Lucy the Dog meets Remington, the tri-colored beagle

Lucy the Dog had a very exciting Christmas vacation. She travelled 11 hours by car to Acworth, Georgia, to spend Christmas with my family and, notably, to meet her cousin dog, Remington, the tri-colored beagle. Remington is the dog of my sister, Tally Teach, and her husband, Murse Man (who will officially be a nurse come spring -- yeah!). In preparation for this visit, Lucy got a bath -- her very first. She's usually a shower kind of girl, but she decided on a full-out soaking this go-round. She very much enjoyed the bubbles.

The first encounter between the cousin dogs was not as amiable as one might have hoped for (namely, me). Lucy growled angrily and got her hair up -- literally. Tally Teach and I took the dogs for a walk together, hoping the shared experience would allow them time to bond. It did, and they got along fine after that. Lucy likes to play a little more than Remington, which stifled her efforts to begin a game of jumping on each and chewing on one another's ears. The only real moment of concern was when Lucy tried to help Remington finish some of his Christmas day Greenie. Remingston, evidently, does not like to share his food and did not appreciate the offer. An honest-to-goodness dog brawl ensued that scared the pee out of Big Baby and Little Man, my two nephews, but fortunately not the dogs themselves.
The other thing I learned while at my parents is that Lucy is in a constant state of unrest when she is abandoned with people she doesn't know very well. I spent the last day in Georgia with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law at Wes's aunt and uncle's house in Atlanta. My mom said the dog paced around looking for me the whole time I was gone.

The good news that came out of the visit is that Lucy is fine with little kids. I pretty much knew that already. She's been around HP's kids, and for one brief day, TWA Pilot's very tiny twin boys. Save for taking Inwe's Elmo doll repeatedly, she has been fairly well behaved in the past. Both the boys were enchanted by the dogs' presence, and Big Baby chased them around occassionally. The only time Lucy seemed bothered was when Big Baby pulled her tail. She took it at first, but when he kept doing it, she would turn around look at him. She didn't growl and didn't snap, but she sort of stared at him as if to say, "Would you seriously cut it out?!"

Given the spill down the stairs by both Big Baby and his father (separately), the grease fire in the oven, and the broken washing machine, I'd say any dog excitement was way down on the list.