Today's Topic: Your child starts BEGGING you to get her a dog of her very own.  What do you do?  For example, how do you prepare your child to take on the huge responsibility of taking care of a dog's everyday needs, like walking, feeding, training, playing, cleaning, and going to the vet, for the duration of the dog's life?  And how do you know that your child is even intellectually capable of making such a long-term commitment, knowing full well that you will most likely take on those responsibilities on the off chance that your child's commitment to the dog fades over time?  That's why we invited the author of the recent children's book, What to Know Before You Get Your Dog, Margrit Strohmaier, to the podcast to discuss how she navigated this very journey when her child, Keira, wanted a dog of her very own. Guest Bio: Margrit Strohmaier is an animal lover who grew up in Austria. She was inspired to write her first picture book, What To Know Before You Get Your Dog, from her daughter’s relentless campaign to have her own dog. Margrit’s passion for creativity and art, along with her desire to raise her daughter’s awareness about the responsibility of dog ownership, resulted in the creation of this book. She has a degree in Fine Arts and is the recipient of the Ana Blanc Verna Award for Creative Thinking. Currently, Margrit lives in Connecticut with her family and their fluffy dog, Scruffy.