The One Where Hurley Meets His Brother

We finally had our first meeting with Hurley's brother Max!  I was of two minds when I imagined how it would go.  Hurley would either go absolutely bonkers crazy seeing him or would be a bit timid.  The timidity theory came from our suspicion that Hurley was the runt and a little picked on by his littermates and from his behavior with dogs that are larger than him.  He tends to be a little shy in the butt sniffing arena when significantly outweighed by the dog he's meeting.  So which way did Hurley go?

Who's at the door, Hurley?

Both.  At first he was the usual butt shy.  I was beginning to get a little concerned, five minutes into the visit, when Hurley was still tuckin' tail every time Max tried to say hello.  Oh dear, I thought, these wonderful people drove an hour to come meet Hurley and he's not even interested in proper hellos! 

But never fear, Hurley is Hurley after all and even butt-shy fades away into my normal friendly playful pup when you give him enough time.  It was mirror image spontaneous play bows and they were off!

Well, as much as they could while still being on leash in the shop.  There was a bit of wrestling, more than a little bit of humping (Max is still working things out just havin' been neutered last week) and Hurley was as happy to receive the dominating play as he was to give it back.  There is only one dog that Hurley plays like that with (his good buddy Wilbur who visits the store) so I would say that there was some sibling recognition there. 

While Hurley and Max do look a lot alike, I was surprised by how much the two had changed as compared to virtually identical pictures of them just a few months ago.  Max's head is HUGE.  And his stance is WIDE.  I did enjoy how puppy-like Hurley appeared next to him (hey, anything to keep my puppy a puppy.  they really do grow up too fast!).  And it makes me think that Hurley still has a ton of growing left to do, primarily in the getting wider and more muscular area.  Maybe he will make it to 100 lbs after all.   A girl can hope, right?

Doesn't Max have the best smile?

The best part was seeing how loved Max is by his family.  He has two wonderful human siblings whom Hurley enjoyed meeting and showing off his High Five.  And Max gets to enjoy being a farm dog, "helping" on his family's orchard by catching gophers.  What a life!  

We're looking forward to a proper play date next time.  One where Hurley and Max can be off leash and free to romp (and hump) to their heart's content.  Thanks, Andrea, for the amazing visit!