Happy dog in a chokehold

Moose is amazing with children. He is gentle, soft-mouthed, caring, sensitive, emotional, protective and smart. We always imagined him being a babysitter and the coolest, softest toy in our childrens' lives. But he will never meet our children.

My two young cousins came over to visit Moose. As playful and youthful as they are, and as happy and playful as Moose is, their visit turned into a pseudo keep-away, football/dodgeball game. The kids threw the ball. Moose returned it.. covered in slopper. The kids hugged him and Moose leaned hard into the hug. Of course the slobbery ball was in his mouth. Then, the three of them fell over, as if tackling each other in a football game.

Just a day later, Moose got a special visit from my 6 month old niece. He has not been around many babies, and the way he gave her attention was much different than the attention he gave my niece and nephew.

With my niece, he sat, he waited, he let her take control. He was gentle and caring. He was perfect.

We will never be able to introduce Moose to our kids. But thanks to the young kiddos in our life, we are reassured that he is as amazing as we thought. Thanks the young kiddos in our life, Moose has a taste of what it means to have little monsters to watch out for. 

Moose may not know our kids, but they will certainly know about him.