Kenya Meets Lulu

Yesterday Kenya met Lulu for the first time. It took her a few seconds to even notice her, she was so small. This photo made me think about scale and their relative sizes.

Lulu is a tiny cockapoo the size of a guinea pig. The snow was so deep that she had to hop straight up and then down like a bunny to see where she was going.


Kenya went through that "Who the hell are you?" thing that dogs insist on when they meet. They don't shake hands cordially expecting the best. They assume this is a threat that needs to be evaluated. Kenya tends to be very vocal at this stage, and poor little Lulu stuck pretty close to Allyson and shivered every time Kenya growled or barked.

I reassured Allyson that Kenya's growls are simply a means of communication, and not usually a threat.

Eventually they settled down to sniffing, and Kenya decided she would like to play now, but she had no idea how you do that with such a small creature. When she stuck out her paw as she usually does as a gesture asking whether the other dog wants to play, Lulu got bonked on the side. It hurt.

I explained to Kenya that she had to keep her great big paws off Lulu. (It was an admonition she forgot from time to time in her happiness at having a playmate for a while.)

Then she tried using her voice. With her nose within inches of Lulu's, and her tail wagging furiously she leapt at Lulu and shouted, "Let's play!" Lulu snarled a high pitched snarl, and Kenya backed away with new respect.

Kenya bounded, Lulu hopped, and Allyson and I walked gingerly, trying to skirt the icy patches on the hill. Lulu leapt up and landed on one of these patches and slid halfway down the hill on her bottom. I was reminded of Albert G. Hog, the baby groundhog that slid down the chute years ago. In both cases the tiny creatures gave themselves a shake and got on with things once they came to a halt.

In the house, Kenya asserted herself to tell Lulu not to sniff the root vegetables in the basket, but generally seemed interested more than anything else. She was quite happy when I lifted Lulu up onto my lap, and when I got down on the floor to play with her. Kenya seldom, if ever, shows any jealousy where I am concerned. She will protect her food and sticks, but this time, she didn't even care too much when Lulu sniffed her food dish. If that had been Havoc or Remi she would have been all over them, but she seemed to understand by this time that Lulu was no threat.

Just before they left, Lulu came up behind Kenya and sniffed her tail. It was Kenya's turn to be startled. I was pleased to see the overture, just as I had been pleased to see Lulu's reaction to being shouted at. Lulu may look like a guinea pig or a rabbit, but she is quite definitely a dog.

It was interesting watching Kenya dealing with a totally new experience trying to figure things out.

I hope that Allyson doesn't have second thoughts about leaving Lulu. I would like Kenya to become comfortable with dogs of all sizes and I know she is smart enough to adapt, and that her basic instincts are kind.