Who will win?

We have been having this conversation at our house a lot lately.........When can we have a puppy??? Our kids LOVE puppies!! Right now it is easy for us to win because we have been renting our house since, forever so we tell them that we we can't because the owners won't let us. I wonder what will happen when we actually buy a home and can't throw the blame onto someone else? I don't remember being the kid that just brought home a puppy from Wal-Mart or the corner, I remember my sisters did but never me. Brian he grew up with a dog forever, they were never his dogs mostly his brothers, but he always had one. His excuse is always it's not fair to the dog to be trapped in a little back yard in the hot summers (because we will not have an inside dog!). A dog needs to have somewhere to run and play and be a dog. Sound very logical but I still wonder who will win when the kids are bawling and willing to to anything, how strong we will stand? By the way, these are my sisters dogs because her kids won!!