First, and most importantly for me and for Kevin (kids are gone this week), Ruby slept through the night Friday night! I put her to bed at 10:40pm and woke up at 6:22am realizing I had not heard her all night. I did that worried parent paranoia thing and irrationally thought through all the ways she could have died in the night. Like her collar got caught in the crate, or her heart gave out from some unknown defect. I'm a bit of a freak like that, known for crawling into my kids rooms when they were babies and feeling for their breath under their noses. Just to be sure.
As I headed downstairs, she heard me and instantly whimpered. I assumed that having gone that long without a potty break, I probably had a messy kennel to clean up. And I did a little (just pee). But I'll trade breaking out the Clorox Cleanup and paper towels over a quality night's sleep anyday.
Another part of Ruby's big day Saturday was having her first bath. I put the kitchen sink to good use and give it two weeks before I can no longer lift Ruby into it, or she is just too darn big. But it worked great yesterday. She didn't hate it, certainly wouldn't have hesitated to bail if I hadn't been holding her in, but she was pretty good about it. Unlike some other dogs in this house who shall remain nameless. Ahem.After drying off and taking a nap for a couple of hours, I took Ruby for a walk up the street to meet Tiger Lily, or Lily, as she's known to her family. I met Lily shortly after we moved here last fall as she was walking down the street with her owners. Lily is a 3-year-old Great Dane. Her house had been our destination a couple of times on Friday, but we never found anyone home. The whole family was home Saturday morning and were thrilled to see Ruby.
When I 'met' Lily last fall, I was in my car and she was on the sidewalk. I stopped and chatted (top was down) for a few minutes. Apparently being in the car and a few feet away altered my perspective of Lily's girth. I had pictured her in my head as slender and almost dainty for a Dane. Um, yeah, I had that a little mixed up, like a reverse fish story. While only 120 pounds, small even for a female, Lily is extraordinarily TALL. In comparison to Ruby's Dad, who was 160, she was probably a good 6 inches taller. Her head almost came to my armpit. She has a body more like a greyhound, but the big square head of a Dane.
Lily's parents, Debi and Jim, were so excited to meet Ruby, gave me lots of good advice and things to watch out for (a scary growth disorder called HOD that Lily had and I need to research), and invited us back anytime. Ruby didn't quite know what to think of Lily. I never put her down because one step of of those giant feet and Ruby would have been gonners. Plus we were on Lily's turf and she was clearly a Mamma's girl, expressing her jealousy when Debi gushed over Ruby by jumping up and firmly planting her feet right in the middle of Debi's chest, nearly knocking her off her feet.
Note to self: teach Ruby not to jump up NOW.
It is almost impossible to believe that in a year, my little baby could be that big, or bigger. As a point of reference, Ruby is about the size of Lily's head right now. Um, WOW.
One of the things that Debi and Jim told me was to watch out for overexposure in the cold. Ruby shakes like crazy when she goes outside, but I thought it was partly for effect. They had just recently purchased a horse blanket, used for colts (I'm not even kidding) to put on Lily for winter walks. I should have known this little tidbit, but I guess I get an epic fail on that one. Now I feel really bad about our walk/carry from Thursday night. She must have been miserable.
Ruby and I went to Petco and Premium Pet Supply (PPS) to find appropriate outerwear for walks, but came up dry. All the dog clothing is for little foofy dogs, not for Ruby. At PPS, they told me another 7-week-old Dane puppy had been in earlier. Turns out it was Ruby's sister Stella. I wish we had been there at the same time. Would have been interesting to see the response from both puppies. Ruby started being a shit by pulling doggie clothing off the wall and running off with it in the store. Maybe she was getting tired and a little testy. Whatever the reason, it worked and I brought her home for another nap.
We went out with some friends last night and were gone for about 6 hours. Fully expecting a messy kennel, I was surprised that not only was the kennel dry, but when I opened the patio door to rush her excited little body outside, she blasted off the deck and squatted. Standard procedure is that I drag her off and force her into the yard. She had clearly been holding a full bladder and knew exactly where to get rid of it. What a good, good puppy. We had about an hour of playtime and then she slept from 1 until waking up at 5:30, again with a dry kennel. Knocking on wood here, but I think we've turned a corner.
Oh, and as predicted, her weight yesterday was 12.2 pounds, up from the 11 on Friday.
Things I Love About Ruby:
- Her puppy breath.
- That she is already completely devoted to me.
- Her ferocious tug-o-war growl with the stuffed snake.
- How she folds up like a lawn chair when its time to sleep, usually on top of my feet.
- All her ADHD tendencies. "Look, a ball! Ooh, wait, a stuffed snake!! Slipper!! I'm tired...no I'm not, rawhide! KITTY!!!"
- The way she looks at me adoringly. I am the greatest human in the world to her right now. That's pretty awesome.
- Her sassy bark when she gets scolded that sounds just like Chewbacca.
- The way I have to pull-start her to take a walk.
More later. Ruby sleeps...breakfast is calling.
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