Last week I wrote a blog about us getting our poodle snoopy back from my father-in-lawn.  Well, looks like I didn’t know what we were in for and I may have been a bit overly ambitious.  For the past week Erin and I have been trying to keep our sanity among the kids and dogs.   Judah still hasn’t gotten on a consistent sleep schedule which does make for the occasional middle of the night early mornings with out sleep.  Also, Maeven has been teething like crazy which makes for temperatures, crying, little sleep, and a pretty fussy little girl.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining about these joys of parenting, but they on their own would be enough to keep us busy and slightly tired.  Then there is our dogs…

Snoopy has just not adjusted well to life with us.  One of the great things about our boxer and schnauzer is that they are pretty independent, and when you don’t let them on the furniture they go find their own bed.  When you need to leave them outside in the yard for awhile they love to play and can stay out for a few hours.  Snoopy on the other hand cannot.  Inside is constant whimpering if he’s not held and outside he is so small he slips right out of the fence if we are not watching him.  And so there is just no way we can leave him out a by himself.  Also, out other two seem to get amped up and more whiney competing for extra attention.  So needless to say it doesn’t look as though the Snoopy experiment will work out and eventually he will be going back into the loving arms of my father-in-law.

He is actually a very good dog and is great with the little kids.  However, we are just realizing that we are a two dog family right now and can’t handle more than that.   When it comes down to it, our kids need more attention than a poodle.  That being said, I am thankful for how well our kids seem to love their pets and enjoy animals in general.   I can’t wait till they are able to take more ownership of the dogs and rather than there be a tug and pull of pets vs. kids, that we would be just a big happy family!

In the mean time, Erin and I are praying we make it sanely through all the kids growth issues and pet attention issues!