I want to first start off this post with saying that I miss Tundra. Dearly. I am still in pain over the whole ordeal and how it all turned out in the end. I loved that dog, and she, nor the dog that she was to our family, cannot ever be replaced. She was a great dog, she had a wonderful personality that was all her own and she will always have a huge piece of my dog lovin' heart.
That being said, Hubby bought me an early birthday present...
Sugar is an 8-week old Boston Bulldog {English Bulldog-Boston Terrier X}. She is super sweet and super white - hence the name Sugar. It definitely feels good to have a puppy again...after all, what is a dog owner without a dog?
So far, her favorite nap spot is right here {seriously, she pummels me over just to get to lay here}:
The boys absolutely love her, she is so playful with them. It's going to be a long few months of puppy-training...feels like there's a baby in the house again.
When you bring home the second child (or third, fourth, etc.), you may find some jealousy come from one or more of your other children. It's commonly called "The First Child Syndrome". Well, I have a bit of a different situation going on...my jealous child is my Siberian Husky, Dakotah. I suppose she thought of herself as the baby (we did get her after Tanner, after all). She was definitely a spoiled dog - sleeping in our room (often on our bed), going on walks all of the time, having run of the house...etc.
Well, once Breckin came along, I have to admit some things changed for Dakotah. She wasn't allowed in as much when he was younger for fear that her howl and general talkativeness would cause him to wake from his naps. Also, she sheds like crazy, and the last thing I needed with a new infant was to have to vacuum the house every day. Some of her walks were given to Breckin instead. She had come to expect a certain amount of attention, and once he came along, it diminished quite a bit.
She's never been hostile toward Breckin, but shows her jealousy by trying to nuzzle up between Breckin and me when I'm playing with him on his play mat. Or anytime I'm cooing at him and talking to him in a babyish high-pitched voice, she automatically trots over and tries to rub up on me and again, get between the baby and me. She even tries to crawl her way into my lap and if I don't let her, she actually tries to use her paw to pull my hand toward her to let me know she would like to be pet. If I gently push her away, she starts talking back (I'm serious). Siberian Huskies are known for talking (you can YouTube it to see what I mean). So what she does is she howls at me in a low tone to let me know of her disapproval for the way she's being treated. And she will go on and on and on....and on. Then after that little fit, she generally goes and finds a spot to lay down...and let's out an loud, and completely obvious, sigh of disappointment. I mean, c'mon, does YOUR dog do that?
I absolutely love my dog...because she has this crazy personality as if she actually thinks she is a baby, almost human, and should be treated as such. We've slowly let her have run of the house again in the last couple months and she's back to sleeping in our room - on the floor. And once the weather warms up a bit, she'll be going on a lot more runs with me. She's my little princess - and definitely acts as such. So I guess in a way, I do have my girl.
So I was outside today cleaning up my dog's "business" as Tanner was playing in the yard. He starts casually saying, "Momma, Momma..." to get my attention. I don't look up from what I'm doing, but still say, "What?"
"I found a rat."
I look up at him, and he is holding a dead baby rat IN HIS HAND! (Likely killed by Dakotah.)
So I do what any mother would do...
I scream.
And then I yell for him to drop it immediately! Poor kid must have thought he was in trouble by the way I was reacting. I then tell him not to touch ANYTHING with his hands as I rush him inside to wash his hands and face with Lysol soap. Then of course feeling yucky myself just from having seen it, I wash mine too.
Of course I calmed down quickly to let him know that he wasn't bad, but that I only freaked out because rats carry diseases and can make us sick which is why I rushed him to wash his hands. I also let him know that he is not to ever pick up a dead animal again - he is only to tell Mommy or Daddy about it so we can get rid of it.
So as I went back out to finish picking up after the dog, I was thinking to myself...only would a mother of boys have to deal with this. Sure, a 5-year old girl might TELL you there is a rat and point it out, but she would have never actually picked it up and brought it to you.
Oh, and as for the dead rat that he dropped in our backyard, yeah, I had to scoop it up with the pooper-scooper and drop it in the bag with the rest of the dog's "business".
