be the best Aunt ever

I just came in from raking leaves in our backyard, and jumping through them with my niece. It is so much fun to have children in the house!

I love being an Aunty.

We found a really good dog trainer, and one of the tips she has given us is that my niece should be the only one in the house to give my dog treats. (Under close supervision, of course, and my niece should be quite still when she offers cookies to the dog.) Then our dog will come to associate my niece with positive experiences. She offered us other training guidelines too, and we will be training with her for several weeks.

I really hope that this works; I don’t want to have to find my dog a new home (although if I have to, for my nieces’ safety, I will).

I am blessed to live with extended family, and that includes my two nieces. Lately, I have been dealing with a heartbreaking problem: my dog is being very aggressive to my four-year-old niece. She is a fairly big dog, and has been threatening to bite her! Now I am having to keep them separated all of the time, which isn’t an easy task due to the open layout of our house. It basically means that my dog is being locked up in my room for a fair amount of time each day, and I stay in there with her so she won’t get lonely. I can only keep this up for so long… it is exhausting, and it is scary to think that my dog could bite my niece! As much as I love my dog, the nieces come first. I am seriously considering surrendering my dog to the local humane society, or somehow finding a new home for her. Any advice or comments?