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Tuesday, May 15, 2012

A Dogs Life: A Look at Harley and Peyton's Adoptive Brother Bond

Peyton the pug is a great dog. We have had him four years now. At first he was crazy. I remember thinking, I hope this puppy stage doesn't last forever. Naturally, he has grown past this and is now doing what pugs do best. If you know pugs, you understand their lack of desire to go out and exercise. In fact, Peyton lacks the desire to do much of anything except to eat and laze around. He says in close proximity to where we are and he makes an excellent lap. The pugs life is a great life!

Josh is my Husband and a Soldier. He needs to exercise daily to maintain Army fitness standards. He really wanted a running buddy. Peyton cannot be "that" dog. He gets has a doggie asthma attack just walking to the corner and back. So our family decided to adopted a shelter dog who's name is Harley.

Harley is a lab/retriever mix. One thing I can say for sure about Harley, he is a high energy dog! This makes a really great family dog. I must admit he is really smart too which can be great but challenging as well. When he lays he does't lie down gently,no he flops wherever he lands. When it's time for bed he hides on the couch hoping to blend in and provides new challenges to the dog crating experience. I must Harley has adapted well to his environment. He is the best bug catcher I have ever seen. He loves flies and moths the best and now flies are clearly endangered around this guy. He doesn't always eat the bugs but he only desires to hunt them for sport. In one recent attempt to catch such bugs he has even pulled down our curtains! He definitely enjoys the outdoors and I often leave the door to the porch cracked. When he wants to go outside he just opens doors with his paw. He watches and waits anxiously awaits for the arrival of every family member and greets then at the door. He has quickly learned that Josh rides a motorcycle and perks up anytime a motorcycle can be heard in the distance. When there is a knock at the door he even looks out the front door through the peep hole to see who it is. He's a character alright!
Now, I must admit it has only been a short time since we adopted Harley. It seems though Harley and Peyton are forming an unstoppable bond. Harley insists on walking with Peyton. The two dogs walk proudly with their heads held high side by side. They explore nature, chase cats, and find trouble together.
I am also beginning to see their playful nature emerge as they learn to interact. I honestly do not thing Peyton realizes he is a rather small dog. Peyton's size does not seen matter nor does it affect their relationship. Harley will bring a toy to Peyton and squish it in his face. Peyton has no choice but to play as Harley entices Peyton, repeatedly smooshing it into his face until Peyton grabs hold of the other end. The fun begins as we watch Harley and Peyton running around tugging on the rope. Sometimes Peyton lets go, we watch Harley bring the rope toy right back to Peyton then It starts all over again. I have even seen them go completely crazy and Harley will start winging Peyton around and around and send him flying through the air. This continues until they completely wear themselves out.

They also play bite and wrestle.I do not like this as I was worried they would get hurt. I have to admit due to size, I worry more that Peyton would get hurt. I have seen then play pretty rough at times but I am beginning to understand that this is how dogs play. Harley and Peyton don't really want to aggressively bite but and that type of play is just something all together different.
I do have to remember that Harley is still young and has many traits of being a puppy. We call him our toddler. I remind myself that We have years of teaching invested in Peyton to make him the great dog he is today and it simply does not happen over night. Right now our focus is teaching when it's ok to play and not to be too rough.

We never let either dog even play bite with humans. We just don't want to form any bad habits. We are strict on our rules so that our dogs to be able to socialize properly with humans and around animals.

With Harley, I learn something new every day. Teaching him what is acceptable behavior takes work and it's challenging. The benefits but understand it takes work to make a dog a great family dog so that's what we will do. We love that Harley is ALWAYS ready for an adventure and very loyal to our family already. I am really glad Harley is found place here in our family.

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