Mother and daughter

Rocket went back home to his family last Sunday, but our big guest crate in the office wasn't empty for long. Maze arrived today to fill it for the next couple of weeks or so. Maze is one of Della's puppies. Maze (puppy name Chimay) was the first of the 12-pack to be born and she's the one that stood out early on as being the most like Della in terms of personality. 

Maze has been back with us before but this is the first time since we had adopted Bailey. Bailey isn't always great with new dogs, she's still learning that this is a rescue household, but I don't have any real concerns about them learning to get along. Our other houseguest, Bette, is a bit more challenging in that regard. She's learned to accept all the other dogs here and that was a very big step for her. Maze is even bigger than Della and I think Bette is intimidated by her size. Bette has responded to my verbal corrections and Maze doesn't return or escalate Bette's behavior towards her, so I think all will be fine in a few days. I'm keeping them separated when I'm not around for now.

When Maze first arrived today I put everyone up and brought out just Della to meet her. Della raised those puppies right and they are all still very deferential and respectful towards her. Maze wanted to play and Della did too. They had a some play time in the front yard when it was still decently cool early this morning before coming inside for the day.

I am happy to have Maze and I think Della is too, but Della seems to have injured a leg last week, I suspect by jumping over the dog yard fence, and she's been having some trouble with it since then. One day she had difficulty going upstairs and even fell and slid back down the stairs a couple of times. I assisted by lifting and securing her back end as she came up one time after that. She needs to take it easy and let that heal for a few days before she can really engage in play with Maze the way both of them would like. That may be the one and only benefit of this beastly hot weather. I started giving her some carprofen with her dinner this evening too.