Many of you who have known us for years know Babe. We "rescued" her when she was only 3 years old and had already had three litters. We couldn't wait to make her our princess and let her have a great and calm rest of her life. But we weren't going to call her Princess... or "Dutchess" which was actually her name at the time. And we did make her a princess ... She slept in our bed, we spent untold amounts on vet bills, cried over a strange eye pimple, she went everywhere with us. We were shocked that she wouldn't be invited to pool parties and dinner parties. I mean, she was the most perfect dog. In fact, we did not see her a dog. She's a PUG! A PERSON! She went to NY 3 times, Seattle, Portland, LA... we were crushed when we realized it was too far to take her to Brazil.
And then... we had Amelia. And we thought it would be wonderful for them to play together. And Babe is great with kids and gentle, and yes, well... she does lick them too much, but she's a great kids dog. But you know what happens if you treat a pug like a princess for 6 years and then bring in a new baby? Yes. Jealousy. And we tried the tricks the books say... blah blah blah... blanket from the hospital... blah blah blah treat the dog like you used to... But you know what? It's hard. And, Babe was still jealous. Not aggressive jealous. No. Just pee-all-over-whatever-of-the-baby's-she-can-jealous.
This has dramatically changed Babe's life. She no longer has free-peeing range all over our house. She has limited jurisdiction of the laundry room, back yard and on special occasions, the kitchen and the tv room (only after the baby's in bed). We've heard a lot of advice, but if you've got more, I'd love to hear it. Daily we say to ourselves "poor babe" and OY! The Guilt.
But, every now and then, I get Amelia and Babe together for a "play date" because Amelia is plain crazy for her. Not that you'd know from this video. I can't tell who is more bored. Amelia only gets excited when she realizes that the camera is out and she might see a picture of herself. - And then a couple pictures of Babe attempting to lick, and Amelia imitating her.
