Hitting and Licking

In a way, times haven't changed much from this picture of when Jack was about 3 months old...Haley still licks him (along with anything else that moves, and even some things that don't) at every opportunity she can find. The only difference is that now Jack loves it and thinks it's a game to chase Haley hoping she'll come lick his face. I know some of you moms are cringing right about now with the thought of a dog licking your child's face, and believe me I did at first too! For those of you that know Haley though, you know this is a battle we will never win. She just loves to lick...apparently this is an OCD tendency in some dogs according to a veterinarian we spoke with!

Anyway, the problem now is that Jack is older, and hasn't learned how to be gentle with her yet. Hitting equals petting in his book, and poor Haley often runs under the bed now when she sees him coming. She's a very sweet dog and extremely tolerant of him, but we're really trying to work on the no hitting thing hard right now so that it doesn't ever provoke a stronger response from her. We attended a class led by a veterinarian at the hospital where Jack was born about how to introduce your pet to your baby, and she mentioned that if you don't already have a pet when a baby arrives, it's best to wait until that child is at least 5 years old before getting a pet. I'm beginning to understand that now! It's hard for a little kid to distinguish between being gentle and being rough. We're going to try some time-outs for hitting now since "No hitting!" obviously isn't getting through. I'm not against spanking when other discipline options have been ruled out, but it does seem a little counter-intuitive to spank him for hitting the dog...?

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On a totally unrelated note, the weather here is fantastic today. Had a weak cold front come through that dropped the humidity down to a very comfortable level, which is a rare treat in these parts. So this is how my hair would look if I lived in California...