First Baby and an older Golden

The first time we took home our first child, our 8 year old Golden wouldn’t even look at him!  It was classic.  Baby in the bassinet, Golden comes into the room excited to see us, looks in the direction of the baby and looks away.  We move to where the baby is and he won’t even make eye contact or acknowledge he was there.  This lasted a few days and then the golden came around.  He was just used to being the center of attention.  So I think the addition was a little hard of him.  But after a few weeks and increased attention from his, he came around.

We knew a lot of facts about Golden’s and since ours was on the older side and less energetic, we weren’t too concerned, but for those with young kids and puppies, or are thinking about adoption a golden pup, this website really has some great content.  http://www.kidzsearch.com/wiki/Golden_Retriever

After those first few weeks they became best of friends.  I would sometimes come into a room where my son was on the floor on his back, and the golden would be laying next to him with his chin laying on the baby’s chest, and both were content.  He was always gentle with our son, never did he even come close to hurting him, though I have read some horrible dog attack stories, I think the Golden breed, in general, is quite good for young families.

As my son started walking we would often find our Golden alongside of my son, almost as if he was there to protect him from falling, it was like he didn’t want my son to fall and get hurt, so he essentially provided a soft wall in case he fell to the side.  Our golden was also a ferocious watchdog when anyone came to our front door.  He never cared before our son was born, so I do think they are related, in that he was protecting the house and kid from any perceived danger from the mailman.

My father always tells the story of how when I was a kid my family’s golden, who, by all stories and accounts was a rather robust Golden at 110 pounds, somehow managed to climb into my crib as I was sleeping to keep me company.   I’m still not clear on how he did, did he jump?  Crawl?  And how he didn’t hurt or even scratch me is still a mystery.  But he too was a protector.  My dad said at any time we all were on a walk and another dog or person came walking toward us, he would put himself in front of us and between the new person or dog approaching, ready to defend.

Having a kid completely changed our lives, and our Golden’s too, he did receive a lot less attention and walks because we were sleep deprived and anxious about our son, but having a Golden around, and seeing how sweet he was to our son, really made the entire experience much more rewarding.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *