Fostering

[PrincessFiona]

I bet he sees that coming too

kris

Luanne, you big softie! I am happy that you have found a "friend" for Winston....and you too!

[Flynn]

Pets

Congrats on the new addition to your family! I have found that people who can open their hearts to animals are truly special in a way that is completely intangible and unexpected.

We added a second dog about 18 months before my daughter was born and while it was a huge responsibility during the beginning...being a new parent to my daughter, my older dog (he was 3 then), and having a puppy too -- wow what was I thinking?????

Now though I can see what I was thinking and the only time I wonder what I was thinking is when we go out of town and the boarding is so much more expensive for two dogs.

Anyway, congrats. Two is a good thing and have a great time adjusting.

[Phoebe]

How did your husband respond to your new family addition?

Jennifer

[Flynn]

?

The dog or our daughter ?

Obviously both were a transition but if you are speaking of our second dog....well let's just say our older dog is "ours" (even though I do everything and it was his idea to get a dog) and the younger dog is mine. I insisted on the younger dog -- I think I was putting off having kids for one more summer!!! Dumb I realize now. Our dogs will turn 5 and 3 respectively this spring and so our house functions on a well timed schedule of walking the dogs, playtime for my daugher, naptime (where th dogs get me to themselves), and then after naptime it varies.

It's challenging on many levels and my daugher has been walking since December so while that's better than crawling with big dogs...the younger dog still moves a bit too fast so we have "controlled" times where we all interact together. He doesn't mean too -- he's very gentle when he gives her licks and such, but she kind of ducks and freezes when he breezes by like she is in a huge wind storm. Pretty funny.

My husband would love to give our second dog away...but that's not going to happen! He's not too thrilled in our small house we have another body...it wasn't the best decision I have ever had but we have dog #2 now and I love him just the same. If you have young kids and have a hankering for a dog, I would wait until they are at least school age to get one. Most Type A residents hate the lack of quiet or control at first and resent the dog if they weren't gung ho in the first place to get one and sometimes even if they were...
I stay home with my daughter (I can't imagine making it work if I had a job on top of this!) so despite the dogs getting somewhat "planned" attention, they get more than they did when I worked full time so I shove the guilt away with that thought.

Anyway..I am babbling.
Today we are off to an off-leash area with my daugher in our REI piggyback for about an hour to start the day!

[Meenah]

I think my husband finally figured out that the second dog is here to stay. I renamed him Franklin. He is a dachsund/chihuahua mix and really a sweet little guy. I can't believe how lucky I am that the two dogs do so well together. I took them to the private dog park, and Franklin was actually defending Winston with some of the other dogs. So now Winston has his own body guard!!!! My husband calls them "Rem & Stimpie"
Luanne

[SueC]

I love the name Luanne (my dh's name!). Their names sounds so proper!

[Meenah]

I like the names too. I would never have renamed him if Rudy had been his true name that he responded to. The rescue group called him that for just a few weeks. Thw poor little guy doesn't realize he was just two days away from being put down, now he has the run of the house here in Pennington!!!