Puppies and Babies...

Recently we rescued a puppy from a place called Animal Kingdom Kennel in Fairplay, MD. His entire litter of Golden Retriever puppies was dropped off behind a shelter nearby and then transported to the rescue. Since our faithful Golden of 9+ years had recently died, we were on the constant search for a new little guy to fill our hearts. Up popped this little guy that we call Sampson on Petfinder.com.

We immediately filled out an application. To our complete surprise, we were accepted the next day and were told to come pick him up!

On average, Golden Retriever puppies from a breeder cost between $1200 and $2000. They are over-breed and when the owners get frustrated with training, they give them up to shelters. Shelters can't keep dogs for very long, as there are so many given up... so they try and find a rescue that will find a foster family for them. When you rescue a dog, you are not only saving a life - but the cost is usually about $300 or less to rescue. Visit Petfinder.com and find your new love bug. (No, I don't work for Petfinder, I am just an advocate for rescues. It makes more sense to not support breeders.)

On a similar note, since we got a puppy, my two girls - ages 7 and 9, have been able to bond more with him. We bought our first Golden as newlyweds. He was our "practice baby" before having kids. Little did we know that less than a year later, our first child would be born. After her birth, we constantly laid her on our dog so that he got to know her. We did the same thing with our second child. Even though they grew up with Rusty by their side, they never really bonded with him since they were babies while he was a puppy. So... this time around the girls get to enjoy puppy-dom and help teach him new tricks. I also told them that they needed to establish the pecking order of our pack. Let him know that he is at the bottom of our totem pole. Puppy bitting or jumping should not be tolerated. Things are going pretty well.

While the girls are at school, I babysit two little boys... most days. They are 2 and 5 years old. The 2 year old is potty training. Do you see where this story is going? How about I throw into the mix the fact that I am not letting the puppy outside alone yet - but yet I can't leave the boys inside alone?

The other day, the two year old has an accident. I clean him up, set him on the toilet and ask him to try to go some more. I put the puppy outside alone. I come back inside, take the boy off and send him to play with his brother. I go outside to get puppy. He is chewing on a piece of sidewalk chalk. I cannot catch him. I come back inside without puppy and boy has had another accident. Rinse, repeat. I go outside to catch puppy and he has rolled around in the chalk and is covered in pink and purple stripes. I catch the puppy and throw him in the bathtub. The boy has another accident. I put the boy in a pull up and take him home. I was not about to let that happen again, so I am only babysitting at their house now. I am happy to report that the boy had no accidents under my watch yesterday.

And so it goes... stay tuned!