Dog - a boy's bestfriend

Back in October of 2008, Scout (our German Shepherd ) became a part of our lives! We got her when she was just 6 weeks old and she has been a member of the family ever since. Scout was born here in Tennessee but she made the move with me to Indiana and back. She has been by my side through all the ups and downs over the past 5 years. Yes, she is just a dog...but I can't imagine life without her.

For those of you who are dog lovers/owners, then you understand what I mean when I say that my dog understands my moods and can sense my feelings. I'm amazed at how Scout handles different situations. Whether I'm stressed, happy, sad, whatever...she gets it!

Once we moved back to Tennessee, we moved into the basement apartment of my parent's house. Scout went from being a mostly indoor dog to a mostly outdoor dog (only coming in to sleep). During the latter part of my pregnancy, I started spending less time with Scout because I knew that once Colton arrived, I wasn't going to have as much time to be outside with her - and I didn't want her to blame Colton for that. Even though I spent less time with her, she was still my same old Scout - happy to see me, loving, loyal and just plain awesome.


Scout was "top dog" (pun intended) until Colton came along. When we first brought him home from the hospital, Scout was (for lack of a better explanation) weird. She wasn't aggressive, mean or "pouty", she was just strange. Of course it was January (cold and rainy most days) and we weren't with her a lot, but she knew something was different. Maybe she could sense the newness, stress of having a new baby or maybe just my tiredness.

As Spring made it's appearance and the days started getting warmer, I was able to take Colton outside to get to know Scout. Scout has never been around children for any significant amounts of time - so I wanted to be careful with the introduction. No matter how much a part of our family Scout is, she is still a dog and dogs are very unpredictable. Once she was able to thoroughly smell Colton from top to bottom, a friendship was born.

Scout's true nature comes out where Colton is concerned. The other day, I was cleaning out the Envoy and Matt was getting his truck ready for work so we had Colton in his bouncy seat inside the garage (the garage door was open). Scout was laying in the yard by her pen when Matt got in his truck and started backing around the driveway. Of course I was still there, but since I was inside the Envoy, Scout couldn't see me. Once Matt got out of site, Scout sat up, looking worried - she looked at where Matt had gone, then at Colton, where Matt had gone and back to Colton. She got up and ran over to Colton, sniffed all around, circled him and laid down in front of him (between the driveway and him) and waited. After watching this, I stepped out of the Envoy and said "good girl Scout" and she looked at me with such relief. She turned to Colton, licked his feet and got up and returned to her spot in the yard.

Of course I'm still aware of the fact that Scout is a German Shepherd and she could be unpredictable at any minute, but I'm so thankful that Scout is so alert and protective of Colton. I am anxious to see how Scout handles an "on the move" Colton and look forward to watching their friendship grow!