Sunday morning, we scheduled a play date with my friend Anne and Raya. Raya is a tiny, 1 year old whippet that Anne adopted when her owner died very unexpectedly.
I am not usually a huge whippet fan, but I LOVE this whippet. She is so adorable, but is balls to the wall and very sassy. In fact, both of these bitches are pretty dominant with their high tail sets and posturing.
The funny thing is that at least in my yard, I have no one that wants to be chased. Riley encourages everyone else to run (by punching them in the neck so she can tackle them), but they refuse to take her suggestion and Riley has no desire to be the chasee. Reagan is everyone's favorite bait, but she definitely does not want to be chased. Seven is the only one that offers periodically, but only when it is her idea (and not Riley's) and she is quick to discipline the others if need be. Only Katie liked to run for everyone to chase her and then she would put a stop to it. And she never responded to Travis' demands. It had to be her idea also.
But these two little bitches both wanted to be the chasee. Maddie would have been smarter to let the older, faster, and more coordinated whippet be the chasee. But no... and Raya was relentless and tackled her over and over again.
Eventually, a plastic bottle came into play and they both started to play nicely. I think Raya just eased up on Maddie and Maddie started to get a little tougher and bolder.
Raya was nice to even let Maddie tackle her a few times.
In the end, it was a great way to spend an hour in the morning and we look forward to doing it again.
Answers to more questions left in the comments.... The other dogs are all fine. Seven and Riley are exposed to her the most and tolerate her very well. Maddie is also a little smarter now. But I definitely can leave the room for a minute without worry. I cannot say the same for the yard. They will chase Maddie if she offers so I am always out there and in the middle of everything. Since I am often dealing with Maddie, dogs not underfoot are rewarded. So Riley gets lots of treats for minding her own business and Seven gets very few. They are probably jealous of her bully sticks, but they just don't understand that hers lasts a week or two.
Maddie should be the size of my girls or a little bigger. Mom is the size of Riley and Seven (53-55 pounds, I think) and Guliver's sisters are in the 60 - 63 pound range. He weighs about 72 pounds, I believe, so he is moderate sized for a male.
I have enjoyed the comments and especially puppy stories.
