Puppy Meets her New Cousin

My sister visited for the weekend, with her 9-week old puppy, an American White Shepherd, named Neva Louise, or "Louie" for short.

Puppy hasn't seen a puppy this small in a lo-o-o-ng time.

At first, the little one was nervous, especially with Puppy. Puppy's paws are as big as Louie's entire head. But Louie was definitely excited to meet her cousins and be part of a larger pack. By the end of the first day, she was coated in dog spittle, as the Big Dog and Puppy both poked and licked and prodded their little cousin.

Then we all went to the beach for a walk. It was Louie's first time seeing the ocean and walking on sand. She watched the larger dogs like a hawk, seeing what they did and how they did it. She wanted to do everything her cousins did.

Except go in the water. Louie preferred to watch from a safe distance as the other dogs swam.

Then we took just Louie to a few of the famous Cape Cod beaches... down on Nauset Light Beach, she looked - and felt - very small.

On Coastguard Beach, the waves were rough so we didn't even leave the boardwalk area. And on First Encounter Beach,she enjoyed laying in the smelly oyster flats and crossing through the flowing tide pools.

When we returned to the house and saw her cousins again, she was overjoyed - and quite emboldened. She started leaping up to grab Puppy by the ears and wrestling with the larger dogs like she was one of them. Puppy and Big Dog played tug-of-war and wrestled gently with their little cousin, making for a great floor show for the rest of us...

All in all a great visit with the new cousin. We can't wait for her next visit. Let's hope she's dreaming of digging in oyster beds and tugging on Puppy's floppy jowls.What did you do for Columbus Day Weekend?