Missing My Dogs

Look at these guys. I think they are tired from having a baby in the house too :)

Ok so I haven't talked about the dogs and Nate yet. I figure I better start from the beginning. Remember we came home from the hospital late on Monday Oct 3rd. We had all of these plans on how to introduce the dogs to Nate, but all of that was useless once I had a c section. The c section really limited how I could interact with the dogs let alone with a baby. The dogs had not seen me for 4 days. 4 days is a lifetime to our super needy dependant spoiled dogs. It is our fault they are so needy so I can't blame them - it is us who spoil them - I LOVE spoiling them.

That being said, just for me to get in the house and see the dogs I had to sit at the dining room table and put chairs all around me so that neither dog could jump on me. They were just so wired that I couldn't take any chances with the c section. Poor Mocha had been in his crate for basically 4 days straight so you can imagine how much energy that poor guy had by himself. Needless to say they didn't even notice that Nate was sitting in his car seat on the dining room table because they were so excited to see me. After they settled a bit I moved to my bed and we put Nate in the pack n play. It was at this point Mocha noticed the little guy. He immediately got even more hyper, which made Kona hyper so we had to call it quits for the night. You can't properly introduce dogs to a baby in that state of mind.

We immediately decided they were going to doggie daycare the next day so that we could strategize what to do. It was already overwhelming to be at home with a new baby and also be feeling pretty crappy because of the surgery.

We decided that we were going to take it slow with the dogs. They aren't showing any aggression it was just that they were hyper. I couldn't train the dogs properly in the state I was in (I still can't really). Until I am physically capable we have pretty much separated the dogs from Nate. Kevin does training with the dogs when he is home. He carries Nate around and lets the dogs get used to his sounds and cries and smells. We give them all kinds of treats when they sit even when they'd rather be bugging Nate. We put a gate on the master bedroom door and that works perfect. Our master is downstairs so that is where me and Nathaniel spend 95% of our time right now. I rest and recover and he rests and feeds :) The dogs can look in at me and Baby Nate and get used to things. They whine on occasion, but not too bad.

I should back up and give Kona some credit. She is already integrated with the lil guy. She comes in the master and sits at the end of the bed. She sniffs him and his stuff but really is pretty bored with him already. We keep her out most of the time just because of Mocha. We don't want her to get overprotective of Nate without Mocha. We figure they need to be equal. Mocha has a little bit of training still. Remember he isn't aggressive or anything he just gets hyper and really interested. He already loses interest pretty quickly so we think here soon things will be old hat. It will really help once I can feel comfortable carrying Nate and being around the dogs at the same time.

So while the whole dog thing wasn't as easy peasy as planned it is going better and better. I sure miss cuddling with my guys at night :( I sometimes have Nate in a little bassinet on the bed with me so the dogs aren't allowed to sleep with me yet. Once Nate is in his pack n play at night they can probably join me. Patience and time is all we need. I also don't want them jumping accidently on my stomach (that would hurt)

Here is another picture of them sitting next to me right now... they are sure cute! I better run I hear Nathaniel starting to cry ...