This past weekend, we had the pleasure of hosting our first canine house-guests: Scout and Sadie. Scout and Sadie belong to my longtime friend, Kathryn, and her new husband, Jeff. They all came up to visit us for a beautiful, autumn-like weekend in the mountains.
Scout and Sadie!
Admittedly, I was a little nervous about how Pyrrha would handle living in our tiny house with two unfamiliar, big dogs. The verdict? She LOVED it. I think Pyrrha really wants a canine sibling.
Fleet Scout.
Such a play bow!
Scout, I love you. Do you love me?
The young lovers, relaxing.
Pyrrha was particularly taken with Scout, a big, sweet lab/vizsla mix. Their temperaments seemed well suited to each other and they spent most of the weekend kissing each other’s faces and rough-housing, aka generally falling in love.
Sadie wants in.
Sadie, the gregarious boxer/shepherd mix, was kind of a different story, but she and Pyrrha eventually coexisted. Sadie is a very active, vigilant little lady, and she did not take kindly to Pyrrha romping with her brother. Whenever Pyrrha would initiate play with Scout, Sadie would intervene and snarl and snap at Pyrrha. This behavior gradually diminished, as Sadie is also very distracted by light, shadows, butterflies, and just about any other small movement…
Pack play.
On Sunday morning, we took the new dog pack on a beautiful hike to a mountain orchard nearby. All of the dogs were champs, even if they were a little too eager about the hike (dragging us up and down the mountain).
Attempt at a group photo.
They all did very well when greeted by lots of different people, dogs, and even children. Pyrrha is anxious around small children, but I think the presence of Scout and Sadie was very calming to her, and she accepted the attention of numerous little kids without complaint or displays of anxiety. (This particularly was exciting to me, as Pyrrha’s anxiety around little kids is her most concerning behavior to me right now.)
All in all, we had a fun, raucous weekend with the dogs. It was so encouraging to see Pyrrha exist so peacefully with other dogs. She seemed just delighted to have them around, too. After they left and we came back inside, she asked to go outside and started patrolling the perimeter of the yard, looking for Scout and Sadie. I’m surely reading too much into it, but I think she was a little mopey when she realized they were gone. We will have to have them over again soon! Or just get Pyrrha a furry brother…
Jeff and Kathryn and the pups.
Have you ever had canine house-guests? Would you?
That play-bow photo is priceless! So glad the weekend went well. You never know! We’ve had two canine houseguests: my mom’s Westie (a little brat, but what can I do) and my friend’s chocolate lab. With both everything was fine outside in the yard, but in the living room my dogs would get a little anxious about their favorite spots (and they have so many) being occupied or even passed through by another dog. Some growling and circling, no biting. Of course I’m burdened by the human and Southern compulsion of wanting my dogs to be good hosts while I’m busy being a good hostess, and it’s hard to remember that dog etiquette is different from ours! Overall I think it’s good for them. Way to go, Pyrrha!
Oh go on, get Pyrrha a play mate! Love the play bow photo. What a fantastic weekend and so good that Pyrrha was better with children when around dogs that didn’t mind. I’m sure that gives you lots of hope for the future.
LOVE the bow photo!!!! We had an interesting weekend too, as we adopted a new puppy from the APL (where we got Nikita from) and it has been an interesting weekend. Nikita is slowly getting used to having another dog in the house and has been a little off on her game, but their interactions with each other are improving nicely as I am trying to keep a “norm” atmosphere for Nikita as to not stress her out. I hope to have a blog post this week about the new puppy, named Bella and our adventures this past weekend.
Pyrrha looks so relaxed and happy! How lovely that it worked out so perfectly ^^
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I love that play bow picture!
I think dogs that lack confidence do especially well with the right canine sibling. I’m glad the weekend was such a success for you and Pyrrha!
Her play bow is epic! Too cute. Video next time?? P.S. Sadie reminds me a ton of my Rufus, haha Visually and personality-wise.
Aww, happy puppies!
“I think Pyrrha really wants a canine sibling.”
Muahahaha…
We were never able to have canine houseguests before Honey. Several times when we picked up stray dogs on the street we had to keep the houseguests separate from our dogs and it was a mess.
Now that we’ve started fostering we have houseguests over and over and it’s been great having a dog who can handle it. Glad Pyrrha was such a good host to her new friends.