When we brought our dog Max home almost three years ago, we were actually a bit concerned we wouldn't be able to keep him. We'd adopted him from a shelter and he had been a stray for a few months. No one knew how long he'd been on his own for sure but the Whatcom County Animal Control had known about him and had been trying to catch him for at least a couple of months.
Putting an older dog (they figured he was 3 or 4 when we got him) back into a home environment was a little concerning. We weren't really sure how he would react and let me tell you - his first couple of days with our younger son were incredibly concerning. Max knew he wasn't going to be the Alpha in this house but he did try to make sure he wasn't the Omega. That was where the littlest human should be. He was dang certain of it. We made sure to educate him otherwise.
The best way we did that was to put Christopher in charge of the dog's food. The dog didn't eat until after we had and Max came to know very quickly that he had to rely on Christopher to eat.
Our dog is not dumb.
The other night I happened upon the following scene in the living room and all I could think about was that same dog snapping at Christopher his second night in our home, the night we had the conversation about what would have had to have happened if he'd actually clamped his jaws on our boy. That was not a pleasant picture to imagine.
Putting an older dog (they figured he was 3 or 4 when we got him) back into a home environment was a little concerning. We weren't really sure how he would react and let me tell you - his first couple of days with our younger son were incredibly concerning. Max knew he wasn't going to be the Alpha in this house but he did try to make sure he wasn't the Omega. That was where the littlest human should be. He was dang certain of it. We made sure to educate him otherwise.
The best way we did that was to put Christopher in charge of the dog's food. The dog didn't eat until after we had and Max came to know very quickly that he had to rely on Christopher to eat.
Our dog is not dumb.
The other night I happened upon the following scene in the living room and all I could think about was that same dog snapping at Christopher his second night in our home, the night we had the conversation about what would have had to have happened if he'd actually clamped his jaws on our boy. That was not a pleasant picture to imagine.
Now...we can't imagine life without Max and I'm pretty sure he can't imagine life without us. 
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