Help I need a new place to live

[CynJ]

So Friday was an adventure for my husband lol. I left the house for the night to go participate in Relay for Life leaving my husband home alone with the hounds. They cried, they whined, they moped, they wouldn't eat, they wouldn't go outside, and in general were a pair of royal pains in his... hehehe not that they are bonded to their Mom or anything. Both were exceptionally glad to see me come through the door at 1am I had much cuddling to do before they would forgive me for abandoning therm.

Yesterday we took both of them out together for the first time. We had a little comedy of errors as Nadia has a "spot", it's her spot and only her spot (right behind the driver's seat). She's a little OCD about it, lol. Anyway, I always put the dogs in from the driver's side and Nadia wanted in the car first. But then that left Maggie in Nadia's "spot". We actually had to stop down the road and rotate the dogs so Nadia would stop panting. Other than that bit of drama, they got along well in the car, no issues with both of them riding together in the backseat.

We headed out to a favorite state park of ours. It has a small pond as well as a nice stream, both of which are clean and perfect for the dogs to go swimming. We put them on 20ft leads and let them go where they will. Nadia made a beeline for the pond, she is FIEND for swimming. Maggie watched from the bank but wanted no parts of actually getting wet. Maggie had a lot of fun sniffing and exploring though, much the same way that Nadia did her first trip to this park. Had a nice very nice time and the two dogs really enjoyed themselves. It was also very nice to see Nadia keep checking to see where Maggie was as if she wanted to be sure she hadn't wandered off without adult supervision.

This was as close as Maggie got to the water!
[video=youtube;u_qL0Bi4UNc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_qL0Bi4UNc[/video]

The two girls...
[video=youtube;mpi54aVV3J8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpi54aVV3J8[/video]


The trip home was hoot as we put the two in the car in the proper order but the two tired doggies switched themselves around. Nadia made do this time around though, and just just used Maggie as a pillow.



The two girls have completely settled in with each other. I couldn't be more pleased with them.

 

[NYDDB]

Awwwww! So happy to see this, and to know the 2 girls are bonding like family.

What a nice pack you have... (two of my favorite breeds).

 

[rocky dog]

What a great story!! Glad to see it worked out, congratulations.

 

[Bloke]

as heartbreaking as it is to watch Maggie we are just so pleased she is somewhere she is being treated possibly beter than she would have been if she stayed here lol

Norman missis his play buddy terribly tho and we think that might be why him and Murphy keep getting into it altho its definitely him that starts it Murph will without a doubt finish it quickly!

 

[CynJ]

Yeah, with her and Norm being so close in age they were bound to be close buddies.

Have you tried a DAP collar for Maggie? A pheromone collar- they are impregnated with the same pheromone that a mother dog gives off to her puppies giving them a sense of well-being and safety. My vet had recommended them for Peanut when we lost Myra to pick up her mood. We tried them and it worked. Didn't hesitate to get them for Nadia when we lost Peanut and it was almost an instant change in Nadia's mood. They also sell it in a plugin diffuser (I've got one in the living room where Maggie/Nadia sleep and their crates are.) Here's a link on Amazon (way cheaper than the vet) - the large collar fits Nadia with room to spare so I think you should be all set for Murphy. For the diffuser just click on the "by DAP" under the item title and all the DAP products will be listed.

It might take a bit of the edge off from Murphy.

 

[Bloke]

It might take a bit of the edge off from Murphy.

might get them both one since Norm seems to be the instigator

 

[CynJ]

Can't hurt to try. Once you put them on they just need to warm up to the dog's body temperature to really start working.

 

[CynJ]

lol... left the girls crated for an hour this afternoon while I ran to the grocery store. Let them out when I got home and you might have thought they had been locked up FOREVER.

They ran full steam around the yard and wrestled for almost 45mins straight, caught the attached video in the middle. Silly doggies... But it is SO awesome to see them actually wrestling and playing hard. And it's also awesome that it's Nadia doing the initiating these days. They have really sorted their own relationship out quite nicely.

[video=youtube;KikMbpWm1lw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KikMbpWm1lw[/video]

(on a side note- a couple of days of rain and we finally have grass in the backyard that isn't crispy! Of course now it needs mowing and we've got rain ALL this week. It's going to be taller than the dogs!)

 

[SavingGrace]

OMG she is adorable!!!!!!!!

 

[Bloke]

OMG she is adorable!!!!!!!!

she is

 

[DMikeM]

Big pat on the back Bloke, you done the right thing.

 

[Bloke]

Big pat on the back Bloke, you done the right thing.

Thanks Mike

 

[Amanda F.]

Its great to see the girls getting along so well! Love the video of them playing

 

[CynJ]

So prior to getting Maggie we hadn't needed dog crates in a about a year and I had folded them up and put them away. In the interim I reaarranged my living room furniture and we got a much bigger couch (futon). When we got Maggie we quickly put the crates up in the living room knowing that we would most likely need them, but they were just sort of plunked in the living room and taking up most of it. It was crowded and a little claustrophobic. Today I took the time and moved some stuff around a little and got the crates pushed a little more out of the way- it really opened the room back up. I also took the disgusting dog blanket off the futon and replaced it with a clean one and dropped all Maggies favorite toys up there.

You might have thought that someone rang the ringside bell to start the day-long wrestling match between the two girls when I was done. Up and 'round the futon, running down the hall to jump on the king bed and jumping on and off it repeatedly, back down the hall and using the open floor plan of the kitchen/living room/dining room like a race track. They were in a word- nuts. They played SO SO hard today. Both of them initiating, both ending up on their backs with their bellies in the air, both whacking on the other with their big fat feet, both gently getting chewed upon (OMG does Nadia hate it when Maggie grabs her tail- TOO funny). My house sounded like a herd of bison stampeding most of the day.

It was an absolute joy to behold. It really is like some magic switch flipped in Nadia's head saying "hey this buddy thing is cool". They have just become inseperable. I really didn't anticipate it happening this quickly, it took a month before Nadia felt half this comfortable with Peanut.

When I had brought Maggie back in for her ear re-check last week, the vet noticed that she had a little hivey-rash thing going on her lower belly. I had thought she got into something in the grass, but he had suspected a basic skin infection. She's been on amoxicillin and when I looked at it today, it was almost completely cleared up. I'm still not 100% convinced it was an infection, because it was at the same time that she was doing all the sneezing/snots outside which have now also completely gone away. I think it was an allergy but I'm going to finish the run of antibiotics anyway, it can't hurt.

Overall Maggie is eating like a champ, loves all the various treats/chews I've given her, and is still rock solidly housebroken. She's cruising up and down the back stairs like a trooper all on her own, and she's worked out with Nadia that they can, in fact, bowl swap but they have to be 99% done eating first to avoid a fistfight. She's learned to love the tower fan I have in the bathroom doorway, she and Nadia both love sleeping in front of it in the cool hallway. She's also learned that the fastest way to wake Mom up in the morning to let her out is to simply chomp on one of Mom's big toes that are always hanging out of the blanket. As of last night she's learned that Nadia is a neurotic mess during thunderstorms (all panting and anxious) and needs to be mothered. She also learned last night that standing in the middle of the futon and barking at the top of her lungs in the middle of the night will not make the thunder stop (it will however, wake up Mom and Dad in a very amusing way). She's also learned that licking Mom's toes right after Mom gives herself a pedicure a)tastes horrible and b)makes Mom grumpy over something called "nail polish".

And on that - it's time for me to head for bed with my two shadows.

 

[NeSaxena]

I love this thread! Every time I read a post, I'm grinning from ear to ear! How cute are they!

 

[Bloke]

me too, again its great too see Maggie settling in I miss her terribly and hope one day to visit and see if she remembers me

 

[CynJ]

I'd love that Bloke!

So last night she was particularly silly at bedtime. We had gone out for a final potty break and I put her eye drops in (artificial tears) for the night. As I was trying to shut off lights and make my way to bed, she went and found a random toy that she has never played with before and was parading around with it. Too cute

 

[Jeri]

O.M.G! I am sooo happy for her!!! She couldn't have gone to a better home if I had taken her myself!!!! Please keep the posts coming,,,they are so heartwarming and entertaining!! My Camo would have loved her!!

 

[CynJ]

Our house is a raised ranch (when you come in the front door you either go up 7 stairs to the main living level, or down 7 stairs to the garage/basement level). Our basement is a finished family room where my computer area lives as well as our treadmill/weights. Most nights while I'm down on the pc goofing off Nadia is lying beside me or over on one of the half-dozen dog beds scattered around down here. Since we gave her the run of the house, Maggie hasn't been down here. She can, she just doesn't no matter how many times I call her or invite her down. I finally put a lead on her Wednesday and walked her down stairs (same as I did with the back stairs) and she spent a while sniffing and rooting around.

Today she's decided that "hey, this downstairs thing is cool" and has happily gone up and down a few times. She even spent an hour rooting through the downstairs toybox for treasures and playing with a bunch of stuff. Nadia doesn't play with toys at all, so it's really nice to see someone enjoying all of the toys Peanut and Myra used to love.

Maggie gets braver and more confident every day. Her playful and silly nature has rubbed off on Nadia and we're seeing a whole new side of Nadia. Maggie and Nadia have become inseparable, and the humans get the stink eye from Nadia when we use the "no" word with Maggie- like we're not supposed to yell at "her" baby. I love watching them randomly walk up and whack each other with a paw. Poor Maggie can't keep her cookie inventory hidden, she hides cookies here and there and Nadia roots them all out and scarfs them down when Maggie isn't looking (lol because you can see that my Dogue is starving to death right?).

It's been quite a fast three weeks since Maggie arrived here. We've had to adjust our own brains a bit to having a puppy around again, because of her size it's easy to forget she is one. Maggie quite nicely filled a big hole that Peanut's passing left in our household and I can't thank Bloke enough for taking the chance and sending her to us.

 

[Smart_Family]

Such an awesome story!