It occurred to me, recently, that the relationship between Chester & Lola is quite similar to the relationship between Gizmo & Simba, which is odd, considering that Gizmo & Simba are littermates, but Chester & Lola aren’t (although I am sometimes asked if they are).

Lola seems completely besotted with Chester. She wants to play with him, she wants to curl up with him, she wants anything that he has. It’s really funny watching her trying to entice him into playing, sometimes.

Chester does love to play with her, and slowly but surely, I see him thawing towards her. But he sometimes growls at her when she approaches him on his bed (although not always).

Yet recently I’ve seen them grooming each other a little bit — going beyond kissing, and licking faces or ears. Sometimes they lay together peaceably in one bed; although most of the time they’re busily engaged in trying to steal the bed from one another.

Maybe Chester would have thawed quicker if he hadn’t been the only dog for a year. I know that having Lola here is very good for him — she runs him around like we never could. He does love to play with her, and it’s great fun to watch them together. But, like Simba, I think Chester prefers snuggling up with us humans.

Gizmo’s main aim in life is to snuggle up with his big brother Simba, who sometimes lets him but more often doesn’t. They always groom each other after meals, and they share bowls peaceably (ok, so Chester & Lola don’t share bowls — they can be a bit growly over food sometimes).

Supposedly Lola was best friends with the cat in one of her homes, or so I’m told. She doesn’t interact that much with the boys, here; she only has eyes for Chester.

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