I was on a walk with my 8 year old son, and our beagle. I asked questions from him about dogs (and his safety), and was happy that he got the answers “right” and thought I’d share them here too. The walks with my kids are a great way to connect with them, even if they are short walks around the block. It’s a no pressure zone, and they know that “the talk” will not last longer than the walk and they open up to me easier that way than when sat down on the end of dining table and grilled with questions. It’s also an easy way to ask a few simple questions and drill down a few basic safety principles for them. This time we talked about dogs & safety – fittingly on our walk with our dog.

These 5 questions and safety tips are so important to teach for all kids, even if you don’t currently have a pet.

5 Questions Your Kid Should Answer “No” About Dogs

1. If a dog runs away, will you try to catch him?
Answer:
No, because they will just keep running and think it’s a game and it makes it more difficult to catch a dog.
No, because you might get hurt or hit by a car when you are focused on catching the dog, and not in your own safety.
No, because your safety is always more important than the dog’s safety.

2. If the house is on fire, will you try to save the dog?
Answer:
No, you need to save yourself and get out of the house. Your safety is always more important than the dog’s safety.

3. If an adult asks you to help him/her to catch or to find their puppy/dog, will you help?
Answer:
No, because adults don’t ask kids to help with something adults should do.
No, because adults know that if they need help they will ask another adult or a police.
No, because it might be a stranger wanting to trick you and your safety always comes first.

4. If you see a cute dog will you pet it without asking first?
Answer:
No, because dogs are animals that might bite or hurt you; you never know about dogs however cute they are, they still might hurt you.

5. If another kid asks to pet or walk your dog, will you let them?
Answer:
No, because while your dog is used to you, he/she might not be used to the other kid, and might get mad, excited or scared of another kid and might try to run away, misbehave or hurt the kid.

I wanted to share some of our latest photos with Austin, our rescue beagle, and three reasons why to have a family dog.

THREE REASONS TO HAVE A FAMILY DOG

1. Dogs ran faster than your kids.
Kids like to run. Dogs like to run.
Let them run together and everyone gets their exercise for the day and they are happy as kids and dogs can be.

2. Dogs teach kids responsibility.
All my kids love to take care of Austin, they walk him, they feed him, they play with him, they feed him, they brush him… and did I mention they feed him? Yes, Austin has gained some weight, he had the skin-and-bone look, popular at the dog pounds, in December, now he looks so domesticated and loved, doesn’t he? Our dear old dog Frank was more me and my husband’s dog, we had hime before we had kids. Austin on the other hand is more kids’ dog and I love how kids are taking care of him. I understand why they keep feeding this button nose even though I try to limit it – who can resist a face like this?

3. There is always someone to listen.
Austin is always there.. saying good bye in the car when kids are leaving for school, greeting hello when they come back. He always has time to listen and he never gets tired of the hugs. I truly love how my kids think Austin as a family member and someone they can tell their secrets, give and get love.

Today is my son’s 6th birthday and while I wanted to do a blog post about my son tonight, I have to share a few pictures of my four legged son instead…

We took the birthday boy for movies to see Hotel for Dogs, and when we came back home, our house was a mess! Our new dog Austin had gotten to our pantry, where we also storage our recycling boxes. Austin had ripped everything off the paper recycling box, ripped a whole bag of dog food and a whole container of gold fish (you know, the big box that lasts for a month for three kids), among other things…

But he seemed pretty proud of his surprise for us… or what do you say his face says..?

I wish I could say I did something dramatic to prevent this from happening again, but just seeing the mess, the dogs happy and obviously proud face (and my husband’s face when he saw this) I almost wetted my pants, I laughed so hard.

PS. Austin had his Kong chew toy, but obviously this time it didn’t provide him enough excitement…

Austin, the rescue beagle, has been in our family for two weeks now. Compared to our old dog, Frank, Austin is like a little angel. He doesn’t bark, he doesn’t beg next to the dining table, he heels on the walks, sits down when asked and is starting to recognize his new name Austin pretty well. To be honest, I first thought something was wrong with him, he was just too good to be true.

But then… we decided to take kids to movies and left the dog home alone for the first time. We didn’t see Marley and Me, but when we got home.. Our sweet little Austin had turned into Marley.

The door frame was chewed, the blinds were chewed. One rug was chewed. Actually it had three big holes in it. And Austin had peed right in the front of the front door.

I hear separation anxiety is normal among beagles. So I guess this meant we had some sort of bonding already with Austin, since this separation anxiety presented itself.

I know there are several ways to train a dog to be left alone home, for example crate training. We are still in the beginning of our journey with Austin and as of today have not started crate training him yet. But what we did do… we bought him the best ever dog chew toy so he can work on that chewing problem (or separation anxiety can be turned into “having too much fun to freak out even though my people are gone”).

My mother-in-law told us about the Kong Chew Toys, and we found several types at our local PetSmart. The Kong toys are different from other chew toys – you can put treats inside the toys to keep the dog interested and solving the how-to-get-the-treat puzzle. The toys are durable rubber.

The above dog toy is the famous first style of Kong chew toys. You can either put treats inside or squeeze Kong Stuff Paste inside (think of it like squeezing whipped cream, but it’s liver whip for dogs).

We got the Kong Goodie Bone for Austin, and he loves it. I have tried it with both the Kong snacks and other treats, and he loves to try to get the treats out of the bone. See the ends of the bone – there are holes where you can stick treats. So far he is doing great with the chew toy, but we’ll see if it works when I actually leave him home alone with it.

Merry Christmas! Here is our family’s Christmas wish come true (Austin, the beagle) showing some Holiday fashions.

Austin got this cute Santa outfit & toy elf from PetSmart, and kids love dressing him in little outfits like this. Austin – he would rather just take a nap, but he is such a sweet dog that he let’s me and kids do silly stuff.

We’ve had a very low key and relaxing Christmas so far, just fun family time. Hoping you are having a wonderful Christmas!

PS. PetSmart has a huge sale going on, savings up to 40%.

Subscribe