Doggie Jealous
by Erin Rich Our dog, a beautiful cream Husky X Shepard called Tiana was our "baby" until our son Aidan was born.  Needless to say Tiana did not know what to make of the new
baby in the house and spent the first 2 weeks refusing to eat and sulking in
the corner. All attempts to console her were useless and while she engaged with my husband, she refused to come near me or the baby. Aidan was 2 weeks old and my in-laws had been with us for almost a week. I had been relatively discreet about breastfeeding in front of them, as it was all new to me and we were still learning. I was constantly spraying Aidan, myself, the walls, and floors with my rapid letdown, so breast pads were essential.  My in-laws were getting ready to leave to go back to Texas and were very sad
about departing. After breastfeeding the baby for one of his typical 45 minute marathon sessions, he fell asleep and I saw this as an opportunity to have a few moments to myself before my "extra help" left. I quickly changed my cotton nursing pads (I had not yet discovered the Gerber pads that would save my sanity) and happily went off on a brief errand, leaving Aidan with his grandparents. When I returned 15 minutes later, my very proper father-in-law was chasing the dog around the house: down the stairs, through the living room, into the kitchen, finally, corned in the bathroom. Tiana had shredded my soaked nursing pad to pieces and my father-in-law was determined to rescue it from her sloppy jowls. I turned 13 shades of red as he triumphantly removed it from her mouth. They certainly had something to laugh about on their flight home. Needless to say, since then, we have lost many cotton and disposable breast pads (and diapers) to my little scavenger. However, after this embarrassing incident, I discovered that giving her a used cotton pad of her own did wonders for Tiana's jealousy issues. Today, Aidan (16 months) and Tiana (4 1/2) are best buddies. |
|
