First the bad news: We had originally scheduled a private training consultation for Friday evening, but due to a scheduling conflict with the vet, our consultation has been moved to Tuesday. This means yet another weekend of either trying to deal with an overexcited Badger or the crate and rotate routine. Sadly, we find it all too easy to just keep both of them crated, because Mushroom growls at Badger when he's out of his crate. We really hope the training consultation on Tuesday will help us be able to help them get along.
Now the good news: Mushroom is going to the vet on Friday to make sure she is heartworm-free and receive her health certificate! This will bring us one step closer to finalizing the adoption. Also, she is no longer under exercise restrictions, though we might wait for our replacement Gentle Leader to arrive before taking the dogs on walks together.
Since Mushroom is cleared for exercise now, I'm really tempted to let them both loose and "sort things out themselves". I've read in multiple places that this is a bad idea, but I've also read that humans get way too worried over harmless dog play. The problem is, Llamaentity and I can't tell the difference between playing and fighting, plus we would prefer to stop play *before* it escalates into a fight. Currently, the behaviors for which we stop play are: Badger knocking Mushroom down and standing over her for an extended period of time, Mushroom gnawing on Badger's leg, and Badger's continued refusal to listen to commands during playtime. So far, neither dog has drawn blood, which makes me wonder if we're being too overprotective. What would you do?
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