Our New Family Member

Meet Molly (aka Champion Laguna). She is a five-year-old Saint Bernard given to us by a top breeder, Ivan Palmblad, from Providence, Utah. She has been trained and in a lot of shows and has won many championships. Chancho just happened to write to Ivan just as he was thinking he might start looking for a good home for her to retire to after being bred many times.

We tried to have dogs once. It was a sad experience for me and probably for them. I was allergic to dogs and we got two lab puppies. I also had two human babies of my own and tried and tried to be a good mom to these puppies. I took them to puppy kindergarten and I walked them and took them to the vet and had them spayed and neutered and microchipped and gave them their heart worm medication and I tried to do every good thing--all the while constantly taking Benadryl and rubbing creams on me because we had them outside but I was overcome with such guilt that I would go and pet them and hug them and then would immediately have my eyes swell and my hands and arms would be covered in hives. Anywho...after a year of them chewing the siding off our house, killing the trees in our backyard, and chewing off the fence and escaping nearly every day, I had to find new homes for them. I cried and cried for the guilt of it all. For my failure.

I vowed that I would never own a dog again. Chancho loves dogs and sorely has longed for a Saint Bernard for ages. String Cheese loves dogs and constantly begs for pets. I told Chancho that it was impossible for me to have a dog because of my allergies. Then I started doing NAET and was having such great success with food allergies that he thought maybe my animal allergies could be cured as well. I still didn't want a dog. Even if I had no allergies, I would only want a dog that was very calm and nice and already trained and loved children and didn't bark and pooped only on the very edge of the yard and didn't chew things and didn't get into things and...my list went on.

Well, along came Molly. I didn't believe that a dog existed that fit these qualities. But Chancho found her so I said yes. He picked her up yesterday from Ivan. She had been spayed 3 days ago. Ivan charged us nothing, not even the price of the spay. He said that it was a win/win situation for everybody. Now, you have to know that I am not what one would consider an "animal lover". But I do love this dog. She is a bit nervous and over-stimulated at times but it has only been about 30 hours. But her "over-stimulated" means that she walks back and forth somewhat quickly. She has let out one bark and that was just a quick grunt when something scared her when she first got home. She adores all of the kids but especially Grace. She seems to know that I am Mom. She meets all of the best breed standards for a Saint--she loves children and is very protective and nurturing. She listens to commands. I took her on a walk with this kids this evening and she stayed right at my side except a couple of times when the kids ran off because they'd see a friend. She'd pull and look around anxiously, trying to make sure she could see all three of them. And she wouldn't let one of the kids walk behind because she wanted to have them in her sight. When we would see neighbors, we would stop and talk and she would just stand still at my side while all the kids petted her. Deedle is a little afraid when she is walking around but loves to give her hugs when she is lying down on her bed that I made for her. Oh, and Molly is huge. She weighs 165 pounds. All Saints are big but she is even larger than the standard female.

It has not all been positive and in fact I have felt a lot of stress. She came home about five minutes after I arrived home from my St. George trip with my sisters. The house was dirty, Chancho was sick, the kids were upset and acting up because they hadn't seen me and were tired, I was tired from driving and needed a shower, and in comes a very stinky and scared dog. I had to drop everything and immediately bathe her. And then she stunk really bad because she was wet and it stunk up the entire house and I wondered if my home was now going to be a stink-house. Yes, she drools. And she been through major surgery and then uprooted from everything she knows. I was very overwhelmed. But things have already improved so much and I think that we are all going to be a big, happy family. This evening was wonderful. Zhateal brought us dinner! Can you believe that? It really made my day because I was really overwhelmed. It was delicioso. Then we went for a walk and we ate the brownies during family night as Molly just sat quietly on her bed watching us. What a kind and thoughtful thing. Thank you!

One quick thing that was so cool. The kids were going to bed and I knew Molly was super tired because she had been awake nearly the entire day and had also been on a walk, so I was trying to get her to stay on her bed to go to sleep, but she kept acting really restless and kept walking towards the kids rooms. Then I thought, oh yeah, she's Nana. So, I took her to Loumy's room and had him say good night to her. She sniffed around his room as if checking to make sure it was okay, then we shut his door and went to the girls' room. The girls each said goodnight to her, again she sniffed around, I shut their door, then she was able to go lie down and rest. What a good little-huge Nana-Molly!

By the way, String Cheese has been waiting for this for months now. When Chancho first contacted Ivan, he said that he might breed Molly one more time. After several months when she had still not come into season and we had been to visit her, he decided he would rather have her come be with us and would have her spayed instead of trying to breed her again. String Cheese asked about Molly several times every day. In fact, she named her. Chancho bought books on Saints and they read them together and discussed way more things than I am interested in knowing about dogs! String Cheese has drawn many pictures and also written the word "Molly" in her journal numerous times. About a week ago she asked me, "Do you love me more than Molly?" "Of course!" I said. She sat there quietly and said, "Well, I think I love you and Molly about the same."