Grasshopper New Media Presents...

We have a new baby in the house. Her name is Amy and she is a golden doodle- half golden retriever, half poodle.

After the unexpected death of our 7 yr old bernese moutain dog, we were all devastated. The house seemed emptier (well, a 120 lb dog does take up a lot of room) and my whole schedule and routine were thrown off. The decision to get another dog was easy; the deliberation of when and what kind were a little more involved. It looks like this was a good decision for us so far.

The part of having a new puppy in the house that amazes me most, is how much it’s like having a new baby around. I would put her in one room, and walk away, expecting her to follow me. She had not yet developed “object permanence” so it was really like playing peek a boo with a baby! Once I appeared in the doorway, she was happy again. Now, a week later, object permanence is there, and she can come when she’s called, and follow us around.

It’s amazing watching the accelerated mental development of a young dog. Learning her name, learning simple commands, learning the pecking order in the house….. all of these things come in much faster than they do for humans, but the general pathways are the same. The puppy baby needs love and play and down time, just like kids; they need socialization with many different people.

The Human kids are enjoying being a little more responsible and engaged in this puppy’s training than they were with the other dog (they were pretty much too young then to appreciate all of this). It’s clear the puppy has already decided I am the Mommy and Alpha Dog, but is still trying to decide if the kids are her toys/littermates/fellow siblings and puppies or something else again. While we have to get the boys to still be the boss, it’s amazing how Amy brightens up and starts playing hen the kids come downstairs in the morning- you can see her just say to herself “Yea! My Boys are Here! It’s PLAYTIME guys!” And how much the boys like this, although those needle puppy teeth can hurt, too.

by Whitney Hoffman

[tags]kids, children, parents, parenting, puppy, puppies, dogs, animals, pets, relationships, maturity, responsibility, growth[/tags]
Photo graciously provided by onemarie1, through a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved