Guard dogs reporting for duty

As many of you know, I currently own 2 dogs. A Boston terrier named pollo and a pitbull mix named Oso. These 2 little guys are like my kids right now. I've trained them and they're the most loving little creatures. Now I know everyone says that about their dogs, especially when they have a fierce demeanor like in the case of our pit. But I sincerely believe it. I have never seen my dogs be aggressive with anyone except on one occasion when a stranger let himself into my house in which case I didn't mind it. I have mentioned before, how I make some spontaneous decisions, some of which I look back to and have to wonder what led me to make them. Adopting our first dog was one of those decisions. I was getting close to finishing the fire academy, my wife and I were newly weds and I knew that my 24 hr shifts were probably going to be tough on her. So one Saturday morning I woke up and decided we were going to adopt a dog that day. We lived close to a Pets Mart that hosted different dog rescues every week. We made our way down and saw that the rescue being hosted was a Great Dane Rescue. They had huge dogs! Great Danes, Pits, Mastiffs, but I wanted something smaller (I say I because my wife wasn't too crazy about the idea). I asked one of the volunteers randomly if they had any smaller dogs like a Boston for example, and they happened to have one back at the rescue. Long story short, being that it was a rescue; they made some home inspections, made me sign some papers, pay some money and a few day later we had pollo. Growing up my neighbor had a Boston. They are some of the most alert dogs I'd ever seen! They're super friendly and hyper. I figured that a dog like that would be perfect! A hyper dog would keep my wife entertained and keep her company. It's keen senses would warn of any strangers or passer-bys and being a small dog would be the best choice for living in an apartment. Well other than being small, Pollo was none of the above. Although he was loving and eventually warmed up to us, he wasn't a good guard dog. He was really mellow, never barked, in fact in the event of a break-in, I don't have a doubt that he would probably lead an intruder into our bedroom as if showing them the way to the goods. Oh well, he grew on us even though he defeated every purpose for why we wanted a dog in the first place. So after a year or so, we or should I say, I decided we needed another dog (does anyone else notice a trend?). This time we had a little more freedom with the breed. We were moving into another location so I decided to look into a bully breed. I figured, if I wanted a guard dog I was going to get a GUARD DOG! So I started looking into pitbull mixes. Now before anyone out there starts to going off about their bad reps and how they knew someone who knew someone who had a cousin.....that was eaten whole by a pitbull, let me just throw this out there. I sincerely believe that any dog can be either a loyal, loving animal or a feisty, mean, aggressive, demon dog. I've been bit about 5 times by a dogs and its been by small chihuahuas. It's all in the way they are trained and wether or not they are socialized as puppies. Unfortunately, many of the people who own that kind of breed don't care to invest the time to learn how to train them properly and leave them tied to a tree in their back yard. Anyways, I found a puppy on Craigslist that was going to be taken to a pound if not adopted by 5pm the next day. So out of the blue, I told my wife that night that we were gonna go see this dog. We literally drove to Troutman (about 45min from Charlotte) around 9 that night to go see a puppy. And that's how we found Oso. He was a feisty little guy. The family that originally owned him were a bunch of kids that tossed him around and it showed in his attitude. Ironically they had named him Tyson, after a guy who bit someone's ear off. But with a little patience and training he's turned into the best dog.

Obviously with the pregnancy my wife and I have pondered if we will be able to keep the dogs once the baby is born. I love these little guys. I sometimes wonder if my wife feels the same way. I know she enjoys them but I don't think it would hurt her as much as it would devastate me to lose them. Once she even confessed that after a couple days of the dogs being sick and throwing up repeatedly, she had entertained the thought of taking them to the shelter while I was at work and then telling me they ran away. She kind of laughed it off but I had a hard time sleeping that night. Jk.

I honestly do think the dogs have taught us alot! Even if they're sick and making a mess. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that part of raising kids? Having to care for a little being in the good times and the bad? There's been times when we've accumulated hefty vet bills because one of our dogs hadn't pooped in 4 days or because we noticed one of them is walking with a limp. How about the times we have to interrupt our plans to go home and let them out to pee and feed them or having to find dog sitters for our out of town trips. Obviously I'm not comparing babies to dogs. I know that having a child is on a whole 'nother level. You can't send the baby to its crate if its bad (or can you?). And even though I love my dogs, at the end of the day they're still dogs. Not my flesh and blood. I know where they stand in the circle of life but even then, they still have brought a large amount of joy and happiness into our lives.

So we have made a deal. We will try to keep the dogs as long as we can and as long as its safe for the baby i.e. the allergy factor etc. That being said, Oso and Pollo, you have now been officially deputized as Baby Guard Dogs of the Loera Household. Report for duty October 26th, 2013.