Dog on Dog Interaction! Finally!

Since I've had Taricha, she's been a dog all by herself. Every dog interaction we've had so far has been pretty allright. She plays, she gets beat on mostly (Taricha tends to be the submissive type from every dog interaction I've seen her have), she will play, romp, and she moves on. Sure we've gone to the dog park here or there. She sees other dogs from distances at parks and walks, some leash interaction at pet stores, etc etc. We really just haven't had a chance to hang to do much more than that, for dog interaction.  Her attitude towards dogs has never been a problem and for that I am BLESSED.

For some reason or another I volunteered to take in a friends dog this weekend.

Meet Brooklyn, a 2 year rott/mutt girl. Brooklyn is currently passed out on my lap while Taricha is passed out in her kennel due to them having been doing the photographed above activity for the past three hours straight.

I admit to taking a chance when offering to watch this girl for the weekend. I didn't really know how Taricha would react to another dog on her turf simply because we've never done it before! When they met, on leashes outside in the street, Taricha surprised me by erupting into growls, while wagging her tail profusely and practically destroying me in the process. (holding 100lbs of raw muscle back.....)

Thankfully... Brooklyn is a total sweetheart. We went for a walk with both dogs up and down the street. Some scoldings from me towards Taricha. A quick loud "STOP" seemed to snap her out of it when she started getting over-zealous. Lots of turning around and going back and forth up and down the street. (oh and I bet the neighbors think we're idiots...) Before we knew it... they were walking side by side and doing just fine. (treats and clicker? COMPLETELY out the window, btw. I even broke out the $100 bills hotdogs but to no avail.)

Another thirty min later, they're best friends, my back yard is  a MUD PIT OF DOOM from chasing about (a foot of snow just melted...), they're both having the time of their lives and gracious be, Taricha hasn't said a bad word towards Brooklyn since their meeting.

While their fighting has looked vicious and all, they've both been excellently nice to each other. They stop when one makes noise and no blood has been drawn. (whew!) I'm especially impressed with Taricha, with really no free doggie playtime like this since she was probably a puppy 10 months ago...

The only downside is. they will NOT leave each other alone and *I* do not exist. Granted, I move rooms, they both come with me but still ignore me while in the room..... Play, Play, Play, Play, PLAY OMG PLAY. I felt like I had to separate them eventually, so I did,  both looked exhausted and this is how nap time begun.

I wonder what will happen when I wake them both up and let them go for round 2....

(It's going to be a long but fun weekend!)