Making Life Long Friends

One of the concerns I had in getting Annie was for Sage.  She'd, no, both of us I guess, had had hard years.  Family stress.  Sage's knee surgery.  Murphy's death.  By the time the year-end holidays came, we were both pretty happy 2008 was about to be history.  So when our friend Mary called and talked puppies, I thought about how Murphy was with my Wheaten terrier, Riley, matter of fact how Riley was with my beloved Airedale, Alex, and of course, how Sage was with Murphy.  

Every puppy is a little rough with the established dog.  Having been removed from the litter, their pack, they are trying to figure out where they belong.  And of course, retrievers do it on speed.  Running, nipping, growling, leaping.  Everything in hyper-warp time.  Murphy would go from zero to sixty running full speed into Riley, who was half her size.  Sage would spend hours in the back  yard wrestling with 10 year old Murphy who wasn't too inclined to whack Sage around.  For the first few months, poor Murphy's ears were raw from Sage's gnawing, the insides of Murph's legs were pink where Sage considered Murphy her personal chew toy.  

Alex, who was quite old when I got Riley, would chase the little pup around the house.  Riley understood who was top dog.  It took almost 8 months before Riley finally let Murphy know, nipping the big dog in the nose.  Murph was Ms. Submissive after that.  Murphy was totally attached to Riley.  And Sage was Murphy's side kick.  Life long friends even though Murph never reminded her who was top dog, somehow Sage knew. 

So my worries about Sage not needing the gnawing, wrestling, growling, yipping, freakishly high energy have been assuaged.  While Sage does need more quiet time than Annie, she enjoys the activity.  They run at full speed, teeth bared, up the path, down the path, rolling in the mud.  They tug at toys, chew on chews, sleep on each other.  

Sage, who has tough skin, wiry fur, has no signs of Annie teeth marks.  And now that Annie has almost all her adult teeth, so those issues are past.  They enjoy showing  each other their dentistry as they head, 60 miles per hour, down a hill.  But there has been no damage.

It wasn't until recently that I realized this play may not even stop when Annie learns Sage is top dog.  Walking last week with Pele and his Golden friend, Glacier, I watched the two of them have-at-it like wrestlers from the Retriever Wrestling League.  Glacier would grab onto Pele's neck, they would roll, then leap, teeth bared, then roll again.  Annie stood, watching in amazement.  I remembered Sage and Pele used to play like that.  But Sage, post surgery, seems to know her limits, and she too, just watched.  Liz commented that Pele and Glacier played like this for the past 4 years.

I am grateful Annie is in our lives.  My concerns for Sage are gone.  I think the two of them are working on becoming life long friends.  Loyal, faithful, caring.  In fact, several weeks ago, while snowshoeing, we encountered an unfriendly dog who should have been leashed (it's owners admitted that their dog was not good with other dogs).  The dog went after Annie, and Sage stood in front, taking a huge bite on her neck, as the owner leapt after his dog.  It was scary.  But Sage, ever brave, loyal, and protective, took care of her sister.  We're a pack and Annie is still trying to figure out her place, but she knows we'll take care of her 'cuz we're all life long friends.

Murphy's day.