We must welcome a new addition to the Sherron household, Kuma’s cousin, Umlaut. Yes that is her name. Yes, it is the word to describe the two dots above the letter “U”. Yes she will be beaten up at the dog park. She is about a year old and very energetic. ADORABLE! Since Kate was in town, we thought that Kuma should meet Umy, so we brought her over to Bob’s parents’ house Sunday night. Kate had warned us that Umy showed dominant tendencies when meeting new dogs but that did not deter us from bringing Kuma. Kuma has it in her mind that she is the alpha dog in every canine relationship and so it would be good for her to be knocked down a couple of pegs.
Doggie Smackdown 2007!
In the red corner, weighing in at 60 pounds, dressed in black with tan socks, is Kuma, aka the Kumanator. She may be lean, but don’t be fooled, that is solid muscle underneath that silky smooth coat.
In the blue corner, weighing in at 30 pounds, dressed in white with a tan cape and matching mask, is Umy, aka the Whirlwind. Don’t be concerned. What she lacks in size, she makes up in wriggleness.
Round 1: The meeting inside the kitchen. As soon as we walked in the door, Umy ran up to us barking but was quickly swept up by the referee, Larry, before Kuma was able to smell her properly. Because Umy was out of her reach, naturally Kuma was curious and Umy was wrestling herself free from the ref to try and resume the round. Decision: Tie
Round 2: The meeting on the front porch. As soon as Umy was put on a leash, we took both dogs outside to meet each other. Kuma had her hackles up but her tail was still wagging, indicating that she was interested, friendly but wary at the same time. Umy, on the other hand, began growling at her and went on the offensive, biting Kuma in the face. Oh No She Didn’t! There are three things that Kuma will not tolerate: a) ear sniffing from another dog, b) mounting from behind by another dog and c) being bitten in the face by another dog. That was when hell broke loose and the Kumanator roared back with a vengeance, complete with the perfect impression of a pitbull at a Michael Vick party, snarling and teeth-gnashing. Decision: Kuma
Round 3: After pretty much establishing that Kuma was the alpha, we all headed back into the living room, where the dogs preceded to play together. And when I mean play, I mean, Kuma would walk around and be petted by everyone while Umy paced nervously, making sure she would not face the front end of Kuma. As time went on, Umy relaxed a bit and would tentatively approach Kuma. In the end, Umy and Kuma began to play together and are now BFFs. Decision: Kuma
The only reason why Kuma won Round 3 was because she was not a nervous spazoid and established that every single person in the room was her property, as the picture above illustrates.
Since Umy was disappointed that she did not win the match, she tried to settle the score by attacking Kuma while she wasn’t looking. Boo, that’s playing dirty!
Then she proceeds to stick her tongue out at Kuma in defiance.
Apparently, even dogs get annoyed.
Welcome to the family, Umlaut.
Question about the three things the Kumalator would not tolerate. Why do you specify “by another dog” for each. Does that imply she is “mounted from behind” by some other kind of animal? Or she allows some other animal to nibble on her face? Just curious.
Also, 10:45, Saturday Superbad.
She hasn’t met other types of animals yet, so I wouldn’t know. I just know, for sure, what happens when dogs do those things to her. She is a weird one, for all we know, she may like having her ears sniffed by a squirrel.
My favorite parts of the post are all the Bob crotch shots.