This is Coco and Milo. They are Pembroke Welsh Corgis. Coco is a sable and white little girl of 2 1/2 years of age. Milo is the tricolor and turned one recently. We are watching them this week for our daughter. And here the adventure begins. 

We went to pick them up and bring them home one evening last week. This was to save them the trauma of being “left” by their parents. My husband was driving us home and the dogs were crawling all over me and trying to crawl on him. I told them “no crawling on the driver”. I had to grab them frequently by their harnesses to gain some modicum of control. Milo the Younger was on my lap, on the dashboard, on the armrest. Then he crawled around the back of my neck and hung their. Then it was in the backseat, in the front seat, trying to crawl on my head. And Coco the Elder was going from front seat to backseat and trying to stand on the driver, etc. You get the idea. I turned to my husband and said “this is like driving around with a car full of monkeys!” 

We were on the freeway about halfway home when my car window started to go down.  I thought my husband was putting it down so the dogs could get some air. But it kept going down. And there was an energetic dog on my lap looking out the space where the window pane was. (Now halfway down.) My husband said ” what are you doing?” I said “I thought you were doing it.” Turns out Milo was standing on the control and he put the window down. Mercifully, he had been such a monkey up to this point that I had my hand on his harness, as I did for most of the trip. (Please note, childproof locks were engaged after this episode. )

To be fair, after we got part of the way home, Coco the Elder went in the back seat and laid down. I suspect the excitement of having someone take them away from home had them all worked up. 

The reintroduction to our pack went well. The dogs all remembered each other and there were no issues. After the initial sniffings everyone went their own ways. They all went out for last call to do their business with no problems. 

Then it was nearly bedtime. We were leery of bedtime because the pups would have to sleep in a crate which they are not used to. For their own safety and the peace of mind of the other animals, a crate was required. We thought it would be a long night with lots of barking and scolding. Those little pups went in their crate with their treats and were good as gold. They slept in the same crate because they are so bonded. Milo and Coco are actual siblings. Same parents but different litters. The only peep we heard out of them during the night was to provide backup for Baxter, our lab/Doberman mix, who was barking out the window at a groundhog. 

And so day one ended well and peacefully. Stay tuned for further adventures of Coco the Elder and Milo the Younger…

Size isn’t everything. It’s often attitude that is the deciding factor in the pecking order, for people as well as dogs. In this case I’m talking about dogs.

Yesterday the dogs were playing outside and got quite wound up. Cassius began hazing Shelby. Cassius is a greyhound who weighs 70 lbs. Shelby is a Shetland Sheepdog who weighs 32 lbs. The score? Shelby- 1, Cassius- 0. 

Shelby was running and barking at a visitor as their car pulled out of our driveway, no surprise there, she is a sheltie. Cassius decided it would fun to bark at her for barking. Then he decided it would be fun to nip at her when she barked and finally he grabbed a mouth full of fur in a play bite that left her with slobbery fur and pulled her enough to move her. Looked like a bite but I know Cassius was playing and there was no visible wound, hence a “play bite”.

Shelby put up with his behavior up to the point where he grabbed her. Then she whipped around and got in Cassius’ face, barking and lunging at him and generally telling him off. She had him backing up while barking in his face. At that point we intervened so it wouldn’t escalate. But Shelby likes to be in charge and maintain control. You don’t mess with Shelby.

Cassius got scolded for putting his mouth on Shelby and spent the rest of the evening pouting and depressed, on the couch. He is such a sensitive dog. If you raise your voice at him, he gets very upset. 

But it was just a day in the life. As you can see they do normally get along fine. It was just one of those sibling squabbles. And so it goes.