Purple and Paws A few months ago, my sister adopted a Chihuahua named Riri. My sister wanted to get Riri settled in to her new life before she met up with her new cousin and finally, after weeks of getting used to her cushy new living arrangement, my sister brought Riri over for some bonding time.
She was nervous, I was nervous…we had no idea what would happen. Socks had done plenty of meet and greets during his walks and been fine but this was the first time a dog would be coming into his house, on his turf.
Em arrived at the house and brought Riri in through the back gate, set her down, she and Socks sniffed each other, and then…nothing. Riri explored the backyard and found a few places to do her business and we went inside. Socks was indifferent to Riri the rest of the evening. Success, we both thought.
Not so fast.
Fast forward a month later, and Em went out of town. While she was gone, pet sitting duty fell to the rest of the family. At first, Socks seemed fine with Riri being around 24/7 (see cute pic of her on his bed, above) but then he started to get jealous and annoyed. He would bare his teeth at her while I prepared their meals and as I prepped them for walks. Things finally came to a head the day before my sister came back when I (stupidly) let Riri come outside while I brushed Socks.
Brushing isn’t his favorite thing so he was already annoyed and having Riri right there sent him over the edge. He attacked her and she squealed and tried to get away. Luckily I was right there and managed to separate them. After that, Riri was understandably wary of Socks and mostly kept her distance. Socks, meanwhile, didn’t try to go after her again.
So our dream of our dogs being bffs might never come to fruition but at least they tolerate each other.