Better With Age

Author Jeff Zentner welcomes home his first-ever pet at a more seasoned stage of life.

- Jeff Zentner

I first became a dog owner in the autumn of my life, at age 40. There's the old cliché of a midlife crisis manifesting through a little red sports car. I opted instead for a little red Havanese named Greg.

I'd never wanted a dog; my parents had raised me to view a dog as only a slight upgrade from a feral raccoon. But my nine-year-old son wanted one, and he's savvy enough to leverage his parents' guilt over his only-childness. I didn't choose a sibling-less life of solitude and privation. You chose that for me. He was getting a dog. Our parameters: hypoallergenic; good-natured enough to quickly integrate into a family unaccustomed to pets; diminutive enough for frequent baths. A playdate with a friend's Havanese clinched it.