Raising Three Boys and Their Sister: Welcome to our new family member Jake.

I know that I have not been updating this blog very much. It seems like the weeks just fly by and I never get anything on my to do list done. Before I show off our new family member I have some sad news for our family. Over memorial day weekend our sweet pup Bailey died. He was diagnosed with lymphoma 6 weeks prior. Luckily it seemed peaceful but it was hard none the less. We dealt with explaining death to the kids. My friend (who also happens to be our vet) brought over the book Dog Heaven. The boys love it and we read it often. It really helped ease their concerns about death.

I will miss our sweet guy

Things seemed to happen way faster than I thought the would in the next week. I did notice that Raya was lonely and sad. The kids were also sad since Bailey was the dog that really interacted with them. Raya is still a bit hands off but in her sadness she was even tolerating the kids petting her and playing around her. Ray and I decided maybe we should be on the look out for a new dog. We both agreed that a shelter or rescue dog would be best. I looked on petfinder.com to see what was out there and to look up shelters near us.

I came across Pet Adoption Fund which is a non kill shelter in Canoga Park that I never even knew existed. They had tons of dogs listed online so I thought we might as well go check it out. Ray and I went on a Thursday afternoon thinking maybe we could put our application in and they could keep us in mind when a dog that would fit well with our house was there. We never thought we would find one that night. We went in and told them we had an older dog and four young children. I could tell they were trying to think about which of their dogs would be a good match. They said they might have a few and they would show us around.

We went with them through the kennels and there were so many dogs. As we walked through she pointed to a lab mix and said keep this one in mind he might be perfect. Then we looked a a Vizsla puppy about 6 months old and another 7-8 month old lab puppy. She asked which dog we would like to interact with and we decided to try out the first one that she had mentioned. His name was Jake and he was a two year old lab/shepherd mix. When he came in the patio he was calm and mellow we played with him for awhile and then took him for a walk. They told us he was abandoned in his home and found by the real estate agent who was selling the house. I just can't believe how some people do that with their pets.

After walking him and thinking about what he would be like at home the women working at the shelter said that we could come back tomorrow with the kids and see how all of them interact together. I couldn't believe it. We were just going in to get the application started and now we might have a dog the next day. I was pretty excited and we wanted to share with the kids. We brought home a picture to show them and talk to them about meeting a new dog and how the next day would go. James kept asking when we could bring Jake home so I guess we picked a good one.

First meeting Jake "The Doctor" Turner

The next day we came back with the kids and Raya to meet Jake. Every thing went so well. He was great with the kids and Raya didn't bark or growl at all. We were really amazed. Raya is usually very cranky with other dogs. James was a little shy and wouldn't go near Jake but I quickly realized it wasn't the dog he was afraid of it was the woman from the shelter. He gets so shy around new people but it was kind of funny. Once Jake was comfortable and off his leash James pet him and talked to him. So after a great first meeting we decided to adopt Jake! We couldn't take him home with us because they had to come and inspect our home and yard. The kids were a little sad that they would have to wait a day but they said good bye to Jake and we headed home.

Later that night they came by to look around the backyard and the home. We passed except we had to move a bag of potting soil that had been there since before we moved in. Apparently it can be toxic to dogs. So that was an easy fix. They told us they would bring him by the next afternoon.

Along came Saturday afternoon and they brought Jake to our house. The twins had decided we should keep his name Jake but that it could be Jake "The Doctor" Turner. We just call him Jake for short. He has been with us for almost two weeks now and it has been great. He growled a couple of times when the kids ran at him at first and he flipped over on Lilly when she hugged him but other than that he has been a fantastic family dog. He was house trained already and hasn't had a single accident. He does pull on his leash and barks at other dogs a lot when we are out walking so I am thinking about taking a behavior class with him and trying to get him better socialized with other dogs so he doesn't yank my arm out of the socket.