Rico & Annie's Puppy Play Date

Last weekend I packed Rico and myself into the mini-van and made the 3 hour trek to my sisters house. This was his first "longer than 20 minute" car ride. For the first 10 miles he was entertained by trying to bite the cars as they went by. It was a quiet, slow-motion, air bite thing he was doing. Is hard to imagine what was going through his head. After he got bored with that he settled down and went to sleep.

After an hour on the road, we stopped at my friends house to borrow a dog crate. I was nervous about letting Rico run loose on my sister's farm. Not sure how he would react to the horses and the chickens and was just not willing to let him have free roam yet.

My friend has two older dogs that Rico had not met yet. We decided to take them all on a walk along the trail on leash to introduce them first. Rico barked at first but as we got walking he just wanted to play. Slowly they all got to sniff each other and by the end of the walk we felt comfortable letting them play together in the house. All went fine. Rico seems to know when to be submissive and had a good time playing with Bailey & Bear. We packed up the crate and got on the road again. Rico fell asleep after being on the road a few minutes.

My sister and her family just adopted a 4 month old puppy named Annie. We're not sure what she is but I think she'a Golden Retriever/Shepherd mix. The people she got her from said she was an American Setter and Chocolate Lab cross. We have yet to discover a breed of dog called American Setter. Pedigree aside, she's just plain sweet. This was the whole reason for the trip - Rico & Annie's puppy play date. Don't worry, I know how lame that sounds.

We pulled into my sisters driveway about 10:00 Friday night. My niece was outside with Annie holding her by the collar. I put Rico's leash on and he hopped out of the car behind me, barking at Annie the whole time. We brought them closer together. They wouldn't stop barking so we decided what the heck, let them go. The playing began and didn't stop until 2:30am when my sister and couldn't keep our eyes open any more and I put Rico in the crate.

Next morning I let him out and he got to meet the horses (he'd rather play with Annie) and he saw the chickens (he'd rather play with Annie) and met the other two house dogs, Zeus and Lola (he'd rather play with Annie). They were inseparable. I'm glad my sister felt the same way about the play date thing and enjoyed watching them play as much as I did.

On Saturday we went for a walk on the trail, went to our Mom's house with the dogs, went to our sister's house with the dogs and went to a place called Inspiration Point and walked the trail with the dogs. It was so fun and beautiful as the trees were in their full fall regalia. It was actually nice to have the dogs because they pulled us up the hill. I think we could've made some money at Inspiration Point renting them out at the bottom of the hill as walking aids. And of course, I forgot to bring the camera along.

On Sunday we left for home and stopped at my friends Mothers house for dinner. Rico was the perfect gentleman and didn't beg for food at the dinner table even though he did make a failed attempt for the prime rib roast on the kitchen counter. He was also one tired puppy from all the activity. I practically had to carry him to his pen when we got home Sunday night.

I was worried about Rico on Monday. He was not his usual rambunctious self. Monday night my sister called and asked if Rico was depressed too. Apparently, Annie & Rico had withdrawals from each other! How sweet. He was back to his old self on Tuesday afternoon. Next it's Annie's turn to come visit. (I'm sick, I know. Deal with it.)