They both love the sun

Last weekend we went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday with another couple. It was a great time and I discovered a new restaurant to go back to. During dinner they asked what we were going to do with the dogs when we went to Dallas for the adoption. They were surprised that we had decided to board them for three weeks. The kennel we use is very good with boarding. They have very large runs so that both the dogs can stay together, plus it is a large property out in the country where they can run around for a bit. But boarding two dogs for three weeks is expensive, and they offered to have the dogs come stay with them. While the idea of saving $2,500 excited me, in the back of my mind I knew this was not going to be a good idea. At first I said no, but they insisted, so we offered to bring the dogs over to the house to see how they would get along.

Teddy

Last night we went over to their house for dinner. They have four children from the ages of 10 to 14. Teddy is 13 years old and moves very slowly. He didn’t seem to mind all the people but he was very curious where the smell of the ferret and the hamsters was coming from. He kept wandering around the room smelling and re-smelling every corner. Gracie is 7 years old and we have not done a very good job of socializing her to other people. Until this moment, we never had a reason to. She was on edge all night long and would not allow any of the kids to pet her or play with her. She was in full protection mode and sat next to either me or my wife the entire evening. She was aggressively growling and snapping at the kids to the point that they eventually went into their rooms. I know they were very disappointed because they had expressed a lot of excitement at the prospect of playing with a dog.

Gracie

Experiencing Gracie’s behavior made me wonder how she is going to be when the newborn arrives. I’ve been a bit stressed about it since the weekend especially because I feel that I created the problem by not providing her proper training. I know she was in an environment where she did not feel comfortable or safe – you could see that on her face and in her cowering body language. In our own home, I am hopeful that she will not feel threatened. She is generally fine when our parents come over but she does not have any experience with children or babies. To start with, we will keep Gracie away from Andrew and if that doesn’t work, we will need to hire a dog trainer to help us with this problem.