Friends and Enemies

One of the disadvantages of living so far away from my Hoosier family and friends is that I don't have as many options for the rare occasions when I need a Morey-sitter. When I travel for rugby I usually prefer to leave him behind-it's easier and more enjoyable for both of us. Morey usually stays with Norm when I travel for the National team, but Norm is on the Stampede so Morey has no one to stay with when we go tournaments with the Stampede.

I have 2 friends in Austin who had offered to watch Morey, but they were both going to be out of town the same weekend that I needed someone to watch him. Naturally. There is a family from church who love Morey and so I asked them if they would be willing to watch Morey. One of their dogs, Lucy, had already met Morey and they were fine together, but they had another dog who wasn't really friendly with other dogs. We decided to introduce them to see if they would be able to make a truce with each other.

The meeting did not happen under the ideal circumstances. I went over to their house at night which meant that A) the meeting was not on neutral ground and B) they couldn't meet outside first and do some gradual "getting to know you" sniffs. They had put Lucy and Princess outside so Morey could sniff around the house first, but unfortunately they pushed the door open and barged inside. To his credit, Morey did very well. Two strange dogs rushing toward him barking and growling was rather intimidating, but he just backed up and put his ears back.

They managed to put Princess away so Morey could become reacquainted with Lucy. Unfortunately, Morey's excited growling came back out and it took Lucy a while to figure out that he really did want to play. Once they got over their initial introduction, they played and romped for 2 hours. It was fun to watch! They raced around the backyard, played ball, wrestled, chased, and played tug. Morey was exhausted and finally laid down to play tug-out of energy but not wanting to stop playing.

His meeting with Princess did not go as well. I was grateful to have my dog body language experience because I could tell when things were going well and when they were going not well. Princess growled and snapped and was obviously not happy that Morey was in her house. She is eleven and I respected her decision to not accept Morey into her house and family.

Overall, Morey had a great evening playing with his new friend Lucy. Meeting Princess was not quite as enjoyable, but he behaved very appropriately toward her; sending calming signals of yawning and looking away. I was proud of how well he did interacting with her.

Oh yes, one other embarrassing comment on the evening. When Morey first came in their house he went over and peed on a potted plant. I was shocked. Morey has never had an accident inside (or as my family calls them "on purposes") but then again I'm not sure if he has ever been exposed to an indoor plant. In his experience, plants are to pee on and so he must have been thinking that his family was pretty cool to have an "indoor outhouse".