For three weeks we have shown Puddin' to the other dogs, allowing them to sniff each other, but keeping her in our hands. Yesterday we put her down on the patio for the first time to allow her to get some time in with the rest of her new pack.
Candy, the Maltese/JR cross...who has been the family diva for the last 4 years, gave Puddin' a wide berth. She ran into my office (where the doggie beds are) to sulk. Nash, our neutered male Maltese, sniffed her all over and tried to lick her face off. But it was Trinny, the goofy old Foxy, who stole the show. After sniffing Puddin's bum and face, she signalled her approval in her customary fashion: leaping up and down like a jack-in-the-box. Unfortunately, Puddin' was underfoot at the time, and Trinny's leaping and bounding had her landing perilously close. Puddin' took too scrambling one direction, then another, and finally bolting through the baby gate into the kitchen.
I had her leash in my hand and she took off running for the bedroom, ears folded flat back, tail erect as a flagpole, little feet moving faster than I have ever seen them before! She practically dragged me back to the bedroom and once there, she sat down on the little oriental carpet next to my side of the bed and looked up at me expectantly. "Pick me up, Mama!" her face clearly said. Once on the bed she made a beeline for her pink fleece blankie, curled up in it, and took a nap!
She didn't seem fearful or traumatized as a result of her experience, just a bit subdued. Miss Puddin', cheeky little Yorkie who had come to think of herself as THE dog around here, got herself a bit of an eye opener!
But this morning she was back at the baby gate at the kitchen door, wistfully looking out at the big kids playing together without her!
