Friday, May 13, 2011

One year later...

This weekend marks the one year anniversary of Chelsie's return to her agility competitions. After a long, long...LONG rehab, May 15, 2010 was a glorious day in her world. We didn't get a q on that first run, but she had a great time, ran beautifully considering she hadn't trialed in almost 10 mos and all her friends gave her a great cheer.

One year later, life is a little different in our household. Ace is no longer the little flea he once was - although still a flea in Chelsie's eyes, I think she is learning to love him and would miss him if he wasn't here. (Ok, maybe that is a stretch). But as I watched them play today - her submissively on her back while he pulled on the neck she never grew into - I came to the conclusion that sometimes...not all the time, she likes him. Me too, little bean...most of the time I like him too.

One year later, we have adjusted to a 2 dog household. I think the hardest thing for me is not to humanize Chelsie's emotions. She is to the point in her life where she, for the most part, does not care where I am. She doesn't have to be right next to me all the time. Ace is still in that phase where he is wherever I am - and don't get me wrong, I am ok with that, as he is still a puppy and still should be supervised pretty much 100% of the time. But because he is always so close to me, I am definitely cuddling with him more, petting him more, handling him more. Add to that it is the time of the year where it gets hot and when it gets hot, Chelsie won't sleep on the bed. She still always gets first dibs on everything...but it is still a little difficult for me to reconcile in my mind.

One year later, we can all actually lay on the bed in harmony - with Ace touching Chelsie...at least for right now, until she gets down and goes to her cool bed. :) I have to hand it to her...whatever she has said to him about that bed, he gets it. I have never seen him lay on it...and if I did, I would kick him off and tell him that's sissy's bed.

Tomorrow, we will be going to Cleveland. We will see all our friends and have been invited to Ace's littermates house to swim in her amazingly awesome pond. At the end of the day, I will have 2 happy, tired puppies - who will be ready to go back to the hotel and crash with their exhausted mom. Yes, one year later life is different...but I could never imagine having another dog before now and could not imagine having any other dog besides my little Acie.

I promise to take pictures and post them. :)

Some oldies but goodies....



 The three photos above are from Chelsie's first run back last year....I took an extra few seconds to love on her and let her know how proud of her I was. :) Her friends were still cheering for her. :)
One of Ace's first few days at home. He was a fast learner...he saw the big puppy laying there so he assumed he could lay there too. :) Approximate age in this photo is 8 weeks.

3 comments:

Becky Andrews said...

One year later - wow, time really does fly by. Hope you have a fun time in Cleveland.

uhooi said...
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Infrequent Flyers said...

What a great retrospective! Chelsie knows when to pick her battles, and I think she knows she's still got it good. When Seamus was first at our house, we wouldn't allow him up on our bed, so Cabana got to reign over him, laying proudly at the highest spot. But since we knew we wouldn't be keeping him, we let him get on the bed the second weekend. Poor Cabana, I could see her feelings toward him change right then. She didn't bark or growl or whine, but she just got a little cool toward him, like, "Mr, you have just worn out your welcome."