Dog Days

The past week has been fascinating. It has been a long time since I attempted to integrate an adult dog into our "pack". Lucky for all of us, Dyna is a great dog. She is quiet and knows her place. Sadly enough for Vaquita...Dyna's place is above my wee pup. She displayed that fact by chasing the pup away from the bowl of food Vaquita was enjoying. I did have to snap back (verbally, of course) at Dyna for chasing Vaquita away, but I can't blame her for establishing her dominance over my Spotted Nuisance, especially as Vaquita does not live in my house with Isis and Dyna, she lives at my Guy's house.

Isis can be a tough dog to figure out. Some dogs she likes, some she hates. She is the same with people. I took Wednesday off to spend with Isis and Dyna on their first full day together. It was a lovely day, so we spent a lot of time outside in the yard. As I sat and read a book, the dogs did what I can only be describe as a dance. They never looked directly at each other, as that would be a sign of aggression. Each watched the other out of the corner of her eye, keeping her curiosity private. Isis would wander around the yard investigating the grass, while Dyna "followed" her. If I were not paying attention to them, I would not think Dyna was following Isis, but her movements were calculated. She always stayed between 6 and 10 feet from her new companion, again, never directly watching her. Dyna was sure to sniff the same spots though that Isis had just had her nose on a minute before. Isis knew what Dyna was doing, I know my Chow...she was positioning her body in such a way that she always had an eye on Dyna, but never invited her to join in on the fun. Later in the day, they found a spot on the lawn and lounged about. Dyna wasn't sure where to go. She is still insecure about her surroundings. She would run to me, then into the yard again, then back to me on the deck. As the afternoon passed, Dyna decided to test her limits. She wandered onto the grass about 5 feet from where Isis was laying. She never looked at her, but kept her head low, circling. Isis never turned to see her, but wagged her tail ever so slightly. Apparently that was the ok for Dyna to lay down. She still remained about 5 feet from Isis, but she was able to lay down and relax, rather than wander around in a seemingly lost state.

Since that day, Dyna has gotten a bit more confident and the girls seem to trust each other. They sniff the same areas on walks and will lay withing a couple feet of each other. Isis will still not show any interest in Dyna...she is being her typical off-standish Chow Chow self, but that's fine. Dyna is respecting Isis' wants and not being a nuisance. Now I just have to get Vaquita to accept that Dyna is not going to kill her when they are in the house together and Vaquita can not run into Dyna's side when they run around together on walks. Pups!

I am hoping to get some pictures this weekend. I have a busy weekend ahead, which includes bathing Vaquita, Jade and Jasmine. Isis and Dyna got their baths this past weekend. I have spent the week healing my back from bending over and wrestling with Dyna over her bath...so here I go again.