So Luxi went to meet Coco and Bailey today. For those who don’t know - those are my Mum’s Portuguese Water Dogs. Before coming we’d planned that Coco would be on a leash - not because she’d do anything bad, but because she was likely to be extremely excited and I didn’t want Luxi to get squished! Bailey otoh, is retired, a much calmer dog, and I trusted her completely to not cause any concerns.
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| Coco - trying her hardest to be calm until Luxi comes to her |
These were both the right call - esp as Luxi read both their energy levels in a heartbeat. She had zero concerns about Bailey, but took a long time looking at Coco then running away. Then getting closer to Coco…. And running away. And we just let her take all the time she wanted while both her and Coco’s tails wagged frantically.
So none of this back and forth is videoed since I had concerns so my camera was away, but it all went really well.
Then we moved to a different part of the yard as Luxi got braver - treats brought all three dogs into range, and Luxi had *definitely* decided Coco was the fun one, and crawled OVER the saintly Bailey to get to Coco from a “safe” zone lol.
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| Drink time! Coco for scale ;) That water bowl got filled *many* times w all the running around |
There was a lot of run to Coco, run away. Run through the gardens, look at Coco, run away. Over and over again. Eventually she decided to come be brave and they met and Coco was SO good about being gentle with her. The number of times Luxi’s limbs were inside Coco’s mouth is absolutely horrifying to me - yet not a scratch on her, never a yelp of any sort, zero concerns. Crazy Coconut has become the responsible big sister.
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| Coco saves the day for Luxor, who hasn't yet figured out how gravity works. Paws prevent concussions! |
Bailey watched this for a bit, decided it was too hot, and went back inside ;). Bailey doesn’t do puppies. She trained Coco - that’s enough.
Gradually we let Coco have more leash, and eventually Coco and Luxi were running around together. Coco’s recalls are excellent, which was helpful when we decided maybe it was a bit much, cause Mum was able to call her off running w Luxor instantly.
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| I'm still smiling from how much fun they were having |
They played for a couple hours at least. I think both dogs will be extremely tired tomorrow. But a good introduction to “first dogs not related to”. She also got to hear a lot of new sounds (people splashing in a pool, dogs barking, etc etc - sounds of summer in a suburban neighbourhood). AND house line saved the day when she decided to go *under* the gate which she did with zero difficulty, but because I was well aware that was a possibility, I was standing there so able to stop her in a heartbeat. In a few months she’ll be big enough that won’t be an option, but for now that yard is definitely not puppy proof 😂. Fortunately as I was trying to figure out how to open the gate without letting her go, big dog in the other yard barked and she came running back in as fast as possible. Win.
So yeah - controlled introduction for the win. Great day and I now have a quiet house with a tired puppy and two completely chill cats.
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| New best buds |
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