Picture a Day - Day 343

It was a family reunion this weekend for our little girl.

My parents came to visit and brought down not only both of Essie's parents but also two of her rowdy brothers. Es hasn't seen these two since August when she was only 8 weeks old and oh so much smaller.

When we watched all 7 of the litter back in early august being the runt our little girl was picked on mercilessly by her two bigger brothers and sadly not much has really changed.

This is Vulcan and Tiber. Vulcan is the black with the lighter blue camo collar and my Dad's dog while Tiber is the yellow and my Mom's.

They're the more typical lab puppy (unlike our little thoughtful weirdo), full of boundless energy and just a bit clumsy on those big feet with very selective hearing. But oh how they love to wrestle.
At first Es was none too pleased to have these scary dogs in her yard. She darted and hid hoping my husband or I would intervene.
Getting tired of all the sniffing and rough housing she showed off her Mother's lineage cranking up the speed and zooming around the yard staying on the outside track but still keeping ahead of her brothers.
As Tiber and Vulcan wore off some of their energy and calmed down some Essie got better, even feeling up to a sniff or two.

It's crazy just how much smaller our little girl is compared to those two. All born in the same litter but they look like completely different dogs. Vulcan has his dad's curly coat while Es got the sleek almost liquid oil coat of her mother.
Not to mention she's also nowhere near the same width and stockiness of her brothers but surprisingly just as long. We don't have a lab, we have a greyhound pretending to be a lab.

Eventually our Miss Essie got up the courage, shook off the old days of being bullied in the pack of seven and realized this was her yard and those two yahoos had to listen to her.
Or bare the consequences.
It was quite a day for our little girl, first there was a pre-schooler and baby then her old brothers came to town to have some rumble and tussle.
After a bit the big brothers went back on the truck and Es got to meet up with her Mom again. That wasn't such a rowdy reunion and she sniffed and licked her Mom and Calli did much the same. And it was pretty obvious Essie, our "I don't like any doggie at first" girl recognized her mother and she just wanted to play right away.

The funny thing is that even though I'm sure Es knew her she's much more dependent on my husband and I. She raced past Calli to jump into my husbands arms and lick his face and barely noticed when her mother had to go back home.

I guess dogs just have a much easier time of letting go and looking towards the future. Or they know where the food's coming from now and much prefer the taste of kibble.

Have you ever had a family reunion with your pets and their litter mates? Was it interesting watching to see if they'd know and recognize who they were?

Genetics is a weird thing sometimes. All the same litter born at the same time but so many differences. She also has a sister that's a complete lookalike but they have completely different personalities too.

It just makes our little Essie May that much more special, or that much more weirder depending on how you want to look at it.