The fence is UP!!!!!

First of all I say RIP to the little one tragically killed in Melbourne - my heart goes out to her family.

This is something that makes me realise why I called a behaviourist for Earl in the first place - as a 53 kilo dog he is a BIG dog - and behaviour which in a 20 kilo dog you feel more able to deal with - when you times the size by 2.5 the potential impact of the behaviour also times by 2.5.

I had a really interesting discussion with some of my class today (9 and 10 year olds) - there perspective on the issue was varied and the background they bring to it is also varied. They all have heard about Earl and some of them have met him - they have a perspective on the size aspect and many of them have dogs as their family pets.

My kids are 12 and 10 and I have always been vigilant with my supervision of the dogs around them and when the kids have friends around we keep the kids and dogs seperate - part of this is the sheer size of Earl and part of this is the fact that not all kids are dog savvy and not alll dogs are kid savvy - kids can be unpredictable and so can dogs - no matter how laid back they seem to be - you just cannot know how they will react in all situations.

Anyway - on the Earl side of things - my wonderful OH has now fenced the area of garden containing the riverstones so I will now not be thinking the worst every time Earl eats leaves and throws up - or belches - or moves funny - or looks at me funny - or even breathes funny *L* (Given that he's a Bloodhound he pretty much looks funny all of them time)

That is until the big doofus finds something else he can get into or do to keep us on our toes - hopefully that will take him long enough that by the time he thinks of it he will be past the stupid teenage dog years and be too old and settled to act on his thoughts :)

So - hug your kids and dogs - and cross your fingers that we have beaten the doofus for now!!