The Adjustment Period, Part II

I do realize this is the second long post of the day about the dogs, which may seem excessive to some, but there's a lot going on.

This was the first workday with K here. I was certainly curious as to how that would go. I mean, I need to keep a close watch on things, as I explained earlier. That doesn't mean I need to make sure I can see and/or hear the dogs, it means I need to be close to them watching them so I can intervene if necessary.

They're actually doing well. Belle and K are equally obsessed with watching the backyard for critters.

That by itself isn't a problem. The door they watch from, however, is on another floor at the other end of the house from my office. There weren't many issues today, but I didn't want to take any chances. So I encouraged K to hang out in my office with me.

She didn't seem to mind too much.

I found it sort of distracting, though. Because she snores. And she looked so darn cute.

I just had to take pictures.

I think I may have been getting on her nerves...

I wasn't keeping K prisoner or anything. I didn't even have the door closed. The other dogs came and went throughout the day. And I took them all outside every couple of hours. (It's a good thing I am not super-busy this week. I AM KNOCKING ON WOOD NOW!)

The only issues with K and Belle have been while they're playing and one or both of them get too wound up. They're just like little kids wrestling. They can be rolling around, bumping, hitting, biting, etc., but if one gets a little hurt or suddenly scared, they freak out.

With me or Hubby staying close by, as soon as we see things getting too exciting, we make them stop playing for a minute. That's usually enough to calm things down and they're back to being friends.

Late this afternoon, after they'd been romping and rolling for a good bit, I could tell K was getting tired. They heard the mailman or something and K took off running toward the front gate. Belle took off after her, body slammed K, bounced off and ran in the other direction.

Meg has learned how to anticipate and dodge this little maneuver, which is Belle's way of saying "chase me." Well, K turned around very quickly and chased her. K, who is also very fast, either stepped on Belle's heel or just scared Belle. All of a sudden, Belle yipped and got this look of terror on her face. Had I not been right there to step in, Belle may have snapped, literally. Which would have pissed K off. Their anger could have escalated quickly.

That's why, until they get to know each other really well, we have to stay close by.

Don't worry, though. This sort of adjustment is completely normal. Some dogs can't even be in the same room together for weeks or even months. I think these two are going to be just fine. Especially since most of the time they play with each other like this...

They'd been chasing each other around the yard, flopping in the leaves. Somehow, they ended up laying in the leaves for a while, just wrestling with their heads. It was very cute.

As for Meg...

She really is perfectly happy watching the crazy little ones tear around the yard. As long as I don't ignore her, of course, which I won't.

And she does her share of running, too. She may be getting older, but she still likes to run. She just doesn't have it in her to be chased by our two little speed demons.