My son was terrified of animals, large and small, so for his third birthday, we got a German Shepherd puppy to grow up with him and be his sibling. Well, Angus was more than up for the task, and took his sibling role quite literally. What was good for our son was good for Angus. If our son had a nightmare and climbed into bed with us, Angus climbed into bed with us.
If Angus wanted to play with one of our son’s toys, he would swap out his favorite for one of our son’s. None of Angus’ toys squeaked because he constantly dumped them in the bath with our son, and grabbed whatever our son was playing with. As Angus and our son both grew up, they were reverted more to boy/dog roles, but Angus was as smart as they came.
When my assistant started bringing her rescue puppy to work with her, Angus became a bit jealous, but quickly realized that (1) the puppy was broken and didn’t know how to play, and (2) if he taught the puppy how to play, Angus would get the attention of his people, which he craved. So, he brought toys out to the puppy, showed the puppy how to use them, and then soaked up all the admiration from his people while the puppy discovered the joys of squeaky toys, balls, ropes, etc….
Here is a picture of my beautiful Angus, who crossed the rainbow bridge 14 years ago.