5smalls: Dogs Dogs Dogs.......

So I am not sure what exactly compelled us to get another dog.....but we decided we should get a puppy......wouldn't that be fun! So we looked around and found a family that was moving out of state and had a black lab mix puppy. We got the girl that they had and brought her home. She did really great the first week. We were totally prepared for the typical puppy things, chewing, peeing inside, jumping ect.....however what we were NOT prepared for was her aggressive attitude. I first noticed it one day at petsmart when a family came over to see her and she barked only at the boy.....then as time went on we noticed that she would growl at Sarah and Emily. She would even nip at them if they bothered her while she was sleeping or resting under the table. So we moved the table and she seemed to do much better, sure we had the typical puppy bites and jumping ect. but it appeared that now the table was moved and she had no place to "claim" she was doing better no nipping or growling..........then one day while I was home with the 2 little ones Sarah gently tried to pet her and she nipped at her hand, then it went to Emily and she got nipped in the face.......took her to the vet (that was a whole different story) and she started growling at him. He and I talked about her behavior (he really believed she was part chow) and her aggression with the kids and how we could work on correcting it. We worked for about 3 weeks on it and the nips and growls continued. We finally drew the line when she bite Sarah in the face and "almost" drew blood.........so we started researching where and how to re-home her. We ended up finding a REALLY REALLY great lady who had grown up around Chows and had been training them for years. She had older kids and another dog. They came over here and met us and Lola and it was such a perfect fit! Now she is happily napping and playing in peace without the little kids around to "scare" her. We came to the conclusion that it was probably just that. She was a very timid dog and she scared easily....her defence unfortunately was to bite. Looking back at the whole thing I am really happy how it all worked out......in a round about way we got her to the home she was suppose to be in!

So once our Lola was safe at a new home we decided not to wait to long to give it another try. Only this time we decided NOT to get a puppy and we decided to just get another Golden. They are known for being very docile and gentle with the kids. We weren't willing to take any chances. We contacted a few rescues and one day I just happened to be on Craigslist and Viola. There he was :) Buddy. He is a year old and pretty big for a Golden. We went to the house to meet him. Bob went in first, then took in Steph and Em, then Sarah and I came in with Jake. We all got to meet Buddy and see for sure that he was 100% GREAT with kids (he was in a house with a 2 year old so that helped) and he was GREAT with Jake! So we brought him home and he has been a JOY. He's a GREAT dog!!! We got him to go to and stay in our "kennel" (aka baby gate propped between 2 couches), he is doing great on a leash and most importantly has NO issues with children sitting on him, mushing his face and saying he looks silly, or trying to ride him. Now while we don't really encourage or even allow these things its nice to know that he will tolerate it! We couldn't be happier with how it all turned out and we learned a great lesson!!!! Know what you are getting into with a dog, get all the facts up front and make sure that your WHOLE family spends a decent amount of time with the dog before deciding! There really is a particular dog for a particular house :) and ours is a Golden house! Buddy and Jake are great friends and we are happy to have him as our newest family member! Oh and he loves to fetch and SWIM!!!!!