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2004 Cassie 3+ years, Tara
2+ years old
With a new arrival in the
house, both dogs were unsure of baby Carys. Both  girls
reacted to type, with Tara coming to us for reassurance when Carys cried, and
Cassie ignoring her and refusing to acknowledge she existed. Both girls
did, however, always check Carys first when we returned to the house from a
trip.
We were worried that the dogs
barking would wake Carys, but it actually seems to have helped. The sound
of barking must have been a familiar sound, so any loud noise failed to disturb
her, even when the doorbell rang and was accompanied by the usual racket
produced by two excited cocker spaniels. When awake, she always turned
towards them when they barked, reassuring us that she was able to hear. By
3 months old, Carys was sleeping 11 hours solid during the night, from 19:00 to
06:00.
As time went on,
Carys grew and so did a bond between her and Tara. Carys started to
explore her new world and was intrigued by the two dogs. Under supervision
she was allowed to gently touch the dogs, never being allowed to roughly
grab them and was never left alone in the room with them.
Once Carys started
to sit in the high chair and eat solids, Cassie started to show more
interest. We'd highly recommend cockers as a means of clearing up after a
baby has eaten. Anything that misses the mouth and falls to the floor is eagerly
snapped up by two ever watchful dogs.
By summer we were
back taking walks in the country, baby'en all. This was when we suffered a
spate of ailments. First Tara started to limp. Initially we thought
she'd pulled a muscle, but after one of her back paws started to swell, she was
taken to the vet. He found that a grass seed had become embedded, and the
swelling was the body rejecting it. The abscess had burst and he was able
to remove the seed with tweezers. Within a week, Cassie started to bring
up bile in the mornings, and became more fussy with her food. The vet
diagnosed mild gastric enteritis, prescribed a course of drugs and suggested
more biscuits before bedtime for her stomach to work on during the night.
No sooner was this being treated when Cassie also started to limp and her foot
swell. Back to the vets we went, and sure enough a grass seed was
suspected. He lanced the abscess, but was unable to find anything. A
course of antibiotics was prescribed and a number of checkups ensued to make
sure nature was taking it's course.
Now with a baby and
two dogs in tow, a bigger house was needed. Somewhere in the countryside
where you can walk out the door and onto a long scenic walk. The fun of
house hunting had started.....?
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