A New Addition?

Again, I am not pregnant. We did in fact get a dog. We had a family dog about 2 1/2 years ago who we all loved but she broke her chain and got hit by a car. Ever since then the kids have been BEGGING us to get another family pet. We've been putting off getting one until our yard was in and had a fully fenced yard so that we wouldn't risk this happening again. The problem is, we've been telling our kids that this would be done for about 2 years now. (When Ethan was born, it threw off all of our timing to get any major projects done.)

The topic has seemed to die down at times, but it has recently come up in full force. Several factors had played into our decision to finally get one. The first being that I really do feel that the kids have been patient with us putting it off for so long. The second being that Gavin has a tendency to want to leave our house (despite the extra locks we've put on the doors). We felt that if he had a playmate at home, that he might not feel the need to find a friend so intently. And thirdly, Ethan is in LOVE with dogs. Anytime the neighbor's dogs bark, Ethan barks and wants us to hold him at the window while he watches them. It seemed pretty pathetic that his only interaction was through a window, looking over a fence into 2 caged dogs next door. So, needless to say, Tim and I decided that we would take the plunge.

We started with a dog named Rex that we got from an adoption agency, but after only a couple of hours at our home, we realized that it wouldn't work out. He played very aggressively and didn't know his limits when it came to biting. He bit hard enough to give Tim bruises and scratched up all of our arms. He was a year old and didn't like having limits placed on him. The first time he bit me was when he was chewing on my throw pillows on the couch and just blankly stared at me when I told him to get off the couch. When I tried to guide him off by his collar he bit me several times. We had hoped that after getting used to us, this would stop. Although it did slow down after a couple of days, as soon as you played with him he would start biting again. It was very disappointing that it didn't work out and the kids were devastated when we had to take him back.

The good news is that this isn't the end of the story. On Tuesday, we picked up a sweet little beagle named "Annie". We bought her from a guy in Park City whose landlord wouldn't let him keep her anymore. She is about 9 months old and is super cute and friendly. She loves to play (and she doesn't bite). Her biggest problem is that she knocks Ethan over to lick his face. So, we have been working with her not to do this and just in this short time, she is doing much better. She has also had a few accidents in the house, but we were told she was housebroken, so I hope this will resolve in a few days as she gets used to her new surroundings. I was meaning to get my carpets cleaned anyway, I guess I will just have to wait a few weeks.

Anyway, the kids absolutely ADORE her and I feel she will be a very spoiled and loved dog.

---Allison