Welcome Home Rosie

Ok, call us crazy but Tom and I decided to adopt another dog. Yes! we are a bit insane but our new addition, Rosie, has now made us a family of 6 including our dog Sammy and cat Charleez which we lovingly refer to as Meow Meow. Rosie is a lab/staff mix and she has a very sweet and fairly calm demeanor unlike the previous dog we looked at that bounced on Sammy's head like a cartoon character at the doggy meet and greet. Needless to say, Sammy was none-to-happy about that one, so we had to go with MY first choice. I can just hear the family members now saying "you did WHAT!?!" Of course we are still wrapping our heads around raising our daughter, Sophie, who is now at the sweet age of 15 months with the terrible 2's approaching FAST!!!. I think they should refer to it as the terrible 1-5's...6 being the golden age of less terribleness...I'm totally fooling myself, right?

We just recently got through Sammy's transition into independence. He, too, was adopted as a pup and although he also had a mild demeanor (not a barker or a biter) we did have somewhat of a difficult time potty training Sammy. We eventually had to crate train him, which is how we should have started but it all turned out for the best because Sammy has full reign of the house now. As I was signing the adoption papers for Rosie, I could not help but ask my self, silently, "ok, why do I want to go through this again and with a new baby on top of it?...oh yeah, that's right...because I'm insane." We couldn't help ourselves with Rosie, though, she was brought into the shelter's veterinarian after being hit by a bus and her owners never returned to claim her. Well, their loss our gain.

And the research begins again, this time on how to introduce your new pup to your old pup and your baby and your home and your garden and......well you get the point. We found some good training advice from this article called Guide to Introducing Your New Dog Into Your Current Dog Family; a sure reader for anyone whose nervous about the introduction of new pets into the family and needs a little preparatory advice.

Well, all we can do is take this one day at a time but I'm so happy we got our Rosie; I just hope she will be happy in her new home.