And with that, our moms decided to pull us apart again.  But then I heard “Let’s go in this direction” and off we went, Rosie first and me following.

We were letting Rosie set the pace.  I, of course, wanted to race on ahead, and so my mom had to keep pulling on my lead to slow me down. The idea was to keep space between Rosie and me so that Rosie could get comfortable with me.  Between the two of us, I want to be friends with everybody and she’s a little more protective, so the moms decided to keep the space as  Rosie felt more comfortable.  But my mom was working very hard and it was getting exhausting for her so she said, “How about if Joey and I go first, and Rosie and you follow.” That was agreed to and this system worked pretty well.

We kept this up all around the block and ended up back home. There we stopped.  Mom said,” I need to go inside and get Joey some water.” Rosie’s mom said that she had water with her.  Off I went into our home to drink.  Unfortunately my mom had to say “Joey, drink” because I was too excited to know to drink. But I listened to her.

Soon I was ready for another lap around another block.

Off we all went, my mom and me first, then Rosie and her mom.

Here’s a photo of us when a neighbor was walking by and said “Oh, two chocolates!” Our whole group stopped while the moms and the neighbor talked and talked.

two chocolates!

It was shortly after this when we continued our walk toward home. Our moms decided for us that this was enough for our first walk together. I could have kept on going but it looks like I wasn’t the one making the decisions here.

At one point I kissed and licked my sister, telling her how much I liked her. She wasn’t much in the mood for being kissed right then and the moms decided to respect Rosie’s wishes, and that’s okay.

Once in front of our home again, my mom got out her bag of treats and gave me a treat and said “Good boy.” Then Rosie’s mom gave Rosie a treat and said “Good girl.”  Then my mom gave me another treat.  Then Rosie’s mom gave Rosie another treat.  Then mom mom gave Rosie a treat and said “Good girl”.  Then Rosie’s mom handed me a treat that she dropped on the ground but that Rosie got to before I could. Then she gave me a treat and said “Good boy”.  All in all, there were a lot of treats given and eaten, and Rosie and I were happy dogs, and a happy new extended family!

Here’s a photo of my newly-found sister and littermate, on the day of our reunion!

my sister, on the day of our first reunion

Oh, and of course when my mom and I got back inside our home, the first thing she did was to go into the kitchen, to where I followed her, and said was “Joey, drink water!”  And I did!

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Who would have believed that after getting hit by a car and being so injured, a dog could have such a wonderful morning as this one!

We all remained like this for a few minutes, with Rosie on the sidewalk with her mom and me on the front steps with mine.

Just then, one of our family friends came by. He loves and understands dogs and he loves and understands me and I love him and “Lucky” is his black Labrador Retriever (and I can always smell Lucky all over Al when Al comes over and besides, Al always knows when to give me a treat) so when Al heard that my sister was here and he saw her, right away he went over to her and they made friends. This made Rosie feel more comfortable, too.

Our friend Al introduces himself to Rosie. Rosie and Al make friends.

After Rosie seemed relaxed with Al and  I was okay with sitting and looking on, our moms decided it was time for me to get a little closer to Rosie.

Somehow I got the signal from my mom that it was okay to go a little closer. Maybe she let out on the lead a little; maybe she said “Joey, come”, I’m not sure. But we were able to communicate just fine.

This time, I was allowed to go right to the sidewalk but my mom kept me a few feet away from Rosie. Honestly, this is very difficult for me because I wanted to get close right away, but my mom held me back. (Actually, she gave my lead to Al, who is pretty strong and knows me and knew exactly what to do to keep me a few feet from Rosie .)  It was only for a little while though, so it was okay.

Rosie and I are exploring each other still from a distance but closer.

You can see in the photo how much I’m trying to get closer to Rosie but Al has to work hard to restrain me. Rosie is interested in me too, and her mom has to work hard to restrain her. At night my parents said things like “We were smart in waiting to get Rosie and Joey together so far after his surgery and after his bandages were removed because he was putting a lot of pressure on his leg, pushing on it to get closer to Rosie, and in these last few weeks his leg has gotten strong enough to handle this.” I guess they’re right. And I’m not complaining. This is a great day – any day!

After a few minutes, our moms decided that it was time to allow the next big step! We both were eager for this next step.

nose to nose

This was really a fun moment.  It was also a good moment.

Shortly after that, Rosie allowed me to lick her face a little. This was my way of inviting her to play and to tell her that I like her and want to take care of her!  Rosie let me lick her face for a moment and I heard “That’s good enough for now.  Let’s maybe start walking soon. We don’t want to do too much too fast. We have lots of time; let’s not push it.”

And with that, our moms decided to pull us apart again.  But then I heard “Let’s go in this direction” and off we went, Rosie first and me following.

I’ll tell you more about our first reunion tomorrow; please enjoy these photos!

*****Now you can go to Part 3. ***

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The day that I never thought would arrive has arrived! My mom must have been pretty good keeping secrets from me – almost as good as I am keeping secrets from her! Rosie has accepted our invitation to play and my mom has decided that I’m strong enough and healthy enough to now go for a walk around the block with my littermate.

Last night my Mom said something like "Go to sleep, Joey. Tomorrow will be a big day. We’re going to see Rosie!" but I didn’t really get what she was saying.

This morning I was inside and my mom was outside. I knew something big was going on outside but I couldn’t see what.  Still, I could hear it.  What had happened was this: A car had pulled up to the sidewalk outside our home and Elisabeth, Rosie’s mom, had gotten out then Rosie had gotten out.  Elisabeth and my mom had decided to keep me inside the home while Rosie got comfortable in a new place and with new people.

But when my mom came inside, I could smell Rosie all over her hands and arms. I kept sniffing for more and more information: Where was she? Would she be happy to see me? Could we play soon? It was wonderful! I could barely contain myself and if I had been a water balloon I would have exploded. This was Rosie, my littermate; we were born together ten years ago!

Soon my mom put me on my lead and slowly allowed me to go outside. First she had me sit on the front step of our home for a while, while Rosie remained on the sidewalk. Rosie and I just looked at each other and got comfortable like that for a while. It was pretty difficult. I wanted to get up but my mom would say "Sit" so I remained, according to her instructions.  You can see from the photo, from how perked my ears were, that I wanted to head straight for Rosie. But I obeyed my mom.

While I was there and Rosie was their, our moms were saying things like "Good boy" and "Good girl" so that each of us felt loved and comfortable in this new setting and situation.

Then things got even better!

I’m going to write more about our exciting morning later but I want you to see photos of me and of my sister and littermate those first moments, the first moments of our reunion.

Life is getting back to normal – slowly but surely. Actually, life is better than normal! Today started with a big surprise – a good one. It’s great and exciting to have my sister back in my life after all these years!

Now please go to Part 2.

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