Willy washing and other bits.....

Be honest, the title drew you in.....!

Jack was very bonded with our first boy Rocky and then Tia when Rocky passed away. After Tia, Jack and Spudsy bonded quite closely.

Bringing a new dog into the house with two closely bonded dogs is always going to be potentially risky if it is not managed. 

We have to take things slowly and go at their pace, not ours.

To complicate things further, Freya had never lived inside a house before so that caused her anxiety. Jack is nervous of unknown dogs - more anxiety. Freya is very full on with other dogs which Jack would have been worried by. Put those together and if not carefully managed we would have had a disaster on our hands.

One of the reasons we talk about taking things slowly when introducing dogs is to avoid any negative situations. We must go at their pace, let them choose their interactions and help them feel confident and secure.

Nine months on and we are beginning to see moments of play. 

It starts with Jack rolling over and exposing his belly. Freya takes the time to sniff and clean him, from his willy to his ears....!

Then we see the beginning of play. It could get easily become out of hand so we interrupt it frequently to avoid it slipping into over arousal. We also need to take into consideration that Spud is in the middle of it and is quite a senior dog. She could easily get injured and possibly even snap at them.

You can see in both videos, lots of lip licking, ears back and shake offs, all indicating a bit of stress.

We have to put aside our agenda, our timetable and our expectations and let them go at their pace. 

The wait is totally worth it!!