The Boys

A lot of people ask us how Crash and Elvis are doing with having Gavin around. There is a lot of people that are afraid of dogs or don't believe that dogs should be a part of a household. Greg and I thought, Gavin is coming into our family, and our family includes the two pooches. The only real difference that you will see around our house is the dogs are no longer on our bed. We have both seen how dogs can be pushed aside once a baby is brought into the home and they become somewhat ostracized from the family. We did not want that for us. We made a point to have both dogs with us when we came home from the hospital, we let them check him out, give him some licks and generally love on him. The first two months of his life he slept in our room next to the bed. Gavin would sleep right through the dogs barking at 3 in the morning and Elvis would snore through Gavin crying at 4 in the morning. So they got acclimated to each other early on!

Let's begin with big brother Crash. Crash has always been very interested in Gavin, licking and smelling him from day one. I thought my Mom was going to have a heart attack when she saw me holding Gavin at about 3 days old and Crash walked up and started licking his head! Greg and I figured, why not let them both (Crash and Gavin) get used to each other early on. Crash is also very protective of him, if he thinks he is hurt or upset he is the first one to investigate. A lot of nights after the peanut is in bed, Crash will lay on the landing so he can be close to Gavin but also near us. The other day Gavin and I were playing on the floor and Crash came and laid about a foot away from us. Gavin scooted himself over to Crash and put his hand on Crash's paw. Crash took his paw out from under Gavin's and laid it on top. It went back and forth for awhile, it was very cute.

Elvis on the other hand......well lets be honest, Elvis is a very independent/aloof dog. He really was only upset that we took his stairs away from the bed and he wasn't allowed to sleep with us anymore. For so long Gavin has been on a higher level, (ie the swing, bouncy, etc.) that Elvis really did not take that much interest in him. But now that Gavin is on the floor 80% of his day, Elvis is pretty into him, especially his toys (Before anyone says anything, I have read about dogs/kids toys. I know that they should not share toys and we do not allow the dogs to grab, lick, touch Gavin's toys & vice verse for their toys). Anyway, the first few times we put a blanket on the floor for Gavin, Elvis would immediately lay on it. So we just started letting them lay together. That novelty soon wore off for Elvis. But every once in awhile Elvis will love on him, but he is not quite the licker Crash is.

Now Mr. Gavin on the other hand is very fascinated with the boys. If you ask him where Crash is, he will immediately look for him and the same for Elvis. So he does know their names. If they are anywhere in the vicinity of Gavin, he has to be watching them the whole time. When we swing outside he is always turned sideways so he can watch the dogs and see what they are doing. He loves sitting in his high chair, because as soon as we put him in it, both dogs are right there. I think they have learned from Pyper, Frankie and Jack, a baby eating means food on the floor for them. They have yet to get any food from him yet, but I give it a month!

Greg finally got to see Gavin crawl last night- they were laying on the bed together and the dogs were playing at the bottom of the bed. So Gavin crawled to the end of the bed to watch them. We have been laying on the floor with him trying to get him to crawl to one of us, I guess we should have been using the dogs! In the mornings, when I go upstairs to get Gavin, both dogs usually come with me. Gavin always has a smile for me when I walk into the room, but he gets downright giddy when he hears the dogs collars and then sees them. He is like a little kid on Christmas morning!

So far so good with the mingling of the three of them. It will be interesting to see how they all are together once Gavin gets more mobile! We keep joking that we are going to get a saddle and let Gavin ride around on Elvis!