Embracing Emmett: 2023

This has been an eventful year and it is really flying by! I can’t believe that it is already November. This spring, Emmett’s big brother, Corbin, finally convinced us that we should welcome a dog into our family again. It has been 6 years since we lost our sweet dog, Cody, so getting a puppy has definitely been an adjustment. We wanted to be sure that whatever dog we chose would be good with Emmett, so we were glad to find a puppy that was a little older and had been socialized with young children. We let Corbin choose his name and Jedi joined our family in mid April. I could tell early on that he would be good with Emmett. Although Emmett doesn’t play with Jedi like a typical child might, he definitely likes having him around.

A few days after we brought Jedi home, we discovered that Emmett thinks it’s hilarious when Jedi gets in trouble. If we reprimand Jedi for doing something wrong, Emmett giggles like he’s saying, “Ha, ha, you’re in trouble and I’m not!”

Ironically, Emmett and Jedi often get reprimanded for similar things: chewing on things that they shouldn’t, pulling laundry out of the basket, and trying to snatch food. There are times that I think they are secretly plotting against us! Emmett recently discovered that he can not only open the side door and go out to the garage, but he can also open the van door and get into his booster seat all by himself. Now that Jedi is part of the family, they both like to “escape” into the garage and will both get into the van or if the garage door is open, they will both make their way outside! Needless to say, we definitely have to watch Emmett closely, if the garage door is open.

Emmett also cracks up when Jedi barks, which is definitely counterproductive if we are trying to discourage Jedi from barking. However, I am thankful that Jedi’s bark doesn’t scare Emmett or make him cry because that would be so much worse! I’m equally thankful that Emmett’s loud vocalizations don’t seem to bother Jedi. On the first morning that we had him, Emmett started making sounds like he normally does when he wakes up and Jedi looked up at Corbin to make sure that everything was okay. Once he knew that we weren’t concerned about the sounds that Emmett was making, Jedi seemed completely unbothered by it.

I’ve also found myself calling Emmett by Jedi’s name and vice versa. I honestly think that I get their names mixed up more than I do Corbin and Emmett’s.

Something else that I noticed when we first brought Jedi home was how much more affectionate Emmett was with Corbin. Don’t get me wrong, Emmett is all about his big brother, but I think he was a bit jealous of all of the attention that Jedi was getting from Corbin, so he was giving him even more hugs and cuddles. Emmett also likes to be close to Jedi, jingle his tags, and touch his fur, but he will sometimes try to pull his hair or pet him a little too hard, so we have to watch him closely. Jedi is very patient with Emmett and likes to come into his room when I go in to get him every morning. He also likes to lick Emmett, which we try to discourage, but Emmett doesn't seem to mind it.

For those of you that may not know Emmett, he always wants to be where the action is! If someone leaves a room, he isn’t far behind. This is also true with Jedi, so I can pretty much count on having not one, but two little “shadows” following behind me now. They are also both experts at wanting attention from the person that is busy doing something, even when there is someone else completely available to attend to them.

In addition to wanting to be where the action is, they are also very observant and enjoy watching what is going on around them. If the neighbors are outside or a delivery person stops at our house, it is a pretty safe bet that they will both be watching their every move.

Emmett and Jedi are also equally interested in food and they both let us know if they think it is time to have something to eat. In fact, we had to get Jedi a slow feeder, so he wouldn't eat too fast and Emmett will just keep stuffing food in his mouth, if we don't watch him closely.

Although there is obviously a huge difference between Emmett and Jedi, it is funny how many of their personality traits are so similar! They keep us on our toes, but it is fun to see how they interact and communicate with each other. The force is definitely strong with these two and it will be interesting to see how the relationship between them changes through the years.