Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Fun & excitement basset style!

Last night Linus & Einstein played together. They've been trying to play for awhile. The problem always is that Einstein starts barking because he's excited & then Linus gets scared & runs for safety (love seat, couch, behind Mom, behind Dad). Einstein then stands and barks at him trying to get him to play thus scaring him further.

When Puddles was here, she would get scared of Einstein even before the barking because of his size. She & Linus would chase after the same toy together but eventually Einstein would want to join in. Puddles would get scared & start barking. Einstein would get annoyed & start barking. Linus would run & hide.

Last night Einstein was chasing Linus. They ran back & forth at a rather shocking speed considering that they're basset hounds. They ran from the back door to the front door & back again. At one point, Linus ran right out the dog door with Einstein hot on his heels. It was pretty funny & good to see. Linus gave all appearances of playing & not being scared. Eventually though Einstein started to bark & so Linus jumped up next to me on the couch. Chris grabbed a toy & tossed it. Linus launched himself from the arm of the couch & took off after it with Einstein hot on his heels. He ran back with the toy & Chris tossed it again. Unfortunately, Einstein started barking again & back up on the couch went Linus. He would take off after the toy a few more times before he decided that wasn't fun anymore with Einstein barking at him.

But it was actual playing! Einstein's been trying to play with Linus since he got here. Linus is such a submissive Zeta dog that he would just get scared. When Einstein started going Alpha on him for no apparent reason at random times, that really didn't help. We seem to have the Alpha thing under control. Einstein really isn't an Alpha type personality so when Chris & I started working on reminding him that we were in charge using some of the techniques in Cesar's book, it didn't take long for him to respond.

Yay! Linus is playing!