Starting to notice the big, furry animal in the house!

Right from day one, when we brought Grady home from the hospital, Ryder was a little put out about having to share all the attention. At first, he hid under the blue chair in the living room. Then, he moved on to lying on his dog bed and pouting all day long. But, over the past couple of months, he has started to mellow out a bit and is acting like his normal self again. Also, I think that Ryder was a bit scared of Grady, which makes sense considering some of the noises that Grady makes!

While Ryder has been well aware of Grady's presence in his life, Grady has just started to notice Ryder. Now, when we put Grady on the floor beside Ryder, Grady will grab at his fur and it almost looks like he's petting him (it's really sweet). Of course, I am completely on guard the whole time because I know that Ryder could scratch Grady and accidently hurt him. But, I realize that they need to get used to each other, so we all sit on the floor and I praise Ryder while he lets Grady grab and poke at him. Ryder tolerates the abuse really well ... today Grady was grabbing at Ryder's face and he stuck his finger right in Ryder's nose! Ryder didn't seem too concerned and Grady certainly didn't care .... I was the only one who thought it was gross!

*Just a little disclaimer: I wash Grady's hands really well after we've had playtime with Ryder. I'm not quite ready for him to have dog germs in his mouth!