Delvis

Someone recently asked if they could start referring to Della and Elvis as Delvis. As a deaf dog, Elvis doesn't know or care what you call him. I doubt that Della is prepared to have her identity merged with his, but she is really quite accepting of the little guy.

Della and Elvis are an interesting pair. Della intimidates many of the dogs around here, and she likes it that way. She and Maya have sort of agreed not to be disagreeable, but she doesn't mind asserting her authority over the others. Elvis is sort of an exception. He doesn't seem to recognize her authority and somehow he gets away with it.

If Max is on a bed that Della wants she only needs to approach and give him the look. He gets up and moves. Rarely does she even need to use her voice. Della doesn't allow fosters in the bedroom, and certainly not on our bed, but Elvis broke that rule on his first day here and has every day thereafter. His deafness may help him in that he couldn't hear her telling him that fosters weren't allowed in there, but he's not blind and Della's body language and facial expressions speak nearly as loud as her voice. He even gets away with occupying her crate if he gets there first. That's something that no other dog has done. Because he's seemingly oblivious to her stares and intimidation, she eventually just lays down with him and shares the crate, although not in quite the same way that she used to snuggle with Serena.

They have always walked well together. Both really enjoy the trails and it's something they enjoy together. Both of them are very interested in deer hunting, both on the trails and out in the pasture at home. 

We got in about 3.25 miles, ending just as it was getting too dark to be out there walking. 

Pupdate:

Everyone is doing really well. The puppies are developing the fat little bellies that we like to see. Holly seems to be producing plenty of milk for them and continues to be an excellent mother. She was completely fine with me all day, having no objection to me handling and moving her puppies. She was noticeably better with Erika today too. She really seems to be relaxing now.

I feed Holly while she's in with, and nursing the puppies. She's eating about two cups of dry puppy food, plus half a can of wet food, at least four times a day. She went through a bottle of goats' milk over the last couple of days and really liked that too. I think I'll get her some cottage cheese tomorrow. Della really liked that when she was nursing.

Chubby Boomerang in the blue collar is sprawled across little Camilla. You can see Camilla's head on one side of Boomerang's body, and her back end and rear feet on the other.

I hadn't noticed until today that Camilla has two v-shaped lightning bolts on her belly.