Things are 'RUFF!' all over.

So the kids really want a dog, and the wife has been surfing the web, scouring the local shelters to check out the availability and cost. I know how much I wanted a dog when I was a kid. I didn't get a dog until I hit high-school, at which point I no longer needed one. I know people who have had dogs all their life probably see this as a no-brainer decision, but the cost and work of having to care for an animal just seems like one more inconvenience at a moment in life when both time and money are being stretched to the limit. As a rational person weighing the pros and cons I just don't see a dog fitting into our life very well. As a father who loves his kids to death, I really want them to be able to have something I didn't have as a small boy... What to do, what to do...