Hello, Cousin!!

Sadie is Rachelle's 6-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever. Max is Annica and Josh's 10-month-old Olde English Bulldogge. Therefore, Sadie and Max are "cousins." They hadn't met until early Thanksgiving morning when Max arrived with Annica and Josh.

Since Sadie's mom (aka Rachelle) wasn't here to help with the introduction, she gave us very specific instructions as to how the two should meet. Annica and Josh were to alert us (which they did) when they were in a few yards of our house. Lance was to (which he did) take Sadie into the backyard. Annica and Josh were to lead Max on his leash (which they did) into the backyard and allow Sadie to sniff Max. (Due to the sensitive natures of some of my readers, I will not mention any of the "sniffing" details. You're welcome.)

Rachelle plead with the nervous grandmother (aka Me) to stay upstairs so as not to influence the dogs with her anxious vibes. The nervous grandmother complied with her wishes. Nervous Grandmother envisioned a raucous session of barking, chasing, nipping and growling. None of her worries materialized.

The dogs were quite civil to each other. Since this all took place at 3:30 am, the tired humans (especially Josh and Annica who had traveled all night) opted to crate both dogs and retire for the remainder of the "night."

The photos above were taken a few hours after the initial meeting. As you can see, there was chasing, more sniffing, and a little bit of barking and growling. All in all, Nervous Grandmother was very pleasantly surprised at how the dogs interacted with each other. If only all people of the world could cooperate like Max and Sadie, the canine cousins!