To My Surprise....

So it has been seven months since the arrival of our beautiful baby girl Paisley.

Time has flown by and I cannot believe more then half a year has passed. Not only has our life changed as we have become a little family of our own but life has also changed for the animals in our house.

I do have to admit that I had some concerns and fears about Sadie having to share our attention with the new addition. I was very strict with the boundaries that I was preparing to set for mixing the pet dog with the new baby.

The first time Sadie was introduced to Paisley I only let her sniff her foot for a second. I didn't want Sadie's face being anywhere near Paisley's. No licking, no sitting beside mom or dad when holding the baby, no barking, no sleeping on the bed, etc, etc. This list seemed to go on and on and by the third month the guilt I felt for Sadie started to grow.

I felt bad when I left Sadie at home to take the baby for a walk. If I did take Sadie with us she had taken up barking and lunging at other dogs we passed on our walks. Not only was this out of character for Sadie, it was down right embarrassing!

If Paisley cried Sadie would dance around my feet while I tried to console the baby. This often led to frustration for me as I was trying to deal with my upset baby and not trip over the dog, resulting in me yelling at Sadie to go away or to her bed or anywhere but under me!

If we went out without Sadie, upon our return Sadie would always approach the carrier, tail wagging, to see if we brought Paisley back too. This is when Sadie tries to lick Paisley's face the most.

What is this behaviour??

Some people tell me that Sadie is jealous and competing for our attention. Other people have shared with me that they think she is being protective of the new baby. She is a female dog and females supposedly do this. I personally am not going to make any decisions on what Sadie is trying to do. I am just going to keep living with baby and dog the way that I have been the past seven months. I do admit I've relaxed a bit since the beginning of this wonderful adventure into parenthood but I will never fully trust my dog with my child.

However, I do want to say that Sadie has all in all been really great with all the changes that she has endured.

And as for Paisley she loves Sadie already. She loves to look at her and watch her play. Paisley laughs at her when we do go on walks together and is always trying to reach out and touch her.

To my surprise Paisley also loves Shivers, our cat.I spent so much of my time concerned about the dog that I didn't even think about the cat!