Rowan and the Dogs

If you know Shannon and I, you know that we have dogs. Three of them actually, Ian, Maddie, and Pablo. I bought Ian, a fawn coated weimaraner, for $150 when I was a sophomore in college from a gay couple in Cook's Point TX, outside of College Station. He's almost nine years old now. Maddie came from the Mason ranch, a rare cross between a German short hair pointer and a Welsh corgi. We call them Porgies. This happened by accident, but if you look at all the labradoodles and picapoohs that are around today, maybe we were just ahead of the times. And then there is Pablo, the chihuahua. Not the chic hand-bag size Paris Hilton chihuahua, but a healthy 10-11lbs, depending on the month chihuahua. We took him in after Shannon's brother and his wife had Kyra, our niece, and decided the house wasn't big enough for the both of them. He spent some time at Shannon's parents' house, mostly in the back yard which doesn't work out to well for a 10lbs Houdini that can climb a chain-link fence. However, given the soft spot Shannon has in her heart for puppies, he eventually ended up coming back with her after a trip to Corpus Christi. You see, everybody loves chihuahua's because they are perpetually small, like puppies. Needless to say, he has carved himself out a nice spot in our home and our hearts over the past couple of years.

So why blog about this? Well, on more than one occasion people asked us about how we were going to deal with the dogs and the new baby. To Shannon and I, there was never really a question. They are family and with the addition of Rowan, our family would only get bigger. We have it easy anyhow, our friends Bo and Elizabeth have 7 or 8 dogs, I can't remember the exact number, but it is alot. And they just had a baby. It never crossed our mind that we might "get rid" of the dogs to make room for the baby. After all, that is how we ended up with Pablo in the first place. We were cautious of course, and the introduction of the dogs to Rowan has provided some laughs and material for this blog.

I think Pablo was the first to meet him after we brought him home from the hospital. Without hesitation, Pablo took to licking him in the face, as is Pablo's way of showing his affection. He is really good at giving kisses, usually ten at a time. I have a feeling that somehow Pablo thinks Rowan is his baby, maybe because of the time he spent on Long Island with Shannon when Rowan was in the womb, or the days on the couch laying his head across Shannon's belly. He loves Rowan.

Ian was second, and he gave Rowan a few good sniffs to the head. He is a bit more of a snoot when it comes to the licking, you've got to earn his kisses. I don't believe he has licked Rowan yet, but someday soon I'm sure.

Maddie was third. She was very cautious, as Maddie is, and sniffed him from head to toe. After doing this she proceeded to urinate on the carpet in his room. I'm still not sure why she did it. Maybe she was marking her territory, scared, or she just really had to go. She was embarrassed, and I didn't scold her.

I think some of the first sounds to come out of Rowan were those that he learned from the dogs. Barks and squeaks that I know he didn't get from me. You know he heard a lot of them while he was in Shannon's belly. The dogs have really taken a liking to him. He smiles sometimes when Pablo licks him in the face, sometimes he gets irritated, depending on his mood. He hasn't really started acknowledging the dogs too much but over time I'm sure he will. Its not without its difficulties of course, like when they go off on the UPS man while he's taking a nap, or Pablo gets a bit too excited and starts running around in circles while Rowan is, well, taking a nap. We discipline them, sternly at times, but do our best to make them realize that they are family too, even if they moved down the totem poll just a bit....

I've posted a few pictures that chronicle some of these moments. I hope you enjoy them. There is even one of the whole family, including the cat.....who has his moments as well.