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A week ago, I helped my mom and sister pick out a brand new dog that’s two to three years old. She was originally named Winnie, which I love because I think it would be cute to call her Winnie Bear. But since I’m technically just the aunt, I don’t get a say and they are still figuring out what the final name will be. I’ll keep you updated on what her final name will be once I learn it. But for right now I’m calling her Winnie Bear… mainly just Bear as she trots like a bear.
Winnie is a 2 or 3 year old Corgi/Rat Terrier mix. They’re not 100% positive on her age as she was surrendered to the vet by her previous owners in the south. They believe she grew up on a farm before becoming pregnant with a litter that was I believe born at the vet or foster care? After the litter was born and they had many months to grow. Winnie was spayed where she had a complication in post-op causing her to need a blood transfusion. After Homeward Bound Rescue took her and one of her puppies, Penelope, in and put them up for adoption one month later.
Meeting Winnie for the first time at PetSmart on Adoption Day with Homeward Bound Rescue.
My sister saw them while dog searching on their website, and wanted the daughter who is ten months old in the worst way. But unfortunately, she was in the middle of being adopted when my mom and I arrived. We spotted the mom and fell in love. Shortly after adopting Winnie and bringing her home where she would become my dog’s part time sister/cousin. However, Winnie didn’t take on to Pixie or really any dog that wasn’t her daughter. So I had to take Pixie full-time. Which I love having my dog around all the time, but I feel bad as there was an agreement that I had to share her even if I moved out.
So the three of us are working on Winnie’s reaction and behavior to dogs so we can take her on walks without having to fear her being put on the aggressive dog list by the state of Minnesota. I’m sure it’s just she’s used to only having her puppies then got separated from them and moving into a new home. This means I have to bring Pixie over in small increments, watching Winnie’s body language to make sure the two don’t fight. Pixie is scared of her for the most part and will stay away. Which helps, so Winnie gets used to another dog’s presence without interaction first.
On Wednesday and Thursday of this past week, I was working a grand total of thirteen to fourteen hours each day between my two jobs so I knew Pixie would be left home alone and without someone to entertain/feed her so I bit the bullet and left her over at the other house with Bear. Apparently the few first hours weren’t so hot, but by afternoon they were attempting to play with each other and later took a nap together near the back door. They haven’t figured out how to fully play with each other as Bear is a little rough for Pixie’s taste and Pixie basically plays tag with Bear, but they will play with toys together and chase them around the living room. So my nerves of leaving them alone are gone.
They are signing her up for training to work on the dog reactive behavior (I wouldn’t say it’s aggressive as she doesn’t mind dogs, she just reacts to them) and commands overall as Winnie does not know any currently. We shall see how it goes. If any of you have any tips on training dogs that are dog reactive, I would love to hear them so I can help them train the new dog. Especially because we were going to use each other as dogsitters in the future if either were away, or drop them off together if we were away together.
