It’s late, so this is just a quick note. Stay tuned this week for more info and even videos chronicling Lilly’s first extended encounter with a very young puppy. Our agility friend Betsy recently welcomed home LuLu, a performance-bred Australian Shepherd (aka agility dog). She is a total doll — as you will see.
Lilly did well overall. She was cautious. She would circle away, if necessary. There was a fair bit of lip licking, but for the most part, her tail wagged. Many times, she seemed perfectly content to have LuLu around. And, only ONCE did she correct her enough to make LuLu cry. I have it on video, and my best guess is that it was a lesson in bite inhibition. I can’t see for sure, but Lilly whips around suddenly, so I suspect maybe some puppy teeth clamped on accidentally.
First of all, there was a LOT of sniffing. LuLu has not seen many dogs with tails, so she found Lilly’s behind very interesting.
You can see here that Lilly’s body language is a bit tense, but clearly LuLu is looking for approval. And, Lilly’s tail is swinging.
The only way I got this shot was by waiting until LuLu tired out, then I had Lilly slip in a DOWN-STAY next to her.
That’s all for now. I’m exhausted. More info and even video (I hope) later this week.
Lulu is an adorable blur. It will be fun to see how Lily ‘trains’ Lulu.
I’m having trouble commenting but I’ll try again. All of our puppies have been obsessed with grownup dog tails. K even drew blood while playing with her brother’s tail! After that, we made ‘tail playing’ a no-no.
I can’t imagine a more fun thing for you than playing with a puppy! Does she have puppy breath?
Great photos! Puppies are hard to capture! Whenever we’ve gotten a new dog, the older dog just pretends not to see the new one for weeks!
Every single one of our puppies has had an obsession with the adult dogs’ tails! And, sweet K actually drew blood while gnawing on her older brother’s tail. All she got from our grownup dog was a minor correction. That’s when I decided that it was our job to protect grownup tails from puppies!!!
Love the photos! Does Lulu have ‘puppy breath’? I love puppy breath.
I can’t imagine better therapy for you, with all the stress you’ve had recently, than hanging out with a puppy!