"Addie Died, Now We Have Sadie"

Week one with Sadie went surprisingly well. Maybe we did a good job of picking out the best puppy or maybe all Bernese Mountain Dogs are just good dogs because I remember Adler being pretty easy too. Probably a little bit of both.

The kids have quickly adjusted to having a dog in the house again. At the beginning of the week, Hailey was alternating between calling Sadie, "Addie," so I once again explained to her that Adler was no longer with us anymore, that she died, but now we have Sadie. Well, who knew that she would understand that statement so completely and all the right emotions that went along with it.  I wasn't really expecting that she would get it. But now she says it to me a couple of times a day. "Addie died" (with a sad face), "but now we have Sadie" (with a happy face).

Hailey clearly delights in having a dog in the house again especially a puppy. She isn't even afraid anymore if it chases her and nips her a bit. Peyton on the other hand is still a little stand offish (part of her "I'm afraid of everything" stage), and Austen is great with Sadie - playing with her, petting her as well as telling her no and ignoring her when she jumps.

Sadie has also had two training sessions which have gone pretty well. Her trainer advised us to keep her in a pen or crate to train her initially which makes my life easier since I don't have to follow around two toddlers now. But the pen has helped the kids become more comfortable with her too since Sadie can't chase them and nip at them anymore. Her sleeping at night has gone pretty well too. She sleeps about six hours or so before waking us up to go out. In fact, sometimes Hailey is the first one to wake up and we're like "Shhh...or you'll wake up Sadie!"

It's nice you know, having our Berners as the bookends to our family. Adler came first before our kids and Sadie nicely fits in as the baby of our family.