All hail Dod

This is JT, the 3-year-old mutt that came to stay with us this weekend. As you can see he's a happy chap with a sense of sophistication about him, crossed legs and all.

JT came to us Saturday morning with a few instructions and some notes on personality and whatnot. My first surprise was that he was so much bigger than my sister's dog Whistler (a black lab), who, I think, I use as a benchmark for every dog (I'd call him "medium"). He's not quite as big as Aden's parent's dogs (a Bernese Mountain dog and an Irish Wolfhound/mini-horse), but yes, a large fella. He instantly started sniffing around, but really not disrupting anything except the wee one's play a little. The wee one isn't fond of dogs (doesn't hate them and isn't afraid of them, just indifferent... mainly doesn't like to have his face licked, but JT isn't a licker) so this was a test to see how he would do around one. JT proceeded to inadvertently stomp all over his WeeTown where his cars were set up so that didn't go over well...

Anyway, Aden left me and the boys alone for a few hours while she did some grocery shopping and keeping the pup away from the wee one's stuffed animals while he played with them was more than a challenge. Apparently JT does have some commands to keep him from doing bad things, just I guess I wasn't applying them properly. After 90 minutes I had a headache and the distinct realization that both these beings were vying for my attention (as opposed to, say, playing with each other) and also that my stepson and I haven't yet had enough time to bond, nor has our family really had enough time to become a family unit. I knew, in a snap, that this wasn't going to work.

My sister and Whistler came by and the dogs had a hearty play (as documented on Flickr) and then my sis and I had errands to run (so it became Aden's turn with the boys, plus one... thankfully I think Whistler and JT kept each other busy rather than pestering Aden too much... but I dunno, I wasn't there).

Supper time came around and with two dogs roaming the main floor of our bungalow, plus three adults and a child, it felt like chaos. I gave Aden a hug and said "I don't think we're ready". She laughed a tired laugh and said, "I totally agree."

We kept JT for another day and a half (he went home today) and it's a little sad. With the hectic pace of Saturday, it could be we didn't give JT a fair chance before making up our mind, and having a calm Sunday with the wee man off at his fathers and just JT hanging about, it seemed almost easy to rethink the decision. But I know that my relationship with my stepson is very important to me and to Aden, and hopefully to him, and that I don't want to jeopardize that by splitting my attention between him and a dog. It will be better if we, in a year or two, can get a puppy and get the wee one involved in the training of the dog so that he knows how to handle it as well as wee can, and even better, he can bond with the dog seeing it through up from its infancy... at least in theory.

So, there's a sweet, lovable, friendly, quiet dog that will be needing a good home. If you know of anyone looking for that... let me know and I can put you in touch with the owner.