For once, I’m not talking about me.
On Sunday, we became a two-dog household when we brought our new pup Lucy home from her foster family. At 10 months old, she has a lot of energy, is quite spry, and still growing to her full size. She also has no problem sticking the landing when she jumps onto the couch or ottoman.
We’re not sure Snickers is amused.
For the last year, he’s ruled the roost. He was the only one allowed to sprawl on our laps. He had three dog beds to call his own (when he wasn’t on the couch). He didn’t have to share the dog sitter while we were out of town. But suddenly there’s a cute little interloper upending his routine.
And even though he just turned three, Snickers is definitely giving off grumpy old guy stay-off-my-lawn vibes. Mostly when he’s lying in one of his beds, where he can growl at Lucy as she’s walking by. Not that he’s limited his grumpiness to his beds. For some reason, he’s decided to try and lay claim to the three we just purchased. Nothing funnier than a 70-pound Basset Hound trying to squeeze himself into a bed made for a dog half his size.
Even funnier? We don’t think he’s realized he is likely to lose the bigger ones to Lucy. While he was curled up in her bed in the living room earlier this week (and we aren’t sure how he did it), she happily took her chew bone and sprawled in the much larger one in the corner. Oops! She also chose to sleep in his bed in the office the other night.
We did discover that they walk well together, and both are excited no matter how hot the weather is. However, she moves at a much quicker pace, creating a challenge for both Snickers and me to keep up. Good exercise for us both, but honey! Slow down!
We are also rediscovering what it means to care for two pups. We lost Luna in 2019 and Boo in 2022. For four years we had either one dog or no dog (although the no dog period only lasted a couple of months). Now we are back to two of everything – dog beds (and we know how that’s going), dinner bowls, harnesses, and shedding. Not to mention navigating breakfast and dinner times so neither is trying to steal the other’s food. Should be challenging when James is out of town.
But we expect all of that will shake out over time, and rough edges will be smoothed out. Plus they do have one thing they can share – an affinity for apparel. Keeping our bedroom closet door closed is required unless we want to find that Snicker’s has taken our underwear to the living room. Or the front entry. Or the bench in the dining room. Nothing like pulling into the driveway and seeing yesterday’s boxer briefs in the window.
Except now we’ll have to worry about missing socks as well. We’re just hoping Lucy doesn’t take one outside and give him any ideas.
