This Mother's Day weekend Braden had his first meeting with a dog somewhere near his size. Our forgotten furry children are quite large. Otter last checked in at 98 pounds while his side kick Abbey tipped the scales at 55 pounds.
Their size doesn't bother Braden. He loves to go outside and watch them play. I regularly sit with Braden on a bench in our back yard. Otter and Abbey will get as close as I allow. Braden likes to reach out and pet their noses, and he seems to enjoy the finger licking that comes as a result.
Even though the size doesn't seem to bother Braden it presents obstacles. The combination of dogs is just too much mass to deal with in the house. They are forever shedding and tracking in mud and dirt. It was just not possible for us to continue cleaning up after these beasts. Therefore they stay outside out of Braden's reach. He absolutely loves them, but the sliding glass door presents a barrier to him.
The other drawback of size is potential injury. Otter like many labs is extremely hyper. He jumps and runs and bounds around everywhere. He is constantly nudging, licking, or doing something else to get your attention. He wants to play all the time. In our confined area that does not mix well with a baby. Due to all these things Braden has had no extended play time with the dogs.
This past weekend Braden met my brother and sister-in-law's dog Buster. He is a unique dog to say the least, but he is fun. Buster loved Braden, and Braden loved him back. Buster was continually coming up to Braden for attention. Buster won't come to me, but I guess he likes little people. I am sure one of Braden's new sidekick's missions was to sneak a baby toy. You can see him eyeing them in the picture. To Buster's credit he never tried to get one. He was well behaved.
Braden wanted to feel him and "pet" him. Whenever Buster would leave the room Braden would look all around on the floor for his new friend. Braden probably had a side mission too. Maybe he wanted to eat Buster. Maybe he wanted to pull out his hair. Secret agendas or not the two got along great.
While little dogs are not exactly my cup of tea, I certainly learned one of their strong points over the weekend. They are great children's toys.
4 comments:
When I first saw the title of your blog, my first thought was "Awwww." What a combination! Bradon's photo is adorable! Buster seems like a great dog for a little kid. My sister has a Buster, but he's 90 pounds, so not such a good match for kids. He's a great dog, too, just like Otter and Abbey. Isn't it amazing little babies aren't afraid of big dogs?
Our lab sounds quite a bit like your Otter, though we tolerate him in the house and have only had a handful of issues between him and the boys. He's very patient with them, but I have to agree, the shedding drives me nuts. We've already decided on getting a smaller dog when anything happens to Lucky. One that can't reach the countertops would be great...
Your dogs will become Braden's best friends when he starts eating 'people food.' Our dog is a mini schnauzer and spent her whole life at 13 lbs. The boys were born, she started eating everything that was tossed over the side of the high chair, and she's now 17 lbs.
They also make clean up considerably easier. Even if they do occasionally walk around with pasta stuck to their fur.
That's so sweet. I understand the messes that big dogs bring in, but i be they would surprise you with how gentle they would treat Bradon. Dogs just seem to know. We had a lab-Shepard beast who was so protective and gentle to our babies it used to crack us up. He wasn't gentle to anyone else.
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