DIANA REPUBLIC

One of the reasons we chose to add another dog to our family was because Mike, our yellow Labrador American child, had always lived in a multiple dog home. (All the other reasons were purely selfish except the one about rescuing a shelter pup.) It would stand to reason that when we suddenly became a one-dog household, Mike would be lonely. And while he had definitely been looking for his brother, Larry, we may have overestimated his desire for a canine companion.

Come to think of it, Larry was actually a typical obnoxious big brother who hoarded all the toys and bossed Mike around. Sometimes he would lift one lip and growl at Mike from across the room for no apparent reason. Mike would respond by whimpering even though he had a good 30 pounds on his brother. So, while they played and got along some of the time, Mike may have actually been checking to make sure Larry didn’t come back so that he could have all the toys.

Enter the speed demon we are calling Goose. While there have been no overt acts of aggression, Mike has made it crystal clear that this little guy is cramping his style. Mike is the oldest four-year-old dog in the world right now. He went from playful to curmudgeonly in one day. He has asked for a transfer and told us he consider this to be a hostile environment. When we explained that his transfer had been rejected he asked if he could just take early retirement.

We are dividing time and affection as evenly as we can. Bob has made more time to walk and throw the ball with Mike. It is not really about jealousy as far as I can tell. Mike is actually a little scared of Goose. The Goose-bump is small and fast and his sudden movements simply freak Mike out.

As Goose grows and Mike accepts his existence, it will certainly all work out. My new strategy is just to delay the paperwork for Mike’s early retirement (his 401K has been decimated anyway) and wait for the bonding to begin.

Let sleeping dogs.. you know