A Letter To My Family & Loved Ones

[Boo-Damphir]

Good Morning Nam,
I understand your concerns about Dobermans.
Me... I'm terrified of Cocker Spaniels. Those little buggers can take a chunk out of a finger quicker than you can blink! That's just my opionion though.

But just so you know (here's my Public Education Speach)
Service Dogs are not cosidered pets according to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA.) They are highly trained and specialized dogs that have to encounter a variety of situations with an even temperment (malls, elevators, taxi cabs, movie theaters, children running up to pet them, etc.) The drop-out rate for Service Dogs in Training is very high; I've heard numbers for Golden and Labrador Retrievers as high as 80%. Most due to shyness, aggression, or failed health tests in their hips.

Anyway, that's my Public Service Announcement for the day; thanks for listening!
http://dogster.com/pet_page.php?i=201046&j=t

p.s. Thanks for not poisoning the dogs; karma is a bitch!

 

[piglet]

It's Jack Russell Terrier types that get me. I grew up with Irish Wolfhounds, then we get a JRT too. People are so scared of the big friendly giants, while the little JRT runs between their legs and bites your ankles. Definitely a big dog person. My dog is a medium sized collie x GSD. Too smart for her own good, but a little less neurotic than your average collie! I think I make up the the neurotic part of the team though.....

 

[pookiespooka]

I love your post. It was very poetic. There's nothing wrong with a dobie as a service dog. I hear they can be very loyal and are ideal family dogs. Although she's much more than a pet, I'm sure you have great affection for her.

 

[purdyamos]

That was lovely, Boo, but I'm awful envious. :crazy-blu

 

[anthony]

He is one very nice looking pooch boo... I actually can't wait for us to settle in one place so kerrie can get her two dogs she has always wanted, and has had names for them since a little girl, "Hank and Nelson". Nelson will be a pure bread chocolate labrador, Nelson will be a purebred Mastiff (Not sure which exact breed yet), but I can't wait either.

I can see our bed having Me, kerrie, alexander (toddler), baby (name and sex unknown - tell you in November), Sassis and Baloo (Both purebred bermese), then Hank and Nelson the dogs... all in or surrounding our bed. DOH!

 

[Boo-Damphir]

Congratulations Kerrie-Ann and Anthony on your November arrival!! That's terrific news!
Sounds like you've got a house full already! My husband and I have a king sized bed. It got so rediculous with the 4 dogs in the bed with us that drastic measures had to be made. By the way; once you let a dog sleep in the bed, there's no turning back LOL!
Our Black Labrador gets hot easily so she'll start off in bed with us but then move on to her crate (yeah!) That still left us with 3 Dobermans in bed. They sleep sideways and stretch and kick at night (much like kids do)
So my dear husband went out and bought a twin bed to put beside my side of the bed so that big boy Raven, my 103 pound service dog and Tia could sleep there and still feel like they are part of the "pack." The baby, Brianna (who is Raven's daughter) is 9 months old, 60 lbs, and 27 inches tall! So much for being a baby - she still insists sleeping in bed, right in between us. But at least it's manageable now and we all have our "space!"

Again, Congratulations on the new upcoming baby!!
~Boo

 

[No-Twitch-Tabitha]

Beautiful, simply beautiful. :thumbs-up

 

[anthony]

Boo... your a genius. I will keep that bed beside the bed idea in my head, cause I think I;m gonna need it. Hopefully the toddler will go with the dogs into the side bed... he he...

 

[Nam]

Hopefully the toddler will go with the dogs into the side bed... he he...

LOL! I'm a bit strange around here that I let my kids sleep with me. I'm a softie probably because of all the crap I went through before five years old. Toddlers have such huge fears and one of them is being left alone. So my hub and I at one point had a twin bed squished against the wall with the queen beside it and and two kids with us in bed. Not only do the kids sleep better, but I sleep better knowing they are right next to me.

Now days, I do have beds for them in their own room, but I still have a temporary bed (made of about ten blankets and some pillows) beside our bed. I let them chose where they want to sleep. I'm glad that I had the opportunity to do that for them. Life is too short....and really kids are not that young forever. Pretty soon, my babies won't have anything to do with me!

 

[kimG]

Nam,

We did the same thing, although it wasn't a quite a bed. It was a pillow and a sleeping bag and the kids could choose to sleep there if they wanted to. Mind you, this was when they were 4 and 5, so they were a bit bigger than toddlers. Before that they did get to sleep in the bed and more often than once my husband left the big bed to sleep on their twin bed...oh well, more room for the kids and I!

Yes, they grow too quickly. My oldest just started high school and it seems like it was yesterday that she was stripping her clothes off every chance she got, running out into the court we lived on, giggling her little behind off because she pulled the "vanishing clothes" act once again.

However, as old and grown up as she tries to act, she still at times wants to hold my hand in public which, to me (sometimes) is odd since I never had those feelings towards my own mother at that age. BUT...I will take it, knowing that it might be the last time.

Enjoy the time with the little ones... it's wonderful!

 

[anthony]

Yer, I did the big tough thing at first, then the real feelings came out... and I love having the little one in bed with us... even though he annoys the hell out of me some nights and I end up with no sleep, so cranky as a bear with a soar head the next day... but he is worth it. I think we will be taking varying routes in regard to sleeping arrangements, though the kids can sleep with us until they are ready, or next to us... whatever makes them feel safe until ready to be in a room by themselves.

 

[Deleted member 3]

You are all going to get a laugh out of this. I'm all for this co-sleeping thing all though I didn't realise thats exactly what we were up to until recently. Anthony's comment before Alexander was born 'that baby is not going to start sleeping in our bed'. Talk about famous last words. He slept in his cradle until he was 6 months old (we have a waterbed and were worried about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - SIDS) then he went into his cot which broke my heart. So a couple of months he actually did sleep in his cot but hated it and so did I because I hated the ordeal of getting him to sleep. Everytime he got sick, Anthony suggested that he could 'sleep with us tonight', this progressed to 'he's too unsettled because of the move' (when we moved from Townsville to Melbourne) and he's never really been out of our bed since. Just recently in fact, we have tried the afternoon sleep in his cot and the early stages of the night. We gave up and he now has all of his sleeps in our bed.