Cali’s Houseguest

Cali had a friend over for a few hours this weekend. He was a big boy–a Weimaraner named Bavu. He’s a handsome grey/blue short-haired 3-year-old pup. His mom is going out of town next week and we wanted to see how Cali and Bavu played before agreeing to dog sit for her for a few days.

Feebs and I were a little nervous beforehand; Cali has always done well with other dogs, but has never had a dog in her own territory. She’s a bit of a dominant dog around us and is a little possessive with her toys, so we were definitely interested in seeing her reaction.

We did some research on introducing dogs that don’t know each other and found a few good tips. We put her food up and made sure all of her toys and bones were put away. I also took her on a run as soon as I got home from work to try and drain some of that never-ending energy. We also read that we should try and have them meet outside the house, at a neutral place, preferably a place where both dogs have never been.

We had to settle with just walking Cali around the block, and meeting up with Bavu about halfway through.

Cali was a little aggressive at first on the walk, poking and nosing around Bavu as much as possible. When we got on our patio, we took both dogs off the leashes and the sniffing began. Cali was still a bit aggressive, and Bavu gave a few good barks to back Cali off. That seemed to be enough of a sign of dominance for Cali, as she took a submissive role for the rest of the night.

 They sniffed, played chase, and were both extremely well behaved overall. It was great to see Cali so well-behaved with another dog in her house.

So all went well for the test run, but we’ll see how five days together goes. It will definitely be interesting because Bavu is usually crated during the day at his house, and we always let Cali have the run of the house while we are at work.

It should be a long, non-stop weekend with two big pups running around. Updates will be sure to follow!

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