Hope

I can honestly say that I never thought the day would come when I would see this:

But just the other day, I walked into the bedroom to find Mike hovering over this scene.

Judging by the size of Copper's head vs. Sawyer in general, I'm sure you can understand why we had some trepidation about interactions between these two.

Recently, Copper (our siberian husky/problem child) has seemed to turn a corner with Sawyer. Whereas he has always been curious about Sawyer, he recently seems to have become comfortable with Sawyer. He will approach Sawyer. Lie down near us. Let Sawyer grab his fur without complaint or reaction. The thing that I appreciate most about both of my dogs is that they don't approach Sawyer unless we are with him.  We have trained them this way. Thankfully, though both of our dogs are very neurotic outdoors and around strangers, they are very obedient in our house.

I always believed that our husky would be better with children than our border collie - because he is a pack dog and very loving and cuddly with his pack (family). His interactions with my nephews and his first interaction with Sawyer threw me off, and I started to try to come to terms with the idea that my family just might never mesh well. I have more hope now than ever, though, after witnessing the above moment.

While I can honestly say that I no longer believe that Copper would harm Sawyer purposely - out of either anxiety or anger, I anxiously anticipate the days when Sawyer is mobile and can disturb and annoy Copper at will. We will be sure to tread carefully when those days arrive. 

For now, things are moving in the right direction, and I find happiness in that.

As for our border collie, he is still a bit nervous around Sawyer. He will aproach him and wag his tail, but when Sawyer starts grabbing he runs away. Ramsey does not have a mean bone in his body, though, so while I wish he'd be able to relax better around Sawyer, I'm not worried about it.