I had intended on a log on the new swing that we got for Ashlynn and how amazing it has been. But it will have to wait. This morning we were forced to make the decision to get rid of our 2 year old male dog. He has been a dear part of our family since he was weaned, and we loved him very much. Seamus was a dog that made us laugh and kept us young. He was our baby, there in lies the problem I guess.
Seamus was gotten for Dave for christmas in 2005. We picked him up a few weeks before Christmas and I carried him home in my coat while I was pregnant..... that is how little he was. He was a goofball from day one and he made us smile as often as he made us crazy, and he did make us crazy. When our first daughter was born premature and passed away 2 days later Seamus was comic relief. He would howl with the fire engines and match pitch exactly, Dave and I would fall over laughing. He would chase his tail, and Dave and I would fall over laughing. He would sit in a chair as a human, and Dave and I would fall over laughing. When I was in the hospital struggling to hold on to the pregnancy of our son, Dave brought me photos of Seamus and our female Abby to brighten my day. When we tragically lost that fight and were mourning our son who lived for 45 minutes Seamus kept us laughing. It is hard to fall into a deep depression when you live with a clown. A clown who insisted on playing ( and playing hard) at least once a day. We would walk into the living room in the morning to be greeted by him flopping onto his back..... if you did not commence to belly rubbing immediately then he would wiggle his entire body and howl at you. He was not one to be ignored easily. He was near to 70 pounds and he thought that it was entirely acceptable that he sit on our laps. He was truly a loved baby.
So what went so wrong. We brought our human baby into the house. When we finally sustained a pregnancy to full term and brought an infant into the house things changed. At first Seamus seemed entirely accepting of Ashlynn. He was real careful if she was in someone's arms and we did all of the things the books said to introduce them. We took every step to make the transition easy. What was not taken into consideration however was that Seamus would see his "daddy" and "mommy" making eyes and playing with a different baby. As I said at first every thing seemed to be fine. Then about a month ago Dave put the baby down by Abby and Ashlynn's little foot hit Seamus: He growled. We were horrified. He had growled at our infant, who at slightly over a month didn't pack much of a punch. We decided that we would have to do some serious training. But then he growled at me. Uh Oh. Our baby dog didn't like being second fiddle. This weekend he got nasty with Dave and he lifted his leg to the baby's new swing. Thank God he didn't ruin anything as he only hit the plastic, but when I went to stop him he growled at me. So Dave loaded him up in the car and took him to the humane society. Hopefully he will pass their test and will be able to find a nice home that doesn't have children in it.
Seamus was a wonderful addition to our home. He helped us to survive some of the hardest experiences that either of us have ever gone through. We are heartbroken, and left wondering if we could have done something more. Still we couldn't wait for something worse to happen, we have worked so hard to have our little Ashlynn. We have been blessed by his presence, and we thank him for the time that he spent with us. We loved him so much and that in and of itself is a wonderful gift.
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