A Warm Welcome!

Yesterday was my return home and, not having seen Ray for two weeks, I was curious about the reception that he might give me!

Typically, after being away for a few hours, he will vocalize his displeasure quite decisively before jumping up and/or just making contact by hitting with his head!

As I approached our front door, I could clearly hear Ray and it was a rather different sound to what he would normally give when a stranger came to the door so perhaps he knew it was me. When I opened the door, he was clearly excited and seemed confused as to whether to charge out onto the porch or let me in!

In the back of my mind was the fact that Ray can get a little mouthy/nippy when excited. Given that we have also seem him jump up under similar circumstances, one has to be ready to deflect an almost airborne 78lbs of canine affection. This whole entry scenario was therefore one to be monitored carefully!

What happened was quite surprising!

Once I was inside, Ray was clearly excited and ran around, nudging me periodically with his head. He seemed to be quite controlled so I sat on the floor and called him with the intention of giving him a rough massage along his body. Ray had other plans and almost pushed me over with his nose just before he licked my face! This ritual was repeated a few times before he settled down seemingly very happy that the “gang” was back together again!

These kinds of events always make me think back to March 2013 when we first met him, and noted that he was uncomfortable around people and did not want any  physical contact. He has changed!

Carol had her camera ready to record the events so, hopefully tomorrow, I will have some pics to Post!

21 thoughts on “A Warm Welcome!”

  1. Pingback: Homecoming (the video)! – A Dog's Life? (Stories of me and him)

  2. This is so sweet! I am not surprised for you 2 have created quite the bond. Glad Carol caught it on camera. Now if Ray would have been successful at pushing you over….that would have been fun to catch on camera. 😉
    I am glad that he could surprise you with his exurbent welcome!

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  3. These reunions are always interesting to see what our pups will do. Like me and Kali, you and Ray are not often apart. I’ve been reading a book by Alexandria Horowitz called “Inside of a Dog: What dog’s see, smell and know”. She was discussing how for dogs how smelling is more powerful than site. And if we’ve been away where there are different smells on our bodies even though they recognize us visually they are sometimes momentarily confused because we smell different and the for that moment are not sure it’s really us. This could be the case with the brief confusion for Ray as you opened the door.

    Regardless of the science it sure is great to be reunited with our loving pups especially after such a long time.

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  9. Welcome back from everyone. Of course none of your bloggers are going to lick you face! I’d be curious if Carol had any issues with him while you were gone….like constant looking for you. He did pretty good when Carol was in the hospital but he did miss her.

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    • Hi Kate: He was apparently confused! He would wake Carol up at 4:00am (bell on back door) with a clear indication that he wanted to go outside. As this was totally out of character, she thought that perhaps he wanted to check if I was out there. Last night/this morning, all was normal. There was no frantic bell ringing! In my absence, he would sit next to Carol on the sofa (my spot!), and he kept looking at me last night as I reclaimed my spot and he was back on his chair! 🙂

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