July 4th Weekend

Hope you all had a blast! I sure did down at the shore with my pawrents and all my cousins!

Bad Habits

It's funny how dogs can learn things from other dogs. I just never thought about it. Maui barks and growls at the front door whenever someone approaches. Basil has picked that up. I hope to break him of that habit because it's very ungentlefrenchielike (and annnnoying!)

Maui and Basil got into a fight over food two days in a row. We can see that Maui is trying to assert his dominance. He drinks all of Basil's water from Basil's water bowl but not his own. He also intentionally blocked Basil from drinking water from his bowl. I caught him doing that.

After their tiff over food, Basil wouldn't rest and seemed anxious. However Basil is still kissing, licking and wanting to play with Maui. Maui usually gets up and moves away from him, but he hasn't been aggressive. Today, we saw Maui likc Basil. I guess they are kissing and making up.

House Guester Maui

(Getting two dogs to sit still for a picture is harder than getting kids to sit still!)

Basil's cousin Maui came to stay with him for a week while the family were on vacation. Keith and I were very excited that Basil would have a buddy to commiserate with. We hear two dogs are great together. So far they are getting along well. We already knew Basil liked Maui and we love Maui too, so we knew it would be okay to put them together.

Maui is 11 years old, so we hope Basil is learning some good things from him. Basil is a little antsy. He can't relax if Maui is pacing about and if Maui jumps up to growl at the door, Basil is like the little sidekick who interjects "What's goin' on huh huh huh? What are we barking at? Let me at 'em! I'll get it I'll get it!"

If Maui comes to us for affection, Basil gets into a frenzy and has to love us too. Basil likes to nibble our ears and he does it to Maui too. Maui seems to like it.

The most trying thing so far is keeping the food separate. It takes us extra time to get both dogs taken care of with their separate needs and potty schedule. Maui won't eat Basil's food but Basil is licking his lips every time he sees one of Maui's pig ears (which is a big no no for Basil). Maui gets all sorts of goodies and wet food, so we feed him in the bathroom while we occupy Basil in another room. Maui went in the house the first night and the following day, Basil went in the house too (on my new rug!) Also, we're not sure how to handle the dominance factor that another older dog is now in our home. We're trying to keep it equal and not neglect Basil, but we want Basil to learn to respect an older dog.

Any suggestions? What's your life like with two dogs? Any rug cleaner recs?