Getting the furbaby acquainted with the new baby

I was able to capture this sweet moment when our dog, Cas, laid down next to our daughter, Cici. They stared at each other until they realized I was looking -- their longest interaction in Cici’s short life.

When I found out I was pregnant, one of my biggest concerns was how our dog was going to react. She has been with us since she was eight weeks old and has been the spoiled “only child.”

Logan and I first got Cas, our feisty Boston Terrier/Chihuahua mix, almost three years ago after we moved to Greencastle while I worked at the Banner Graphic. He was working nights, which left me alone in our crappy apartment in a city I wasn’t familiar with. Naturally, we decided we should add some more responsibility to our budding relationship.

Logan made me promise that if we got a dog, it would be crate trained and under no circumstances would it be allowed to sleep in the bed.

Fun fact: the one who is gone all night doesn’t get to decide where the dog sleeps. Oops! Our dog has spent the last two and a half years sleeping right in between us.

I picked Cas because the markings on her face looked almost like a heart above her nose, and she has since filled our series of homes with so much joy.

A few months into my pregnancy, I had to retrain Cas to not step on my belly. She was obviously frustrated, but still a cuddly, shaking furbaby.

In the months since Cici was born, Cas has mostly snubbed her. She would take great care to walk around the baby as she was laying on her blankie, but otherwise, she wouldn’t have much to do with Cici.

In the last couple of weeks, Cici has been watching the dog like a hawk as she walks by, sometimes completely ignoring Logan and I to keep watch on the dog.

Last weekend, Cas kept pacing past Cici, and the baby was laughing so hard. It was the most interaction they had aside from sitting next to each other for a few minutes at a time.

But, we had a major breakthrough this week.

I put Cici on her blanket on the floor while I was doing something else. While I wasn’t paying attention, Cas laid do next to Cici and they just stared at each other -- until I pulled out the camera and snapped a photo so they lost interest.

In that fleeting moment, it made my heart so happy. Cas-cas was my first baby. We got her after my PCOS diagnosis, when I was told I may never have children of my own.

Luckily for us, we’ve now got two little munchkins who look at Logan and I like we are the whole world, one of them just so happens to be covered in fur.

Sabrina is the editor of the Greene County Daily World. She can be reached at sabrinagcdw@gmail.com.