Fast Friends

In case you're one of those people who get annoyed by all of the "pet people" out there who constantly talk/blog about their pets, take pictures and tell all sort of stories about them as if they were actual children, you should probably stop reading my blog all together.

I'm an animal lover. I can't stand the thought of anyone being cruel or neglectful to a helpless little animal. It's when these things are done to the animal that they can turn mean or aggressive, but through proper teaching and loving, your animals will be a great addition to your family: if you let them.

This being said, Molly is acclimating to the family really well. We got her last Tuesday night (tonight around 8:00 will mark our official 10 days). That being said, it's amazing the transformation. Not only in our 'family' but in her as well.

Miller took to Molly quite quickly, probably because she's almost his size and he can run and play with her rougher than he can with Jack. They will run and play, and even Jack will sometimes look like he's trying to get in on the play time with the two of them as well.

Jack still doesn't LOVE Molly, but he's learned that she's not a (huge) threat to him. He still pretty much feels like anyone who might get some of my attention (which should rightfully be his) is somewhat of a threat and he watches them closely. However, he's not barking and growling at her constantly.

One thing that Jack will do with Miller is he will stand on his back feet and put his front feet on Miller's nose/head to balance himself and then he'll look Miller in the face, smell him, etc. Miller always lets him do this, more of as a "if i just let him have his 8 seconds of smelling me he'll stop trying and leave me alone." Miller doesn't seem to care one way or the other, and just moves on. Jack has done this for quite some time with Miller (as long as I can remember). Well, Jack has started to do this to Molly as well. He "checks her out" to see where she's been etc. It's kind of an acceptance thing for Jack.

The two cats still don't really like her, but Eddie is a little tiny itty-bitty bit more accepting than Missy is. Before Missy will come in the house she looks through the open door to see if Molly's there, and if not, then she will very SLOWLY and tentatively come inside. She comes to eat and sleep at night, but mostly when she's "in" she's in the garage on top of the upright freezer, VERY far away from Molly. Eddie will lay around and kind of ignore her, until she gets a little too close for his comfort. He will still occasionally hiss, growl, and swipe at her, but he too has come a LONG way since we first brought Molly home.

As for Molly, she herself has changed quite a bit. We noticed for a while that it seemed like when she wanted attention she would take something she wasn't supposed to have and run with it. She's not doing that as often now, and the attention she does get from us, she just soaks it up. She is still very much a puppy and LOVES to play, then she crashes out hard. She absolutely loves her 'daddy' and goes nuts when he goes out front where she can't see him or when she can't go with him. She enjoys sleeping on our bed (along with the other 2 dogs) and especially likes to curl up right next to dad. It's all very sweet.

Physically, her coat is getting healthier looking (fullness/shine). She's more active than when we first got her, and she's eating well. VERY WELL. Now that she has a large back yard to run and play in, we're sure her muscle development will be happening soon too. We've also been taking her and the boys to the dog park as often as we can, and she's doing really well with the socialization. She's still a little timid around the dogs that tower over her, but that is to be expected. She does love going though, and she's really good about exploring everything but coming straight back when she's called (we're still working on that with Miller).

Pretty much our biggest drawback at this point is that she seems to think she is a lapdog when we're in the car. I suppose it's probably because she sees Jack up front with the 2 of us, so that's where she wants to be too. She LOVES to sit on dad's lap, be it when he's the passenger OR THE DRIVER!! -We're working on this too. We also noticed that when the car was moving she didn't like to put her head out the window. She's working on this too. She's gradually putting her head out when we're going down the road, and she puts it a little bit farther for a little bit longer each time it seems. Hopefully she'll be brave enough to act like a "normal" dog when it comes to car windows soon.

Here are two pictures of Molly and her new best friend that Jordan took this morning. I thought they were really sweet!