The return of the big hairy beast

The Big Hairy Beast, the Bernese Mountain Dog known as Cosmo, returned to us today for a couple of weeks. When his owner arrived, Cosmo was suspicious of me as he is of all strangers even though we are hardly strangers. But as soon as the owner left, Cosmo's look changed almost immediately. He accepted us as his people once again and we were right back where we had been. He's still skittish with strangers and probably always will be, but he sure loves and trusts his chosen few.

My big concern was with Nemo, who can still be an ass with male dogs, but the initial meeting with Cosmo went very well. They will both be in the bedroom tonight, along with Max, Arby, and the three girls. We'll see how that goes. 

Speaking of Nemo:  1. His swollen scrotum is finally beginning to shrink; 2. He's coming up the stairs normally now, at least occasionally; and 3. He broke out of Daneland today. This was the first time I had put him outside since his surgery. I had him in the "Sparky side" of Daneland, separated from Van Gogh and Kami. He pushed at the bottom of the gate just like he does on a wire crate and got out. The good news is that he came directly to the door of the house and knocked to get in. He's not a flight risk even if he is a containment problem. I have seen him go upstairs like a normal dog on two or three occasions now, generally when he was trying to get away from me or follow someone else. If he does it without thinking, he just goes on up. Tonight he came halfway up and then paused and tried to turn around so he could continue backwards. I grabbed his collar and redirected him and he was up the rest of the way without any problem. 

Cosmo with Max and Maya

Max isn't always great with new dogs, but he's met Cosmo before and that may have helped.

Nemo made an initial aggressive move, but Cosmo didn't respond and then everything was fine.

In contrast, earlier today Arby growled with Nemo stepped on him and we had a minor scuffle.

Cosmo, Max, and Nemo