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My son will train
Jane, My son is 11, sorry if I had a typo. One child, one dog. Having at least a month before getting a puppy is required for grieving. We watch Dog Whisperer and he says you need to be ready to let the light in when you get a new dog.
We are the type of people who plan (attempt to control?) so we know that we will be the ones with the dog when our son goes off to college, gets married? At least now we know 15 is the average for her life (mom, dad and a sibling all died at 15). We had been misinformed by a friend who had one live to 20. I also know that after this puppy we will replace with an adult as I'll be in my 60's.
We decided to keep her crate in my room for the new puppy rather than move it to my son's. I'm the last to bed at night (husband gets up at 3am) and I'm the one who am the most vocal to defend the puppy from coyotes. By the way motion detector lights are great to keep other animals like Black bear, raccoons away!
But during the day and early evening my son will have dog duty. I pray I can keep from intruding and just make helpful suggestions to both. We are agreeing on the correction sounds right now. He'll read a portion of the Dog Whisperer book then read the "Mother knows best" which is what we used for Pepper. I will be busy painting the exterior of our home this summer provided rain cooperates. I'm so used to checking on a dog, I look forward to a puppy to check on instead of an ill dog. The thought of a puppy brings the hope in my life during the day and a lot more exercise when my son is in school!
Thank goodness the personalities are different on dogs. But we also desire the coloring to look different. We don't want to be constantly reminded of Pepper when we look into our new corgi's face. We want to concentrate and be enthralled about the new puppy for who she/he is. And have Pepper remain in our memories.
Merrie
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