Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Haylie's First Broken Heart

It was a sad day in our house when we had to make the decision to give away Haylie's puppy Max. He was already driving us a little crazy because he kept nipping at the kids and chewing up their toys, but he crossed the line when he bit James and made him bleed for the third time in a row.

The first bite: Max was chewing on a bone and James leaned in to pet him. Max snapped and bit James in his hand, leaving a small hole that was bleeding through the bandaid. We decided all bones had to be chewed outside. Second bite: Max was eating his food in the kitchen and although we had warned James not to get near him when he was eating, he leaned in to pick up his ball on the floor near the food bowl and Max snapped and bit James in the cheek. That should have been the end but I figured we could keep the food outside as well. Third bite: The final straw was when Max was chewing on Haylie's toy in the living room and James went to get it and Max bit him in the hand and made him bleed again. I figured I couldn't control everything in the house and we were done with Max biting James. Poor Haylie cried for an hour and Mommy and Daddy almost ended up in tears because we felt so bad. Haylie seemed so broken-hearted and we doubted the decision several times, but in the end we just couldn't keep him and risk James really getting hurt.

The best news was that we were able to give Max to Haylie's nanny and her teenage daughter, Catheryn. Now Haylie will be able to see Max and visit with him. She did a good job understanding that is wasn't ok that he was biting James and she decided she could live with the new plan, on the condition that she get a guinea pig, which we were original planning on getting her for her birthday, instead of a puppy. Deal!!




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