Have I told you the brothers have a new cousin? That's right, my sister had a baby... puppy that is.  The bouncing baby boy is a Border Collie named Benji and he's already bigger than Bear (say that three times fast!). 
We met Benji for the first time a few weeks ago when my sister and brother-in-law drove to Houston from Austin with Benji in tow.  There were a lot of "firsts" that weekend:

• First road trip for Benji
• First time another dog had spent the night at our house, besides Uncle Snickers
• First time Cooper was around another dog bigger than him (since the dog park days)

I was a bit apprehensive about the visit, knowing how Cooper gets a bit grumpy when put in unfamiliar-dog situations.  I actually did a bit of research to see how to properly introduce the boys to their new cousin and found a great reference here.  I sent the instructions to my sister and a plan was created!

Once Friday night arrive, I had the boys' harnesses on, poop bags in hand and we were out the door as my sister pulled into the driveway.   Just like I imagined, there was a lot of barking (from my dogs) and a lot of "protecting" and poor little Benji was terrified.  TERRIFIED. of his new cousins.  After about 30 minutes of dragging the dogs down the street, a small truce was made and the new found cousins were walking side by side down the street.  A small miracle, indeed.

I will say that Cooper was still not super happy about Benji hanging out in his house.  There was the occasional low growl and fang flash over the weekend, but no all out attacks.  Progress is good.  We even had them all sitting next to each other for the photo-op Sunday morning (swoon).

While Benji was in town, my sister wanted to take him for his very first experience at the dog park.  Houston has some great dog parks, and we love to go to Congressman Bill Archer Bark Park just a few minutes from our house.  Benji had the TIME OF HIS LIFE rolling around, jumping from mud puddle to mud puddle, play-stancing, swimming and running.    I'm pretty sure that dog was in heaven with every mud hole he found - and lucky for everyone in the car, we brought dog shampoo to hit up the showers afterwards.

We all talked about the first time the little boys went to the dog park - Lindsay and Luke were there! Memories!! (those boys were so scared - ha)

All and all, it was a great weekend.  I'm glad Benji came so Cooper could get a grip on dog fears, and now Lindsay and Luke can visit anytime knowing that all the dogs get along.