Our First Baby was a Puppy

Our first baby was a sheltie puppy. He was photographed, walked and even slept in our room...until our first human baby was born. Shelby the sheltie was quickly out the door of our bedroom and into the laundry room. He was now a dog.

Our top concern was to protect "the baby" from the dog. Shelby had never been ignored so much or told NO so often. It was probably a pretty baffling time for the pup.

One evening when our new baby was a few weeks old my husband had her in the backyard. He took pity on the dog and began throwing a tennis ball for him to fetch. First he carefully placed the baby up on the picnic table in her little carrier seat.

After a few throws back and forth with the tennis ball the dog pulled a fast one. He ran toward my husband, dodged around him and was on top of the picnic table in a flash. He dropped that slobbery tennis ball right on the baby's belly. My husband panicked and then he heard a noise that he had never heard before --- our daughter's first laugh.

She peered up at Shelby's whiskered face and it was mutual love at first sight. Thus began a lifelong relationship that would last through teaparties, playing hair salon, and dress-up.

Did you know footie pajamas fit on a dog? We still aren't sure how our four year old got the pj's on the dog. If a dog could look sheepish, this one did. It just goes to show the depth of love that dog had for our daughter, even if she did upstage him in the very beginning.