Real Estate and the Dogs

Along with many people in Florida now, we are busy house hunting. To be blunt, we are being taxed out of our own home, so it's necessary to find another that's more affordable tax-wise. What has me amused is that our arguments for/against each new home we look at has very little to do with our needs, and everything to do with what our dogs need! We were looking at the first round of home's listing sheets last night when I realized this. The one with the gorgeous retro kitchen was vetoed because it didn't have enough yard for the dogs to play in. The one with the prettiest view was tossed because there wasn't enough open floor space in the kitchen to put all of the dog bowls, and it had stairs that might be difficult for our littlest dogs. We decided against the one with the best location because it didn't have an extra bedroom for the dogs (and our pups are used to having their own play room).
So I guess at this point it would be more accurate to say that we are house hunting... for our dogs!
Maybe we are totally crazy, but for us there is very little difference between planning for children and planning for the dogs. How about you? If you were looking for a home, how much weight would your dogs' needs carry when you made your decision?

Dog or Squirrel... Which is Nuttier?

Ok, ever since we got her, Francis has had a real issue with chasing squirrels, which we have been trying to teach her NOT to do. We have taught her a "LEAVE IT" command, which is generally successful in making her leave all sorts of things alone and go find something else to do.
However, our brilliant dog has obviously found a loophole in the command. This weekend she decided to show mommy that in dog logic "Leave It" does not mean that you can't get as close as possible to an object and STARE at it.
Notice the squirrel to the left side of the photo? Both dog and critter were frozen in that same position for over 10 minutes... just staring. I was doing some yard work and had noticed that she was staring at something (and had been for a long time), but my eyes didn't pick out the squirrel in the scene until hubby came out on the porch with his camera.
I can't decide if this new situation is better than having a dog that chases squirrels or not? (lol).