Gracie and Me

I just finished watching the movie "Marley and Me" and I've had a heart-to-heart with myself concerning my attitude towards Gracie. Since Katherine came home from the hospital, Gracie has acted like the begrudged
--> used-to-be only child. She hasn't made the effort I wanted her to to accept the newest members of our family. So, for over three years I've been disappointed.
I know you've heard stories about how labs are so good with kids. They're interested in this new little different-smelling person that's come home from the hospital. They're very protective of the baby; won't let new people get too close. They let kids lay all over them and pull fur when learning how to stand. They carefully play with new-walking babies, so as not to knock them over. They want to sleep in children's rooms, next to or in their beds. They are eager to run and play with older kids when given a chance to go outside. You've heard all those stories too, right?

Well, I did and I'm afraid it poisoned my expectations for our dog. Gracie hid in the closet for two weeks when we brought Katherine home. She smelled her a couple of times and wasn't interested. She was not protective of her and would leave the room if Katherine would start crawling her way. She was horrible at getting up abruptly and knocking over the "eager walker" and had/has no desire to sleep anywhere but in our room or the living room. And when there is outside play, she's more interested in what mom and dad's play could be like, more than playing with Katherine (who is finally able to and wants to run around with her now). The fur, don't get me started on the insane amounts of fur.

So I was faced with a cross-roads tonight. Do I continue to harbor resentment that this dog has not been the kid-friendly dog I dreamed of or do I accept her for her not-interested-in-little-people faults and lovingly encourage her and our children to interact? Well, you know the answer to that.

She is 6.5 years old and showing signs of slowing down. She's already on a medicine required every other day and is getting "ailments" associated with age. I think this movie was good for me, tonight. She's been a good dog and great practice for me to put aside my expectations for two little humans training to become adults.























She can't be that bad of a dog. Not many of them would behave long enough to get their picture taken my their weird mother AND keep the outfit on.