Lola and Bear - Part 3

I have done a couple posts, (here and here) about Lola and Bear.  If you remember Lola and Bear were not to fond of each other when they first met.  And they were slowly getting better in my last post.  Lola got to go visit Bear and Otis quite a few times in December.  So they had a lot of time to work out their issues.  And I am happy report that they are doing well together.

They really just ignore each for the most part. But they are great team when it come to squirrel hunting.  They can keep squirrels trapped in trees for hours.  And Lola even ran into Bear a couple times and he did not even care.  The only issue that we still have is when Lola and Otis are playing.  Bear still does not seem to understand the play aspect and start to go after Lola. So for the time being he is inside while the ball is being thrown for Lola and Otis.

Bear will even share the couch with Lola now.  Although, Lola will not get up on her own.  Somebody has to go over to the couch and tell her is it ok and make sure Bear doesn't growl at her.  I guess she learned not to rustle any feathers.

Lola and Bear sleep on the couch.  Yes, that is how bear sleeps.

And because I can't leave Otis out.  Here is a picture of the three of them, Bear, Otis and Lola.  I could not get them all sitting in a line.  Lola had to be the odd ball

Lola and Bear - Part 2

Here is what happened the second time Lola and Bear met.

When we get to my dad's house everybody is excited.  Lola can't wait to see her Otis and my dad, and Otis is excited to see me (and kind of excited to see Lola).  And now add Bear into the mix, who is excited because there is a new person and dog.  We knew from the get go, that we both needed to watch Lola and Bear closely.  We did not want anything going on. We let them smell each other and could tell immediately, that they were both acting uneasy.  (My dad and I both know Lola's queues and could tell she was uneasy.  Which is not a normal thing for her)

We finally realized Otis was not helping the situation.  (Poor Otis, he is stuck in the middle.)  He was somewhat excited about what was going on and that seemed to make Bear and Lola more excited.  We moved Otis inside to see what would happen. Lola and Bear sniffed each and then just left each other alone.  One step in the right direction.  Or so we thought.

Later, Lola and Otis were chasing the ball.  They both love this.  And while we were throwing the ball, Bear started getting excited.  He started getting into the mix.  As he was doing this, we realized he was very uneasy about Lola and Otis playing.  And it got to the point where started going after Lola in an aggressive manner, and we had to separate them. Bear seems to think that the playing is aggressive and reacts as it is an attack of some sort.

After this happened, we decided that we needed to try something different.  So we decided to take them for a walk together.  This actually went really well.  They would walk right next to each, bump in to each other, and even have there noses touching while they were smelling things on the ground.  And there were no problems.  And neither one was nervous.  Both were very happy to be on a walk.

Going forward, we will keep working on getting these two more comfortable with each other.  We think walks are a good way to start and work from there.  But we know it it will be an on going process.

Lola and Bear (Mr. B) - Part 1

I introduced Mr. B to all of you a few weeks ago.  And first things first, Mr. B has been given a new name, Bear.  I am not sure where Bear came from, but he is responding to his name and seems to be fine with it.

If you remember, Lola and Bear were not fast friends.  When we first met Bear he was nervous and unsure of Lola and went at her a couple of times.  And then it starts to snowball.  It is strange though, because this has never happened with Lola before.  She has always been good with other dogs.

I think it comes down to Bear never really being socialized with other dogs.  (Obviously not his fault.)  99% of the time he is good with Otis,  but I think part of that is Otis. Otis is such a low key dog, and for the most part could care less out about other dogs.  But when Lola gets mixed in, aka high energy, we think Bear is overwhelmed and does not understand that Lola and Otis are playing and not being aggressive.  And when Bear sees it as aggression it leads to Bear snapping and going at Lola and then it snowballs.

So over the past month, Lola and I have made a couple of visits to the crew.  And it has been interesting. 
Come back tomorrow for the story of the second time they met.  (It would be a really long post if it were all in one.)

And now the picture.  If you notice, Bear has now taken over the couch and will not give it up, and Otis is stuck on the floor.