Hi everyone:
We are thinking of getting the boys a dog, particularly a puppy (lab or golden). Some of the rescue groups we have been working with know about Adam and have advised me against a pup since they tend to jump, scratch, etc... We are planning on sending it to obedience school but they are still steering me towards an older (1-2 year old) trained dog. Boys would like a pup. I am just wondering if anyone out there in EHK land has any words of advise...
Thanks
kel

Kelly, I wish I could help you, but we're cat people here. We've never really had a problem with the cats scratching the boys, but they were past kittenhood when the boys were born.

Hey, i posted to this about 1.5 hours ago, and it has disappeared...weird...i must have forgotten to press send or something...

Anyway, we are cat people also...but my mum has a Jack Russell and she is always jumping up to my legs when i arrrive, and yes it rips them open... I try to makes sure i am well covered up with thicker clothing, to to reduce claw penetration, and when i sit on couch, i put a blanket over my legs...

This is little Adam's mum is it? Mark's wife? I remember helping you guys out when Adam was first born/baby...

wow, he must be a big boy now...
Love Pauline

I would love to see some photos of him now...I always find it fascinating to see how children grow and develop...

Hi,
I'm sorry, I forget. How old is Adam?
When Evan, who has EHK, was a toddler, he was terrified of dogs. My sister had a dog and if he saw it on the other side of the room, he would scream at the top of his lungs. Our solution, we got a puppy. We had to be careful and taught Evan and the puppy to be careful. It was probably harder to teach Evan to be careful. Evan now loves all animals and that puppy is now our 12 year old companion. My advice would be; do what feels right for your family. Of course we need to protect our children but there is only so much we can protect them against and only so much we want to take away from them. To me, those are the hardest questions we have to balance.
Good Luck with your new pet!
Deidra
p.s. One last word of advice,for your own sanity, think about the shedding. Our dog sheds ALOT. It has never caused Ev any problems but it is one more mess in the house in addition to the obvious!

yeah I always say to Daniel, if he didn't have me or the cats, then he would never have to use a vaccuum cleaner. [img]http://www.ichthyosis.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] [img]http://www.ichthyosis.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img]

Pauline

hello adams mom, i was raised with dogs.. i remember when i was between 5 and 7 years of age.. i had chicken pox for the second or third time.. my mom brought home a black lab puppy for me.. during the chicken pox it was crazy because we all know how ugh we feel with chicken pox and having a puppy jump on ya while you have all those sores wasn't exactly my idea of fun.. but that puppy sure helped cheer up my spirits. she was more than a dog to me she was my best friend.. and i had her up until she passed away when i was a teen.. i still say that when i have my own house with a huge yard that im going to get another black lab puppy for my kids.. that is truly i believe that black labs are the best dogs ever.. as for the scratches and skin.. i don't remember anything too major happening.. but even falling did more damage than any dog could do.. we did have to be strict with her in the beginning but she did learn and we never had any bad issues with her.. i hope this helps.. take care and talk to you later.. crystal rose (ehk)

I admit that it can hurt, puppy teeth and nails are so sharp!
I have a 5 year old lab and a 4 month old German Shorthaired Pointer. They have both learned, very quickly, not to jump or bite because of my reaction when they do. I yelp, very loudly, as the nail or tooth tears my skin and the louder I am the better. Much like a Mother Dog or a litter mate would yelp when play gets a little rough, the yelp teaches them the boundary.
Having a dog is the best and I firmly believe that it's easier to train a puppy but your boys will get scratched. For me, the scratches have been more than worth it.

I know this is a bit late to give my input but I haven't seen a response as to what you decided. I've had dogs and puppies all my life as long as I can remember. My advice is to get a puppy, no matter what age the dog you get is it will inevitably occasionally give your kid a scratch. What I learned and my parents observed, was that all the puppies we raised eventually became aware that my skin was different and were very gentle and extremely protective of me. An older dog may or may not have the same instincts. Raising them with ichthyosis instead of introducing them to it at a later age I think has it's benefits. Training your puppy properly at a young age is very important, and a lot more work then a full grown dog. On the other hand I wouldn't trust a rescue dog around my kids no matter what it's history may be. My wife read me a quote the other night from a book she was reading, I thought it perfect for closing my response. “Until one has loved a dog a part of one's soul remains unawakened.” Anatole France

My son has CIE, but when he was born we had a Lab pup, her name is Sweetie, we kept him at a good distance long enough to let her know that she must be careful around him, to this day she gets out of the way when he is toddling around and only is close when we are there with them both. Your sons are older and will be very excited, but trainig is the way to go and you can do it yourself or pay for it, with good training the lab is a very obident & gentle dog. Plus if your boys help with the training, then they become the dogs master. You just have to make it clear as the dog gets older that absolutly no rough play is allowed. There is a great book called Family Dog by Richard A Walters that I got on Amazon.com for about 7 bucks used. It is step by step, and we have trained sweetie by it, the only thing she wont do is roll over, but that is mostly because I didnt train her well enough in that depaertment, I was so busy with the baby. You can also get a little older dog , and with patience they are very trainable as well. But if you dont have the time or patience to spend at least 15 min 2 times a day, then you will have a dog that might not obey or do things like jump up. We love our Sweetie and you should see her jump of the dock and swim and fetch. Your boys skin is probably much more fragile than mine, and I'm not saying that they wont get hurt, because they probably will, but I dont think it would be alot. But also the rescue people are the pros, so you must take their advice in consideration.

Hope I helped, thanks, Cara