Big dogs & Baby

The thought of this picture several months ago would have shot fear straight through my veins. 

       -Oh my gosh the dog is going to step on the baby!-

 And to think a year ago the dogs WERE my baby.  We have a Great Dane (Tucker - pictured above) and a Lab/Huskie mix (Max) and have always made accommodations for our 'children'.  When looking at houses, making sure we had enough land for them to run around & installing underground fences so they don't have to live on a chain.  Big, comfy beds, lots of treats and lots of love.

A funny thing happens when you have a baby.  Sorry dogs, you are now secondary...if I remember you at all.  While I love big dogs, I had a slight fear when we brought Landon home from the hospital.  Big dogs require so much care and they're just so...BIG!  They had never been around babies before so what would they do with this defenseless living thing invading their space?  And then when he starts moving??  We made it clear from the beginning that the dogs could only come near Landon if invited and that he belonged to US, not them.  Once that was established, the dogs really didn't want much of anything to do with him.  Success!!  I never imagined that in a few months I would need to protect my big dogs from my little baby.  Apparently it is a lot of fun to crawl over a dog over instead of going around him, to use his back/stomach/face as a drum set, his tale as a maraca, or to just tackle him to the ground! This has been mastered on the lab, but not the Great Dane...yet.)

There are times when the combination of the baby and the dogs still makes me nervous or I have to intervene.  Though, listening to Landon's laughter when they lick his face or seeing the dogs lay down beside him when they clearly know the repercussions make me smile at the end of the day. 

Besides, what's cuter than dogs & babies?