Give a Dog a Bone

In our little family, we have two dogs--Dallas and Copper. Joshua has decided to make Copper an inside dog instead of an outside dog, so we've been bringing him in more often than we used to and letting him stay in the house during the night. We'd love to bring Dallas in, too, and we've tried it a few times, but she is just not compatible as an indoor dog. She spends half of her time chasing the cats, and the other half trying to lay all over someone to get petted. If she could just settle down a little, or at least not chase the cats...! Alas, we must keep her outside.

As for Copper, he is part German Shepherd, part Treer Walker Hound, and I bought him as an early Christmas present for Joshua after his dog Houston died. (Houston escaped the dog pen one time too many times and got hit by a car.) Since we first let Copper in a few days ago, he has done really well. The first day, he tried to mark his "territory" but after Joshua scolded him, he hasn't tried to do it since. He's very calm now, a big difference from when we got him a couple years ago. Our cats Ginger & Britnee tolerate Copper very well, too. Ginger has actually bonded with Copper and likes to rub against him like she might rub against our leg for attention.

The kids have also bonded with Copper. Raelee was very afraid of Copper the first day and wouldn't go near him. However, by the time she went to bed, Copper was her best friend and she was giving him hugs and kisses--what a difference! Daniel has informed us that Copper is "his" doggie. He decided to give Copper a dog treat but it took him a few tries to get the concept of having Copper "shake" first then give him the treat. Daniel kept giving him the treat first, so Copper wouldn't shake, which frustrated and upset Daniel. I finally got Daniel to hold the treat in his left hand close to his body and shake Copper's paw with his right hand. Copper was very willing to oblige, especially since he could see that dog treat in Daniel's other hand!

I grew up with only small dogs in the house, so it's taken me awhile to get used to allowing any of our dogs into the house, especially since our dogs weight about 70 pounds and our house is very tiny! We had to keep the dogs outside after the kids were born since they were so small and the dogs were so large. Unfortunately, it's not easy to give the dogs the attention and love that they need with them being outside all the time. So bringing Copper in was a good idea. We plan on buying him a doggie pillow to sleep on. I'm so glad that he has calmed down considerably since his puppy days. When we first got him, he loved to lay on blankets. Problem is, he chewed and peed on his blankets! He's now well beyond the chewing phase, thank goodness; otherwise, he wouldn't have made it through his first night sleeping in our bedroom, haha!