Lucy Our New Puppy

I don’t know if I have told you this before, but I have 5 kids . . . . 6 and under. Yea, things around my house are pretty crazy. Two days ago it was 5 kids 5 and under, so I was glad to get that one extra birthday squeezed in so I didn’t sound too crazy. I have 4 boys and 1 girl. Ages, 6, 4, 3, 1, 1, the girl is in the middle and yes, the last two are twins.

Anyhow, so our oldest is afraid of most animals and with him setting the precedent for my other kids, they are scared as well. My husband and I both grew up with dogs and thought it was a shame that our kids didn’t have the same experience with pets as we did. Plus we felt that if we got a pet then maybe our kids wouldn’t be so scared of other animals. I wasn’t sure about getting a dog because they shed and ruin lots of things, plus they can have a certain smell to them. Well after lots of talking, we got a puppy, a bloodhound puppy named Lucy. 

She is the cutest puppy! We have had her exactly one week, and my kids are still terrified of her and don’t really want to go near her. She is a really good dog, but she is a puppy and likes to chew things and chase them. I didn’t realize how much it would stress me out to try and make sure my kids and Lucy were getting along! Before we bought the Lucy things were going great! Most days I was having a blast with my kids! Now I feel like I am getting mad and yelling at them all day. I HATE doing that! It makes me feel like a terrible mother! So I have decided I have two choices:

1)   Keep trying to teach the kids and Lucy how to get along and play nicely together, and eventually they will learn to love her.

2)   Sell Lucy and keep my sanity. Get a dog when the kids are a little older.

I will admit I am strongly leaning towards the second. I am wishing that things could go back to two weeks ago, when we were all enjoying life and my kids were enjoying a nicer mother. I fear that I have just bit off more that I can chew at the moment, and maybe we can get another dog when the kids are a little older. I will let you know what I decide to do.