The Dog

My kids have been asking for a dog pretty much since they could say the word. I definitely love dogs, but had a pretty long list of requirements: Since Landon is allergic we needed a hypoallergenic dog. However, I wanted a big dog,  so we can take it for walks, and I would feel like I have a little protection in the house. I was also against getting a puppy because I didn't want to house train, and certainly didn't want my furniture chewed up. If I got an adult dog, I needed it to be good with kids and fairly well-trained. So needless to say, after a couple of years, we still hadn't found what I was looking for.

Last month, Jeremy's cousin got a divorce and had to find a home for their Chocolate Lab. Other than being hypoallergenic, he was exactly what we had been looking for. We have known him since he was a puppy, so we've basically watched him grow up. He was very well trained and raised with twin girls. So off we went to make Landon play with him and see just how bad his allergy would be to this specific dog.

 

Meet Ruger. 

The kids played with him for a few hours and Landon didn't seem to have much of a reaction. We decided to take him home for a few days to see how it goes. 

He made himself at home and seemed to really fit into the family right away.

Unfortunately after three days, Landon finally had a reaction to him.

I told the kids we would have to give Ruger back, and they were all so devastated. Emma cried for hours. The next morning, we decided to keep him if the kids would be willing to make some adjustments. We put a gate on the stairs so Ruger can't go into the  bedrooms and Landon had to wash his hands after he touched the dog- every time. We tried that for a few more weeks and it worked really well. We also decided to have Landon tested to see just how bad the allergy is and also find out what else he is allergic to. So for now, we are officially dog owners :)