Prior
to our bringing Francis home, a lot of people had expressed their concern to us
about how we would deal with bringing a new child together with a house full of
animals. We had a plan to introduce them
slowly, not allow them in the same room alone together, and hope that he wasn’t
allergic to them and that everyone got along!
The
result?
We
got very, very lucky.
Prior
to our trip to the Philippines, we sent a photo album to Francis and included
pictures of Lakota and all of the cats.
When we met him and were still in the Philippines, it turned out that he
had decided to take a liking to our cat, Boots.
He was playing with our cell phones and pretending to “text Boots.” Whether the cat liked him or not, he had
decided that she was going to be his kitty.
Fortunately for everyone (especially Francis), Boots is a sweetheart of
a cat and she is perfectly happy to have Francis love on her.
Introducing
Francis to Lakota was a bit of a different story. We thought we had it all planned out. We had one of Lakota’s favorite treats ready
for Francis to give her for as soon as we walked in the door from the
airport. We figured this would put
Francis on solid ground with her and still give her something to take a while
to chew so that we would have enough time to get our bags in the door and get
somewhat settled. What we had hoped
wouldn’t happen, of course, did. Francis
realized just how big Lakota really was, freaked out, refused to give her the
cookie, and ran screaming into the next room.
I think at that point we realized we were really in for it, and my
parents, who had traveled with us, felt horrible about having to go home!
It
took a few days, of course. As planned,
one of us was always on top of Francis and Lakota whenever they were near each
other. Lucky for us, Lakota, who has
never shown much interest in children before, is a very intelligent dog and
realized that someone very, very special had entered “her territory.” This little boy was someone her people seemed
to love very much, and that was all Lakota needed to know to decide that
Francis was going to be her boy, and
the person she was most responsible for keeping safe. Doggy kisses?
You bet. Once Francis let Lakota
give him kisses, she was all over it. “Kissin’!”
he would squeal when Lakota would lick him.
Before he told either Gregg or me that he loved us, we heard him tell
her, “I love you, ‘Kota.”
Like
many children who are adopted at older ages, we are working through some issues
with Francis’ adjustment. We expected
that this would happen. We did not
expect some of the extent that it would go to.
What we also did not expect was that Lakota would become Francis’
therapy dog. Our feisty girl, who will
become a teenager on Thanksgiving Day, knows just when our son is hurting the
most, when to go to him and how to calm him down, just by being there and “Kissin’.” She also knows when it’s best to stay
away. She’s done some things to calm him
that I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t witnessed it myself.
Still,
two of our cats haven’t quite warmed up to the newest member of the family
yet. One of these days they’ll get with
the program. Until then, Patches and
Shadow prefer to hang out under our bed and hide during the day, then come out
and play after Francis is in bed. I
think he’s a little too active for their more reserved lifestyle.
So
what would I say to the woman back in this post who criticized me for waiting
to adopt a child until my dog was 12? I’d
say I have an amazing dog and she’s doing just fine as a “big sister.”
