March 20, 2010

White Dog and Quinn have been have little verbal skirmishes of late. As Quinn gains health and begins to feel more secure in our home, he is challenging White Dog a bit over her "rules." They will, in time, in their own way work out a relationship that allows each dog to feel comfortable with the other. The hard part, as parents, is to step back and let them negotiate their own way.

It was rewarding this morning when we discovered a new off-leash Park in town that is totally fenced and was virtually deserted. We were able to let both White Dog (who can really go off-leash anywhere) and Quinn (who is still an unknown) free to explore and exercise. White Dog ran the length of the Park flat out as is her usual Park strategy but suddenly stopped and returned to check on Quinn who was sniffing and strolling and staying very close to the starting point. She nosed him and then hung around in his vicinity doing zoomies at top speed but keeping Quinn under her protective watch. For his part, Quinn followed her lead and never strayed too far from his "sister." They even shared the back seat to nap (not touching!) on the way home.

And yet tonight, White Dog bossed Quinn around from the moment we got home...and Quinn tried to hip swat her out of the way while Steve was petting both. Each is doing his interpretation of "Look at me! I am the good dog...see how rude the other one is?" We are trying very hard to stay neutral and let the "kids" make it work.

P.S. Don't forget to visit Ben at http://lifeon3legs.wordpress.com/2010/03/18/a-year-ago/ and leave the comment, "Ben You Rock!" Animal Rescue money is earned for every comment!