Rosie's first night at home

This post has been taken from my email archives, was originally sent out to family and friends in early March of this year. I'd written quite a bit in that email, and thought I might save myself some trouble by using it here.

- Just to repeat, this was an email sent out in early March 'o5 -

Well, Rosie's been with Noon and me for the better part of a week now, we brought her home last Friday on the 4th. She was 6 and a half weeks old at the time and much smaller than Sam was when we brought him home at 8 weeks. Rosie's much lighter in colour than Sam, perhaps the colour and shade that most people would associate Labradors with. Sam's family line had only black and chocolate labs though, so that's got to have something to do with his darker colouring. Rosie's mother and father on the other hand were both golden yellow coloured.

Before we brought Rosie home, she was already demonstrating that she was one of the more (most?) dominant pups in the litter, though not the largest by a long shot. She'd be the one to run up to the other pups and wrestle them to the ground when they were playing.

Rosie seemed docile enough when we were bringing her home in the car. We only managed to pick her up at 7.30pm in the evening. Got home, put her on the ground, and let Sam make his own way over to say hello. Sam was wary at first, but then went into overdrive - pushing Rosie around, trying to get his muzzle over her head and pushing her over with his paws... just the usual dominance assertion behaviour.

Rosie seemed to put up with this for a while, but lo-and-behold, she soon got tired of it and started dishing out some of her own instead!! Teeth bared, growling, yapping, and even biting Sam on his cheeks while he's got a hold on her ear! The noise was terrible, but I must say that at no point did Sam ever look threatening. His hackles were not raised, he wasn't growling or baring his teeth in an aggressive manner. If anything, I'd say he was wanting to play (albeit too roughly for a puppy so much smaller than he is).

Rosie tried hiding under our outdoor dining suite and even under Sam's hammock bed. Sam's now big enough and strong enough to shift these items by walking into them, so you can imagine the noise this was making. We tried leaving the two of them alone so they could sort out the whole dominance thing, but that didn't quite work out because Rosie's too strong-willed to give in, and Sam's too lenient on her.

Anyway, after much noise-making and furniture-shifting, they both finally grew tired and went to sleep. That was at 11pm and Noon and I went to bed at 11.30. Next thing I knew, I was woken up by a commotion going on outside. I came out to look, and they were at it again. Time was 12.30am. Hushed them up, crawled back into bed. Dozed off... commotion again at 1.30am. Cat napped after that... commotion at 3.30am. Snapped at them through the window and got Sam's attention. Went back to bed... Got woken up again at 5.45am. Same deal, quietened them down and tried to sleep again. Finally got up at 7.30am and decided that it was too eerily quiet so I went out to take a look.

And guess what? The two of them were in the sling bed together!!! Imagine my shock! Anyway, I *had* to get a picture of this (otherwise I wouldn't have believed it myself) but didn't want to go outside in case I woke them.

The picture was taken from inside of the house,
with the window closed and the flyscreen in the way.
Still, it didn't come out too bad!

Seriously, I just could not believe my eyes. The night before was so riotous and chaotic we weren't sure if the two dogs would get along. We were even wondering if it was a good idea leaving the little puppy alone with Sam on their very first night together.

...And then just look at them in bed together on the very first morning! Brought a tear to my eye :)

The furniture outside on the deck were a mess. Chairs had been pushed all over the place, water bowls spilled, even the big heavy table had been shifted. Was afraid all that noise during the night might have disturbed our neighbours, and the only respite we had were when they tired themselves out long enough to fall asleep.

Then they woke up and were back at it again!

Throughout the course of the weekend, we observed them playing together and even sharing toys.



It rained on Sunday, so we let them come inside to sleep. The standing rule is "No Playing Inside The House", and Sam seemed to get the idea after we told him off firmly. He's a smart boy, that one... when he wants to be...


Ever since that first morning, Sam and Rosie have curled up to sleep together every single night. Noon and I might put them to bed separately in their own hammocks, and even tucked them in with their own blankets, but in the morning they'd be snuggled up together again.