Bringing home a sibling...

Billy and I have one dog, Pirate, that we take care of full-time and another dog, Hanzo, that we take care of part-time (Hanzo's my dog from a previous relationship.  Laugh all you want, but my ex and I co-parent him.  He was my first dog and it would've broken my heart to never see him again after ex and I broke things off.) 

Anyhow, we've briefly thought about what we're going to do to help make the transition from having no human children in the house to having one human child and two doggies in the house.  Hanzo's a Boston Terrier and was not socialized when he was a little pup.  Therefore, he's generally not very nice to other dogs.  He loves Pirate, though, and he acts like his big brother.  I've only seen him interact once with a child and it was a toddler.  And by "interact," I mean that he tried to hump the poor kid the whole time he came to visit.  He loves me and has never snapped at me, but I've seen him do it to other males (never a female).  The only exception is Bruce, Billy's dad.  He and Hanzo have a good understanding of each other and I think Hanzo sort of idolizes him. 

 Yes, it's the morning and that's what my hair looks like when I wake up.

Pirate is a cuddler.  He doesn't growl or generally bite, but he is clumsy because of his deficiency (he only has one eye...but I don't think he knows it).  He runs underneath our feet when we feed him in the morning and when we get home. 

 Pugs are generally pretty weird/ugly dogs, but Pirate is such a cute Pug!  I think because he only has one eye, it doesn't go all skeewompus like other pugs' eyes.

Both dogs know the basic commands: sit, Hanzo knows down, stay, back, and Pirate kinda knows heel.  They're both really great dogs and we love having them at home (even though it's summer now and they shed nonstop and our house is constantly hairy and dirty from them coming in and out of the doggy door and tracking dirt in.)  We couldn't imagine our lives without the critters.

I've read that in order to get the doggies used to a baby, to introduce the baby in small bouts.  We plan to leave the dogs at Bill's parents' house and come over and leave a blanket with Nacho's smell on it for them to get used to.  Then we'll come over with Nacho for a few hours.  We'll see how they behave at that point.  If it's generally good, then we'll take the doggies home. 

I would love any ideas or suggestions you all may have about introducing your doggie kids to your human kid.  We're seriously just kind of hoping it all works out and haven't gotten to the point of thinking of what could happen if they don't get along.  I guess it all depends on how cute Nacho is, because if he's not cuter than Pirate and Hanzo combined, we may have to keep the dogs and send the baby over to Bill's parents' (JUST KIDDING!!!)