SO PROUD OF MY DUDE MAN!

Dexter had a big day yesterday, and I am so happy with him :)

First, in the morning mom came over with the puppies. She came in first to say hello to my dogs so they could kind of get their crazies out. Then she brought the pups in while they were in their crate and set it down for our guys to sniff. At first Dex went nuts making all kinds of noises including little growls - although then we realized it seemed like he was growling when he thought Spry was too close, and he kept putting himself between her & them. Then we let the pups out and boy oh boy did he LOVE them! Not even one single time did he look like he wanted to be a jerk to them. He just acted like a big goof, making silly noises and trying his hardest to be adorable and get them to play with him. They weren't sure they were impressed.

Then last night we went over to my in-laws to pick up my Nook which I had forgotten, and brought Dexter to meet Anuka (again). The first time did NOT go so well, it was at the training building and it was so dumb on my part. I let him meet Anuka when they were both hyped up, Dexter was on leash, and he was at "his" building. All of these things set us up for failure. Dex snarked him several times, and really sounded nasty. Spitting mad. Yuck. Last night we went outside at the in-laws, put Anuka on leash and let Dexter off-leash. They said hello, Anuka was kind of up in his business but Dex had the chance to leave if he wanted. Dexter did growl a few times and warning snap a few times when he thought Anuka was too close but it wasn't bad. We let them off leash and one time Dex did nip Anuka's flank when Anuka semi-trampled him, Anuka was STUNNED someone would do that to him, and after that they were pretty much fine. Ran around together and were very close to playing. they both wanted to and would start to initiate it but would then back off. The one thing we still hvae to work on is Dexter not getting nasty when he's getting pet and Anuka comes up. He was pretty possessive of people.

So overall reading that whole paragraph again I realize it doesn't sound that good but really I think in person Dexter's warnings were OK and appropriate (except when getting pet). He is a small dog and Anuka is a 10 month old crazy whippet with limbs that flail everywhere. I think it's OK for Dexter to want the other dog to know boundaries and that trampling is not ok. And after a few minutes they were all happy. We actually even took them all on a walk in the woods (on leash is when Dexter tends to be more of a jerk) and even on leash and hyped they were GREAT together!