George

George is our dog. He is a seven-year-old mix of German Shepherd, Beagle, and Rottweiler (size about half-way between a Rott and Beagle, oversize head and paws like a Rott, coat like a Shepherd). His features and disposition make him seem like the perpetual puppy.

We picked up George at the Chicago pound in September of 2001, and he's been an integral part of the family ever since. I'm not sure how to describe it, but he seems to have a more detailed and expressive personality than many dogs we've met. Kara's mom even refers to George as her "granddog".

Well, we tried as hard as we could to prepare Mr. George for the baby, but we were limited by his lack of English skills. He was continually curious about what we were doing in the Guest Bedroom--now the nursery--but seemed to have made peace with that a while back.

The arrival home was nothing short of a chaotic spectacle. Kara and I went in the house without Jude at first, petted the dog a bit after being away a few days, then Kara held George on a leash while I carried the car seat with Jude into the house.

No sooner did George spot the baby, but he went into a hyper frenzy and vomited on the carpet in our foyer (out of excitement?). This was a never-before-seen behavior. Almost as soon as George had his moment, Jude promptly spit up all over himself and the car seat... this was Jude's first spit-up. The dog started yelping, the baby started crying, and Kara and I simply stared at each other in sleep-deprived hazy disbelief.

Fortunately, things have gone uphill. George is still excessively curious about the baby, and he makes an effort to lick Jude whenever he's in reach--as you might guess, he's not in reach very much!

The oddity is that George has difficulty finding Jude. We can't quite figure it out... George can't seem to notice that the baby moves around from place to place. He constantly returns to look for the baby the last place he saw him, even when we try to point Jude out directly to George. I don't know if he has trouble seeing the baby (often only Jude's head is exposed) or identifying his smell yet. Either way, I'm sure it will get better soon.

We are still working on the whole dog/baby coexistence (last night George actually barked at Jude when Jude was crying loudly as if to say "you're being impolite to scream at mommy like that!"), but I'm sure they'll be best of friends soon enough.