An Afternoon with the Cousins

Chili loves people and she’s pretty certain that everyone loves her. Now, she’s a lot of dog and will run at you with top speed, put the brakes on at the last minute, then cover you in kisses. If you’re not quite used to it, it can be a lot to take. Chili doesn’t get to visit with her cousins very often so her enthusiasm can be a bit much in the beginning. I understand though, they live with a little dog, Rocky, who you can pick up and tuck under your arm. There is a big difference between little dog enthusiasm and big dog enthusiasm.

When we arrive, Rocky usually runs over to us all wiggly and squeally. He jumps right into the truck then tries to jump on us and give us little Rocky kisses. He’s a happy boy and is always happy to see us. When you finally get to sit down, he wants to jump right up on your lap and settle in. Thankfully, Chili doesn’t try to sit on anyone’s lap. That would be awkward. Chili runs to greet everyone and wraps herself around them with her tongue flying everywhere. Now Chili doesn’t know this, and I don’t want to break it to her, but not everyone likes big Chili kisses. They can be kind of wet and slimy, and, depending on if she’s just eaten, a little stinky too.

So, we’re sitting on their back deck and Chili is thoroughly enjoying their big back yard and running around with Rocky. Every now and again she would come and check in with us, throw a few kisses around and run off. Everyone would pull their hands and legs in to avoid being slimed. Chili is a persistent girl so after a while, everyone just gave in to her affections.

This visit was the first time Rocky wasn’t intimidated by Chili. He ran up to her, they said hi, and all was great. He even ran around trying to get her to chase him. He also took every opportunity he could to be Sir Humps-A-Lot. Chili was good about it and would just shake him off.

Chili’s three human cousins are pretty amazing at soccer and they have lots of soccer balls hanging around the back yard. Chili isn’t too shabby at ball handling herself so once she saw the soccer balls, she was in her element. For a few hours, the cousins kicked the ball back and forth while Chili ran between them chasing it. She got a few... once off the head and another off the shoulder, but she didn’t care. She was having the time of life with her family. She actually did get a few and when she wanted to rest she would just sit on the ball or tuck it between her legs. She did start to slow down but with a little rest, she was ready to go again. When there’s fun to be had, there’s no stopping Chili.

All in all a pretty great day for Chili. It was a pretty great day for all of us actually. Spending the afternoon outside with family and enjoying a few drinks while all the kids, both humans and dogs, played together in the yard. It’s nice to see Chili finally fitting in. It’s taken a little while, but it’s happening and I’m very happy about it.