Life with 2 dogs

Life with 2 HUGE dogs has certainly been interesting. They always keep us on our toes. We had some rough starts with Rocky in the beginning. We adopted Rocky mainly for Apollo, so he could have a friend to play with when we are gone, but unfortunately Rocky didn't feel the same way. He feels safer in a kennel, and when he isn't in one, he poops in the house when we are not home (even though he is house-trained). We were getting so frustrated that we had to start putting Rocky back in a kennel; which also meant that Apollo had to go back on the prozac. Apollo is pretty wild sometimes and it is best that he stays on the prozac anyways.

Rocky seems to have some anxiety issues around other dogs...although his first visit at the dog park and at doggy day care with us went well, every visit after that didn't go so well. He started fights with dogs and then Apollo would join in. We are not sure if it is the "pack" mentality or what the issue is, but until we have the money and time to take him to some training sessions (privately) we are exercising our dogs with walks and in home activities. It is hard, knowing that your dog is the one starting the fight, especially when they are both just lovers - especially with Rocky. All he wants to do is be loved and petted, that's all he cares about. Greeting people he does 100 times better than Apollo. He is very slow and somber and just walks to you, where Apollo jumps, licks and so much more. It is hard.

We still sometimes wish that we would have waited for a puppy-puppy, things may have been easier because we would have had him from the start and the mentality and training would be different. Right now we don't know everything that Rocky has been through, so it makes things hard. We still love him very much, but things are still hard sometimes.

I still think that Apollo is happier though, it is hard to tell but I think he is better now than he was before, at least now he has a friend and they still play together in the house and outside. Soon we will be looking for a house to rent with a backyard so they have a place to play, maybe we will get a sturdy dog run too so that way they can stay outside while we are gone during the days.

So although times have been hard, they have been great too. The good times have out-weighed the bad and we have strategized ways to make things better for us and the dogs. Things are working out. There is just a period of adjustment and I think after that time is done our dogs will be better, we (Matt and I) just need to do a little more research and work a little harder. I'm sure there will be more updates on the dogs to come!