A Dog and His Boy

Simon Hercules

Yes, we took a family photo with him

Simon was our first baby. We bought him as a puppy and we'd had him for about 18 months when Pacey was born. Poor dog had quite a lot to adjust to. Prior to Pacey's birth, Simon was truly our child. We had Halloween costumes for him, took him to the beach regularly, and (shamefully), he slept in our bed. He got booted from the bed when my belly took up his space and the trips to the beach became less frequent.












Then, when Pacey came home from the hospital, he arrived with a wheezing, honking contraption that concentrated room air into oxygen for him rather than having the more traditional tanks. Even worse was the 70 feet of clear tubing that connected to Pacey and allowed us to move about the house with him - poor Simon was TERRIFIED of that tubing that seemed to have a life of its own.

Not at all convinced

Yes, that was supervised Tummy Sleeping

He got over it (mostly) and despite some pretty ridiculous quirky fears, Simon is an excellent dog. He was easy to train, doesn't have any overly obnoxious behaviors, doesn't stink and is amazingly tolerant of the kids. While we don't allow them to hurt the dogs, Pacey loves to tumble around with them and has been known to take a comfortable seat on one of the dogs' backs for some movie-watching.

Simon patiently being decorated with stickers

Ok, so this is actually Huff - he'll get his own post 

In fact, in order of the most important beings in our house, I'd say that Simon might rank slightly higher than I do on Pacey's list. Not surprising, I suppose....Simon never puts him in time out. Anyway, in spite of the minor annoyances of owning dogs (and the one GIANT AWFUL INCONVENIENCE that is the Winter Poop Situation), I love that Pacey loves them so much. We're nearly at the point where Pacey will start having some simple chores to do, and I think I'll start with feeding the dogs. If nothing else, I'll find it sort of vindicating to watch him try to convince Simon (who is skittish about his food sometimes) to eat the meal that's been 'prepared' for him. ;)

Oh, and in case you wondered, Brighton is not nearly as enamored with the dogs as Pacey is. They don't tend to listen when she bosses them around.