Milly People

I'm sure everyone is getting sick of all the dog talk, as it's kind of like when you have a newborn and all you start talking about is your new baby.  I promise every blog post from now on won't be about our new dog Milly. 

We've now had Milly for two weeks and it's strange how quickly she has become a part of our family.  I was really worried that having a dog would be a lot of work, but to be honest she has been so easy.  When we bought her she had already been trained a lot which has made it so much easier for us.  She does have accidents inside at times, but is also good at holding on all night and going on demand when we take her outside.  Next week we start puppy training with her which we are looking forward to. 

Kobe spent the first week up on the couch and wouldn't get down because he was nervous around Milly.  Now he begs to have Milly sleep in her crate in his room at night, and runs around the house with her calling out 'Miwwy, Miwwy!'.

He loves waking up in the morning knowing that Milly will jump up on his bed to have a cuddle.  He's given Milly the typical Aussie nicknames of 'Millzy' and 'Millza'. 
Even though Jalen was the one who started begging me for a dog to start with, I have been surprised that although he loves Milly, he hasn't been the one who pays the most attention to her.  He loves that she will just hang out with him while he's relaxing, and Milly always runs to his bedroom to see if he is in there and jumps up on his bed looking for him. 

It's nice to see the smile on his face and for him to be excited to walk in the door after school to see Milly.  I often hear him saying 'I love you Milly' which is lovely. 

The thing that has surprised me about the most is how much Harri is loving Milly.  He had been scared of dogs for so long, but he's the one who has really taken charge of playing with Milly the most and loves taking her for walks.  It's so cute when he walks in the door hear him say 'how are you going gorgeous gir?!' in a high pitched voice because he's copying how I talk to her. 

I wouldn't call myself a dog person at all, but I've definitely become a 'Milly person'.  When I was growing up with dogs in our family, I was never close to any of the dogs.  It's so strange to have this little puppy follow me around all day long.    Milly loves each of the boys, but she obviously knows that I'm her master.  She listens to me whenever I ask her to do something and is always so excited to see me.  It feels like I have a little toddler in the house again who just wants to be near you all day, as she comes over and just puts her head on my knee, wanting a pat. 

I told the boys that if we ever got a dog that it would be an outside dog.  Because Milly doesn't shed and is a small to medium sized dog I've been happy to have her inside.  She spends time outside when I'm at work and the boys are at school, but she is always waiting at the back door when we get home, wagging her tail to come inside.  

I have to admit that getting a dog was definitely a good decision to make.  We keep talking about how much Aaron would love that we have a dog.   He always wanted a dog, but because I wasn't keen we didn't get one.   It's nice to have some company at night when the boys have gone to bed.   It's lovely to have a little bit of joy back in our family again.  It doesn't take away the grief at all, but it's nice to see the boys smile and laugh again in between their sad days. 

You can check out a blog post by our friend Alison about the photos she took with us last weekend here.