Diane-
 
When Sarah met her first dog, it was under similar circumstances and the
dog was a Golden Retriever (and a fraidy-cat as well).  Sarah thought the
dog, Cody, was wonderful, but Cody couldn't decide about her.  We left
them together for a few hours (supervised) and soon enough they were
sleeping together.  I was never worried that Cody would hurt her
intentionally, but when they were playing, he would jump up and down and I
was always afraid that he might land on her and break her back, so they
were never allowed to play unsupervised.  Also, a negative was Sarah
decided that dogs were not dangerous, which proved to be a bad thing when
she met a dangerous dog.  After a worrisome 72 hours and seven stitches, I
thought it might be best that she not play with dogs any more.
 
About weight, Sarah routinely gains about a quarter of a pound in the fall
and loses it in the spring.  That doesn't seem like much, but when she
only averages one lb., it's quite a bit.  Actually, she's already started
gaining her fall weight, which worries me 'cause I'm afraid it might be an
early winter (yuk).
 
Good luck,
Caroline (Sarah's well-trained pet)
[Posted in FML issue 1294]