Good. I thought we were good, but I have always struggled with subtle inter-dog interactions, so I wanted to make sure.
He was pretty sure about Angel--she was too bouncy, with no boundaries, and intimidated him. Trixie is more respectful and quick to jump out of his space if he barks at her. 2/3 of play between them is her tearing of up the yard, and making wide circles, with lots of play bows. He'll chase, and they often end up doing an odd version of hide and seek around the big hedge at the end of the yard.
I know Trixie and Angel get along famously, but I'm limiting interactions, because I can see that between those two there will be body checks, and full speed chase games afoot. So I want her bigger before I allow off leash play. Right now, I'm keeping Trixie on a long lead for play, so we can break off if it looks about to get physical. I'm seeing a lot of rearing, bouncing, and mini-chases between the two so far. Once Trixie bit Angels ear and she yelped a puppy yelp, so we seperated them for a while. Angel didn't respond at all other than the yelp. And she ran riot outside of Trixes leash range, inviting play where Trixie could chase but not bite.
Here's a question..why does Angel stand over smaller dogs she likes? Internet says it's dominating..other pages say it's acceptance into the pack, and establishing the new member lower than her. To me it looks like she's trying to get as close as possible. She just closes in, and closes in, until she's standing with her leg right over the other animal, and sniffing downward. She usually comes in sideways to do this, sidling up, and eventually lifting her back leg to straddle, and standing directly over the other dog.
