and couldn't stop crying all the way home. A. and I discussed this possibility many times over the past week. Tuesday night, we had a dog trainer come in for about two and a half hours, and we were sort of rejunvenated, excited about having some guidance. But I woke up yesterday morning, and A.'s face was sullen, his eyes dull. "It's just going to take a long time for me to be on board with this, honey," he said.

A. was home with the dog all day, and Pup was so high-energy, the kind of dog that needed constant attention or he was going to rip the house apart. From the get-go, the two boys didn't get off on the right foot. And A.'s heart wasn't in it. And because his heart wasn't in it, mine wasn't either.

Pup will be just fine � this was like a vacation for him, and he was actually excited to see his buds at the Humane Society, who he'd probably bonded with more than us since he was there longer. He's the cutest thing there, and I know he'll find a good home with people who are better suited for him.

A. and I learned a lot about ourselves as dog owners the past week. First, we learned that we're not quite ready to do it right now. We're relishing our freedom and our stress-free lives, post-wedding. We want to spen at least a year being able to pick up and go whenever we can.

Second, as fairly low-key people who enjoy quiet hanging-out time more than anything, we need a low-energy dog. Our experience with dogs is more in the golden retriever-type temperment range. We just didn't know what to do with Pup, who needed to run-run-run all the time. We were starting to feel like shit just putting him in a little room or the crate much of the time.

When we do this again, we're going to do tons of research on the breeds that are best suited for us, and we're going to wait until we can have a little yard where the dog can run if s/he wants to. The timing was bad, and it wasn't a good fit. And as we slowly realized that, our hearts were less and less in it. Which wasn't fair to Puppy, who needs so much love.

Even though I was pretty upset about the whole thing, the change in us (especially A.) was phenomenal. We went out to Grasshopper last night, and we were laughing and joking and having fun again, and it dawned on me how stressed out we've been the last week. And I'm just tired of being stressed out all the time. We need to relax for awhile.

One of these days, we'll do it again. We've kept the crate and all the toys. The next time we do it, we will be 100% committed, and we're going to do lots of work to find the dog best-suited for us. In the meantime, we remain the childless, animal-less, selfish and free people that we enjoy being.