Cousins

My mom told me that the other day she and my dad were out and about and saw a pillow that said, "You mean my grandchild is a dog?" She told me they were sorely tempted to buy it; it just didn't match the decor.

Although all four children in my family have reached childrearing age and then some, the dog count has now climbed to three while the grandchild count remains solidly at zero. I myself hold out hope for nieces and/or nephews in the near future because I hear they're fun. But in the meantime it has also been fun ("fun" being loosely defined) to watch the granddogs get to know each other.

Getting Jin and Tigger (my sister-in-law's dog) on friendly terms has proved most difficult. At first we worried about the fact that Jin is about five times Tigger's size, but it turns out that Tigger can hold his own. They just really don't like each other. But now there's also Scout, the newest addition, and Scout, being young, just really likes everyone and everything. Tigger is mostly indifferent to Scout, an attitude that works quite well for all involved parties. Jin, on the other hand, has moved from an extreme position of distrust (to which Scout was oblivous), to tolerance, to genuine playfulness. Anyone who knows Jin knows that he doesn't much care for other non-human animals, so Kelsey and I have been delighted by the transformation (especially since it means our dogs can have "sleepovers" when one or the other of us goes out of town - Jin's is getting a sleepover this upcoming weekend, in fact).

I captured a few seconds of the mutual playfulness on video this evening when Kelsey and Garth brought their puppy over to my house. This went on for at least an hour after I turned the camera off, and most of the time Jin was moving just as much as Scout. I am posting this video entirely for the cuteness factor. And so my parents can enjoy their granddogs from afar while they wait just a little longer for the grandkids.