Chessie has a New Bud! :)

Though we wondered about whether or not she would, the little Chessie girl doesn't seem to miss her littermates nearly as much as we expected.

In fact, it seems that her littermates' absence has encouraged the development of new "relationships" among our canine crew.

In particular, Chessie seems to have adopted Elsie as her new best bud (hehe).

I would love to know what Elsie thinks about all this.  Hehe...  (I'll leave it to you all to come up with thought bubbles for her!).

What I do know is that our tried and true mom, Elsie, puts up with everything Chessie throws at her -- always patient; always gentle, always tolerant of the little squirt's antics, and ever maternal.

At least when she feels like it.

LOL, generally Elsie just ignores Chessie (poor little thing tries so hard).

But in the end, they're buds now, and Elsie seems happy enough to have little Chessie by her side.

I'm not surprised.  Elsie, the Grand Dam of the canine crew, broke in Kenya, Pinot, and Tuc when they were young pups just joining the pack. And she's whelped two litters of her own.

What does surprise me sometimes, though, is that for all her canine wisdom and orientation, she's still primarily our Elsie Bear; her greatest affection is reserved exclusively for her humans. That's the neat things about Labs.

During this all-important socialization/imprinting time, I do hope we can foster the same kind of human trust, loyalty, and devotion in Chessie.

Elsie may be her new bud for now.  But we, her humans, want to be Chessie's best buds for the long haul.

I suspect, if so far is any indication, that that will be the case.  We just have to work at it.

Only time will tell. :)

'Til next time,
Joan