Saturday, September 23, 2006 - Cohabitation

Saturday, September 23, 2006
Cohabitation
We're fast coming up on a year with Ben. It was a tough decision to get a dog in the first place because I had always said I wouldn't traumatize Eric by introducing a dog in to the house. Eric hasn't really ever been a big fan of dogs, but I've seen him deal with a dog situation in less than a week before, so I was pretty sure he'd be ok. I was actually very surprised that after 6 months he was still very against the idea. Everytime the dog came near he'd either run away, hiss, spit, or some other vulgar reaction. I really was about to give up all hope of Eric ever accepting the dog. Willow took a couple of months but after careful study and observation she decided the dog was harmless (as he is). Nonetheless, even this example wasn't enough to coax Eric out in to the open. Over the summer we locked "the hole" where Eric had been living since December when Ben came to live with us. This forced him to at least live in the same area as the dog, but that was at least three months ago.
Today, a truly amazing thing happend...............all three animals occupied the same area, all within one foot of each other, for more than just a couple of seconds. Ben, Eric and Willow all standing with me in the kitchen whining about something. Frankly I don't care what the whining was about, I was so amazed that Eric and Ben were cohabitating.............finally..............after almost 10 months. It was a truly amazing moment.