Neo and Noelle

This is my girl Noelle.  She's laying on her favorite spot on top of the hot tub cover.  I have no idea what the piece of lumber next to her is.  It's been there all summer, while my husband has been finishing our basement.  I'm pretty sure its warped beyond use by now, but I keep forgetting to ask him why its still there.  I hope its not there to keep Noelle from jumping on the hot tub cover.  Because its not working. 

Noelle is my difficult dog. I think the term for her is dog-selective. In other words, she doesn't like most dogs on first sight. But over the past year I've been learning how to introduce her to other dogs properly, and at least when it comes to bringing in new fosters, we've done reasonably well together. She's gotten along with every foster dog I've brought in. Until Neo. She does not like Neo. Noelle and Tessa, the other female pit bull in the house, get along great. They run and play together constantly.  But Noelle does not like Neo, and the feeling appears to be mutual. 

Neo doesn't seem to like Tessa either, but he does okay with Remi.  Maybe he has something against pit bulls.  Or girls.  Huh... maybe he just doesn't like dogs who are smaller than him.  Or, maybe he doesn't like light-colored dogs.  It could be so many things.  A dog expert would probably tell me that Neo doesn't like dogs trying to engage him in play, and it has nothing to do with their breed or sex or size or color.  They'd probably tell me that he gets along okay with Remi because Remi leaves him alone, and as a senior dog, Neo really just wants to be left alone.  And sure, they could be right.  But I like to keep an open mind on these things.  It makes life more interesting. 

I read some good tips on introducing dogs to each other here.  This is basically what I've been doing with my new foster dogs anyway, but it had some helpful tips that I will be sure to try out for Noelle and Neo.  It may take awhile, and I can always hope that Neo gets adopted quickly, but in the event that he's with us for awhile I want to integrate him into our home as much as possible.