Like Sisters

It's hard to believe, but it's been a year and six months since I got Millie. Subsequently, it's been about a year and five months since my parents started their hemming and hawing about whether or not to adopt a beagle of their own. Dog listings on Petfinder.com had become a pretty typical topic of family conversation.

Last week they finally took the plunge and welcomed a new beagle girl into the family.

Meet Olive:

She's two years old and was rescued from a home in Tennessee where eight dogs were being kept neglected and underfed. She's a sweetie--still a little bit nervous, but very curious about everything around her--and teeny tiny! Millie is one of the smallest beagles around at just under 14 lbs, but Miss Olive, at just under 11 lbs, makes her look normal-sized. She's so tiny that we were wondering if she might be some kind of beagle/ chihuahua mix. The vet's verdict was that she's probably a full beagle, but might actually be a dwarf! Apparently dwarfism can occur in dogs just like it can in humans. Isn't that interesting? Other than the size difference, Millie and Olive might be twins to the undiscerning eye. Can you tell them apart?

{Olive}

{Millie}

{Olive}

{Millie}

It will be interesting to see how their relationship develops. They won't be together all the time, but when they do get to visit, I hope that Millie steps up and acts like a good big sister to Olive. When they met for the first time over the weekend, it was a 50/50 split between playfully sparring with each other and calmly coexisting. So far so good, although Millie did give me a couple of looks that said, "She's still here? And she's sitting in my favorite chair?"





I think they'll eventually bond over some shared interests, like keeping their noses to the ground looking for  unsavory things they're not supposed to eat.