dealing with a sister

As some of you know, Kyle and I have been fostering a 6yo red and tan female doberman named Bristol for the last two weeks.

Originally I was worried about how Lexx might react to having a second dog around the house. He's always been well behaved around dogs at the park, or on the street, or that are visiting, but he's never had to deal with another dog around 24 hours a day.

Of course, being the spoiled rotten thing that he is, I was worried that he might be jealous or annoyed. I was also worried that he might play too hard, or bother the older gal.

Well, two weeks have gone by and things are going very well. Of course, I've spent every waking hour watching the two of them together. They are never allowed to be left alone together when we are gone from home and they cannot be observed. Lexx gets to go to work with Kyle during the day every day, keeping his routine consistent, and Bristol stays home out in the dog area of the house. When we leave them both, Bristol is crated and Lexx gets to stay out because I still worry about him banging his head on the top of his crate.

Their play, originally hesitant on Bristol's side, has become rough and tumble dober play including a lot of noise, jumping and grumbling. They tumble around the yard with me maintaining my calm even though I'm terrified that Lexx will damage his shunt. Its nice to see them being dogs, anyone that didn't know dobermans would think that they were attacking each other.

Bristol loves to grab a quick swim in the pond and Lexx, of course, plays lifeguard. As if he'd put so much as a toe in that cold, icky, dark, scary water.

Its nice for Lexx to have a sister for awhile.