Not quite peace on earth, but it'll do

Through a strange and lengthy turn of events, we took possession of another dog last week. She's a wonderful girl, and Jonas has been absolutely smitten with her since he was an infant, so there was no question about whether we'd take her or not. The only real roadblock to her coming to live with us, and the reason she hadn't done so sooner is the fact that she is not necessarily the most mellow of dogs, and our existing dog, Mocha, isn't real keen on sharing her space. Plus, Mo is getting older, and sometimes is grumpy. Our fear was that Kelli (the new girl) would, in excitement, jump on Mo, causing her to growl, causing Kelli to become defensive, resulting in bloodshed and mayhem. Let's face it... our house is small and there aren't a lot of places for large dogs to escape to. They're going to have to get along if they're both going to exist.

So, consulting our behavior specialist at work, we gathered the necessary strategies to help their transition, as well as a bottle full of valium to calm tense nerves (the dog's, not ours), and we brought Kelli home.

The first night was chaos- the two of them driving each other nuts, but it ended well, with both of them sleeping through the night and no problems. But, that next morning, when it came time for breakfast, a little disagreement occurred, and so I took Kelli with me to work, afraid that they'd fight while we were gone.

Last night, when we returned home, they both acted like they'd been roommates forever, hardly even giving each other the time of day. Today, more of the same. So, they may not love each other, and Mocha is feeling a bit mopey and upheaved from her throne, it looks like it's all going to work out well.

Here are a couple of pictures of the two of them. Kelli's the big brown girl- Mo's the fuzzball that doesn't photograph well.