Brody and his puppies

Before we became Brody's parents, we were already parents of two adorable chocolate labs:

Cody and Ben

Cody is 5 years old and Ben is 6. We've had them for almost 3 years after my Dad raised them for the first few years. He did a great job training them, so we've had it easy for the most part. They instantly became part of our family and we weren't sure how that was going to change with Brody on the way. So far it has been great.

Ben is naturally a protector. He follows me around the house and "stands guard." He's a pretty calm natured dog and would rather lay out in the grass than play catch. He's already begun protecting Brody and will lay next to him while he's sleeping.

Cody is playful and full of energy. He follows Jason around the house and begs him to play catch. He's taken a very different approach to Brody than Ben has. Cody now spends a lot of time upstairs away from us and the baby. He has his "safe zone" in a bedroom that we have set aside as the dogs room. He lays on his dog bed most of the day. It may be jealousy but he doesn't take it out on the baby. He just seems to have no real interest in Brody and is even a little scared of him. When we're holding Brody or if he's in a bouncer or car seat, Cody will approach him and smell him. When we put Brody at his level on the floor, he backs away like he's scared of him. It will be very interesting when he starts crawling.

This picture is great because Cody is on the right and sort of not sure what to do with him. Ben is on the left and just watching him.

Since Ben is a much calmer dog, I think he will handle the toddler years much easier than Cody. Jason has already put Brody on Ben's back and Ben just laid there. I think both dogs will be great when Brody starts crawling and walking, it will probably just take Cody a little more time. Brody handles the dogs very well. Ben constantly licks Brody and he never even flinches. He sleeps through dog barks and even if they wake him up, he's rarely scared by the barking. We've also exposed him to friend's dogs as well and he's not phased at all. He got along great with our friend's 4 lb Chihuahua and another friend's German Shepherd. Not that he has much of a choice, but I think he'll definitely grow to be a dog-lover, just as I am.