We adopted Olive just a couple of months after saying goodbye to our last dog Sam. Sam had been my dog before I met my partner and we welcomed our kids, and he never really came around on being a family dog.
When we chose to adopt from SOS, we did so because as a dog-experienced family, we would still be considered even with very small children - my daughter was only 3 months old at the time of our application. (Some rescues we looked at didn't adopt to families with small kids.) Our main goal was to adopt a new family member who would love - not merely tolerate but actually LOVE - their human siblings, and to grow the relationship between our kids and the new dog into something special and positive.
Olive responded well to the kids though our oldest took some time to come around on her. His experience with dogs was what he knew with Sam, and that was a strict routine of safety measures for everyone's sake. Very slowly, and initially with a lot of direct support, he began to really relax around her, and then to interact with her. He's recently started helping with simple dog training, and it's so incredible to watch them grow together. Sometimes I catch him holding her paw when he's sitting down watching TV and she loves it too. Olive has proven to be, with training, consistency, and patience, the perfect dog for us at just the right time. Looking forward to celebrating her first adoptiversary next month and we can't imagine life without her. She's one special girl and we lucked out with her gentle nature.