One of the things always guaranteed to make me smile is taking the dogs to the park, letting them off leash, and seeing them tear off into the distance together, Pallo leaping and corgi talking loudly the whole way. Then, it becomes a rough and tumble game of chase and wrestling all mixed into one.
The initial run, complete with full body checks
The dodge-and-weave
Which way is he going to go?
They always look just so incredibly excited and happy when playing like this at the park
And then the real wrestling begins with the full on body checks, snarling corgi talk, scruff grabs
The suspense-filled pause, as Koira does her best border collie impression- the calm before the sudden action and intense chasing starting up again
Pallo is always the chasee, while Koira is the chaser. Pallo's slower running speed means he has to be more creative with his dodging and turning.
Here he comes! Luckily, both dogs are pretty respectful of people walking or standing, and rarely come close to slamming into you. Even if this picture does make it look like Pallo is about to leap onto your face.
They do a lot of on-the-ground wrestling as well, to break up the craziness and speed of the running and chasing. Pallo normally ends up on the ground, looking nasty and possessed, while Koira chews on his legs or scruff. But don't worry, Pallo seems to enjoy this, and isn't shy about letting Koira know when he has had enough.
And really, this is Pallo's "play with me" face. It may be accompanied by some nasty sounding snarls and plenty of ugly faces, but it really is how he initiates play. It confuses some dogs at the park, I think.
Did you know your dogs were going to get along when you adopted your second? Do they get along? What do you do if you get a second dog and the crew just doesn't make friends? I think I totally lucked out on how much Koira and Pallo like each other, even if they don't do adorable things like cuddling in the house (I am totally jealous of all of you with dogs who cuddle each other, BTW).
I LOVE the picture of Pallo's "Play with me" face!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that your two are such good playmates!
I'm not sure we'll ever add a second dog. Obviously, we would want such a thing to be an easy transition, with everybody getting along, or at worst ignoring each other. There's just no way to tell, unfortunately.
This is what I want for my dog. Exactly this right here. If I do adopt a second, the dog I bring home will be Shiva's new best friend. It will have to be her choice, not mine.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful to see.
They are having such fun together! Love these photos!
ReplyDeleteHorowitz Dog Cognition Lab is collecting videos that show human-dog play interactions for a study they're doing, in case you're interested. You would have to be in the video along with your dog(s). Here's the Web site: www.doghumanplay.com
Susan and Wrigs
Thanks, I'll look into it!
ReplyDeleteChester didn't give Gretel the time of day when we brought her home. I wouldn't call them friends still after two years. They do sometimes end up accidentally laying next to each other now though :)
ReplyDeleteDo fun to see the dogs playing.
Our guys generally get along well, but there are times when it's been touch-and-go. The first time they met, they did a sort of pseudo-BT snarly snap fight with each other, but it wasn't serious.
ReplyDeleteI actually wrote about a fight they had the other week that was out of the ordinary in that it was far worse than any usual tiff they have with each other. They play and wrestle and chase and tease each other all the time, though. They definitely have the "brother" thing down. Their relationship is mostly that of love, but they annoy each other sometimes.
And you're not alone... they don't snuggle, either; we get so pumped when they lay within a foot of each other! I am also jealous of people who have dogs that sleep on each other.