Babysitting

It amazes me how patient the adults are with Oliver. Greta and Prissy are 2 (3?) and Codyis going on 4, and they put up with him with surprising tolerance. Like any small child, he sometimes has trouble settling in for a nap and they allow him to chew on their feet or pull tails while they doze.

Thinking back, his intro into the pack was very easy. I basically said "hello pack, this is Oliver, he's one of us" and because I have that authority, he was. When he's out in the backyard, Greta or Cody will keep an eye on him if he wanders around and check on him if he goes around a corner and stays too long.

Prissy still live in between worlds. She's a little dog but she's also a young dog. It's fun to watch her adapt to what ever group she's in. Even in the back yard, after the initial group romp, they seperate themselves by size an age.

Prissy has never been an outsider, she was always an extended pack member even when she lived with Mom. She came to us the day after I got Cody and spent her first couple of nights crated next to him. After she moved to Texas to be with us, she and Dottie went back to Oklahoma for awhile when I had surgery.

She and Dottie appear to treat my house and Mom's house as home. Having 2 backyards is great-it expands their territory far beyond that of a regular urban dog. The yard between Mom's and mine is a dogless no man's land, but yes, I covet it for them too.