"Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let the pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness. Take pride that even though the rest of the world may disagree, you still believe it to be a beautiful place."
-- Unknown
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Friday, October 31, 2008

A flaw in the plan

The plan was working wonderfully. At first.

Skippy arrived around 4:30 yesterday afternoon, and I immediately thought, "Oh! Now there's a happy dog!"

His tongue was lazily hanging from his mouth, a big doggie smile on his face...cute as he could be. I put him in the backyard with Toby and let them do their sniffing and circling and getting to know each other. It genuinely seemed to be going well.

This is when I sighed and thought, "I'm so smart! Why did anyone doubt this? Look how great this is!"

Toby could NOT have been more excited. Poor thing. You'd think he had never played with another dog before. He was bouncing around like he was on crack, panting like a wild-child. You could see the happiness in his cute little puppy eyes.

Skippy...well, it wasn't so much happiness as annoyance.

I failed to consider there would be a male dominance problem. Skippy claimed every chew toy in the yard, the food bowl, the water bowl and anything else Toby seemed slightly interested in. I'm not talking about merely taking it away from Toby. No, little "Skippy" would ATTACK. Not so skippy, afterall. Bared teeth, deep, threatening growl. Sweet little Toby would just wag his tail until Skip jumped on him. Then (being so brave) he would tuck is ears and run. Yes, he is ferocious. No doubt.

I think the deal-breaker is the fact that Skippy won't let Toby get within three feet of me. Seriously. He JUST met me. You don't get between me and my baby. He's been here longer. Don't run him off!

I know that all of that is neccesary to establish the alfa dog, but I just wasn't expecting it.

I'm not too proud to say I might have been a little hasty in my decision. (Yes, Mom. I admit it. Maybe I should have thought it over a teensy bit longer.)

There are about five people at work that are really interested in him, so I know I won't be stuck trying to make it work. I feel like I should give them time to get to know each other, but at the same time, I don't want them to fight all weekend.

Uhhhhg.

7 comments:

Diane said...

I cracked up at the rawhides under your pillow... been there!

I had cockers for 20 years and they were quite dominant little critters. But they do adjust... eventually. I can appreciate not wanting to deal with the fighting, though. Poor you :(. Keep us posted! (Yeah, like you wouldn't ;)

Diane said...

Hey... if you want, go to my blog and check out my post from September 29, called "It's Why Dog is God Spelled Backwards". You can meet MY boy (and as a fellow doggie lover, you'll appreciate it :)

Melanie Gillispie said...

Hey! Thanks for commenting on my blog. I'm sorry you couldn't see the video. :( Skippy is so cute! Well, so is Toby, of course. That whole dominance thing dogs have going on can be really frustrating. My sister deals with that a lot working as a foster parent for a Boxer rescue group, bringing new dogs in with their own dog.

Jen L. said...

Ruh-roh...

Anonymous said...

Sorry about Skippy being mean to Toby. I hope one of your friends can take him so Toby doesn't get traumatized.

AJ

Jessica said...

Sorry it wasn't love at first sight for those two. Hopefully they will settle their differences over the weekend!

Andy - Instafather said...

I'm just fortunate my girlfriend's dog is about the same size as my dog, a chihuahua mix. They actually get along, which is more than I can say for Bailey and just about any other dog, ever.