Dog Gone...

Well, today turned out to be a sad day. Pedro our 5 year old shih-tzu has been a member of our family for going on 3 years now. He was a stray and one Sunday night we found him in our back yard. He was all knotted, and dirty, and looked like he had been in a fight or two. So we rescued him, and took him the vet where he had surgery on his left eye, and lacerations taken care of on his neck. We, fell in the love with the little cutie. He was like my little baby, he kept me company while my hero was fighting all those fires. Pedro took every step I took, cute, huh?! Well, we always had trouble with him when we would have to leave the house. He had a major MAJOR case of separation anxiety, and would have accidents in the floor. This as you can guess got very old very fast, we tried everything. From keeping him in a create, laundry room, free run of the house Nothing seems to help! But we loved him so much that we kept our hopes up that something would change. So, we got a baby gate and this way he could have room in the kitchen and dinning area, but he could not get on my oriental rug, that Brian gave me for a wedding present. Oh, and did I mention it was over $3000. and Pedro had stained it already. Yeah. Well, the baby gate at least did do some good. But still Pedro always had issues.
And then round 2.....I got pregnant. We watched an episode of The Dog Whisper and he talked about how to teach your dogs to respect the baby's space, and show the dog that the baby is the "pack leader." So we trained Pedro that he was not allowed into the baby's nursery. Even before the baby was born, Pedro knew he had to stop @ the door. And he would just sit in the hall and watch us while we where in the baby's room. But it was a whole new ball game when Baby J finally arrived. Pedro, wanted our attention so much, was always acting up. He started chewing on our dinning room chairs, they are destroyed now, he pooped in the baby's room the 1st week we were home from the hospital. But what did we do, we had hope that Pedro would come around, and we knew the baby would be a big adjustment for him.
It has now been 8 months since the baby has been born, and Pedro still is having issues. Now Jackson is on the go crawling and cruising around everywhere. And once a few weeks ago, Brian and Jackson where on the couch and Pedro was up there too. And Jackson leaned over toward Pedro, wanting to touch him. Well, Pedro snapped @him. Pedro got in a lot of trouble. Well, today, Jackson was just crawling past Pedro, not even trying to touch him and he snapped@ his face..Luckily for Pedro he didn't bite Jackson! So, 2 strikes, your out! I called my mom and asked her if she wanted to adopt Pedro. She asked me when did I want her to pick him up and I said as soon as you can get here. Then, I began to pack all of his belongings. She was here within the hour, and I said my goodbyes, and now we are DOG-LESS.
I miss his sweet little face looking up at me, and how he would snuggle with me anytime he got the chance. I am sitting on the couch right now, and I feel like any minute he will rum in here and jump up on the couch beside me. I loved it when it was time for bed and I would say, Pedro, let's go night-night. And no matter what he was doing, when he heard me say that he would jump up and run to the bedroom. He also loved Brian and he knew Brian's schedule, he would lay by the door and wait for him to come home. Sometimes he would lay there and whine, so I would have to open the door and let him go into the garage and look around to make sure Brian was not in there. He would get so nervous when it was storming outside and on 2 different occasions he jumped into the bathtub while I was taking a bath, because he was so nervous. Everyone loved him, and he loved everyone....except Jackson. And that is why he is no longer living @ this address. I really am going to miss him. But it will be better in the long run, I don't want to take the chance of him biting Jackson or any of my friends kids, and I don't want Jackson to be scared of dogs. And I don't want to be unfair to Pedro. Since the 1st snapping occurrence I have been very scared that Pedro would do it again, and that is one worry I am happy and relieved not to have anymore. I guess this is my sad day in a nut shell. Goodbye Pedie Boy I love you and will miss you a lot. I enjoyed our time together.