I've always been the kind of guy who has relied upon his gut instinct, whether deciding between plastic and paper, regular versus decaf or upsizing a value meal. My boldest move so far, however, occurred last week when I made the ultimate spontaneous decision.

"Yes, I will take that dog home with me," I uttered to one of my students who was desperately searching for a home for the 10-week-old puppy. Of course, this decision was made on the fly, which is how I do my best thinking.

If you need proof, my marriage proposal was done in the same fashion, as were kids, a house and a career change. In case you're wondering, I still have the same wife, the same kids and same house. And the career change has proven to be an incredible blessing.

My family was not aware of my decision to officially join the dog owners club, and I knew that by including them in the decision-making process, it would take 10 years (70 in dog years) to come to a conclusion. So I simply agreed to take the dog on the spot, right there and then.

"Malkin" and I stopped by the local pet store for a collar, leash, dog food and a toy. Then we made our way home to see how the locals would greet him.

"Kids, I'm home," I muttered from inside the garage. My wife met me at the landing and simply smiled. Recognizing Malkin already passed the test, I agreed to wait in the garage while she grabbed the camera, and then we made our entrance.

"Hey Dad, how do you ...?" My daughter was cut off in mid-sentence when she realized I was carrying an 8-pound ball of black fur with a pink and black tongue. (They don't make dogs in black and gold. I already checked.)

"Is he ours, Daddy?"

"Yep, he's ours. One of my students didn't want him anymore so I agreed to take him."

My son did circles around the living room, and the cats hissed while my wife smiled like the butcher's dog, indicating Malkin was a hit.

The last few days have been a blur, filled with trips down the driveway to the bus stop, walks in the park and trips outside to allow the puppy to do his business. Memories are being created before my eyes.

The irony, of course, is that I teach students exactly how not to take risks. In economics we call this seeking to maximize your utility. After all, who in their right mind would ever get married, create babies and take in stray puppies or other animals? It's a lot of work with no financial reward at the end; especially compared to better "investments" like houses, sports cars and collectibles that will appreciate in value.

I guess on the other side of the coin exists the phrase "The greater the risk, the greater the reward." And while this reward is not measured in dollars and cents (both literally and figuratively), it is safe to assume the real reward rests in the amount of joy and love created by a simple 8-pound creature, two kids who love him madly and a home to watch the experiment from.

No one knows how the risk will pay off, but I can assure you it is going to be a great ride, like most of the journeys life creates for us. The trick, at least in my opinion, is recognizing those opportunities and throwing caution to the wind and hopping on the road of life to see where it takes you, rather than trying to direct traffic all the time.

Christian Ola, a community columnist for the Butler Eagle, resides in Mars with his wife, son and daughter and can be reached at christianola@aol.com and through his Web site, www.christianola.com.