Kids & Dog

I grew up with dogs as pets. Our first dog, P, we got as a puppy when I was one year old. This dog was not very nice. She was not at all good with kids. She used to bite us & break the skin. Despite this my parents kept her. I never really liked this particular animal.

I have been facing a similar situation with my own kids. We have a small wire hair terrier mix (J). We talked about getting another dog & ended up getting R, a beagle terrier mix puppy, without really thinking it through. I know that puppies are not perfect, but R decided that whenever Sissy was around that it was a good thing to bite, jump on or lick her. R most frequently would use Sissy as a chew toy. Now Sissy isn't much of a talker, but it often sounded as if she was telling R to "get". Sissy did not like to be outside playing if R was around. I decided that I could not have my baby being bit all the time and also chance that she would become afraid of dogs.

So, I made the decision to offer her free to a good home. Well I had a few responses to my ads and I was completely honest about what type of behaviors we were experiencing with her. I would rather keep her and try to change the behaviors than to send her to a new home that would not be a good place for her. Finally there was a couple who has 2 dogs already that was wanting to meet R. I took her to meet them and they wanted to think it over. They also asked lots of questions. It made me feel better that they were asking these things and that they were not rushing into their decision.

Well, they ended up wanting R, but wanted to wait until today to get her. I met up with them this morning and handed R over to them. They have assured me that they will send pics & updates via email. The only problem is that I have not told the kids that she's gone.

Jay has spent the weekend with my in-laws, so he hasn't been around to notice. When he comes home in the morning I'll have to handle his questions. Zee wanted J to come inside today. She has not seemed to notice that R was not around today. Sissy on the other hand is too little to really have a negative reaction to this change, although I'm sure she will be happy to no longer be a chew toy.

I want my kids to have a pet that they are completely comfortable with. J is really good with the girls, but she sometimes nips Jay. I can live with this, because it is just her warning to him to leave her alone. She has never gotten him hard enough to break the skin and it is always when he tries to pick her up. I hope that I made the right decision and that the kids will be ok with it.