Welcome ELI

Last weekend, Ossi got a little 'brother' Eli (seen above). Eli is a Corgi/Border Collie mix so he looks like a black and white version of Ossi--stubby legs and all.

The Dawg family was drawn to Eli because of his posting on Petfinder.com which said he was a "play machine" and would not be a match for a dog that did not like to play. Well, Ossi is a dog that LOVES to play and with their similar backgrounds (rescue dogs, Corgi boys) we figured it would be a good fit.

The first meeting with Eli didn't go great. Both boys were very good, but ignored each other at Eli's foster "mom's" house because there were so many sniffs to sniff. The Dawgs thought, based on that, it probably wouldn't work because part of the idea in getting Dawg#2 was for Ossi to have a playmate. But L-Dawg couldn't give up on Eli and talked the wonderful people at Second Chance Animal Rescue into bending the rules a bit so Eli could come visit Ossi's house. What a great idea that turned out to be.

The boys played and played and chased and wrestled and played some more until they both collapsed from exhaustion. Ossi shared his space and his toys (not happily, but he did share them) and Eli took full advantage of the hospitality. He was already part of the family.

The boys play together very well and Ossi seems to enjoy having a buddy around to play with any time he likes. He doesn't mind sharing his indoor toys, but seems to be less generous with his outdoor toys. The only things the boys have really fought over were treats (i.e. Eli takes too long to get a treat out of the Kong so Ossi steals it and eats two treats--if Eli tries to take his treat back, Ossi is waaayyy unhappy).

For his part, Eli has settled in nicely. He gets fed at particular times of the day and now Ossi does too because Eli can inhale an entire bowl of food in less than 30 seconds and will steal Ossi's if it's left out. He follows the human Dawgs--particularly L-Dawg--around everywhere and enjoys laying his head on the side of the bathtub when showers are being taken. When he's being serious, he can have a big German Shepherd bark in a 33-lb body, but mostly he loves to give kisses on your nose.

So, welcome Eli and here's to all the new adventures the Dawg family will have with eight stubby little legs around the house!!