A Visit from Bodhi

Oh dear, over a week since my last post. Don't you hate it when life gets too busy to blog?

Today, we got to have Bodhi come for a visit. Bodhi is a 2-year old Blue Picardy Spaniel and a favorite friend of Cabana's at the dog park. I love how he lays with his paws crossed, so dapper.

Next month, we've offered to keep Bodhi while his owners are away for a few days. Because Bodhi has never been exposed to homes other than his own, we decided it would be a good idea to have Bodhi over for an hour or two in preparation for his real sleepover.

Bodhi was a bit nervous at first, running to every door and window, looking for his hu-mom after she dropped him off, but he settled down after 15 minutes.

I had shut all the bedroom doors upstairs, so I could keep a better eye on Bodhi's whereabouts. But at one point, he ran upstairs and managed to pushed open the door to my older daughter's room. Suddenly, I heard him barking loudly, so I went up to see what was going on. Turns out that Bodhi was scared of the stuffed bear on my daughter's bed. I held it out to him to show him it was a lifeless toy, but he wouldn't come any closer to investigate until I asked Cabana to come and give it a sniff. After he saw Cabana's fearless behavior, he finally realized that Freddy, with his missing eyes and torn-up nose and who used to belong to my husband when he was a child, is relatively harmless.

In the photos, it looks like Cabana can barely tolerate Bodhi! But he really is one of her best friends at the dog park. Maybe she was puzzled by his nervous energy at our house. They played with each other a little bit, but not as much as I had anticipated. The funny thing is, when Bodhi's hu-mom came back for him, he suddenly became his old rambunctious self, going into full play mode, happy and comfortable with his owner present. It can be hard for a dog who is under-exposed to new situations, so I'm glad we got to take it slow with this practice visit. I think he'll do even better the next time.