Belly Rub

Cute video. This is how she goes down the stairs when her belly itches. Either that or she doesn't know what to do with her back legs.

Randomness

At her vet check this morning, Ruby was 29.5 pounds. That's triple the weight she was when I brought her home 44 days ago. Wow.

There are some advantages to winter. For example...frozen, vs muddy, backyard. Some things you learn the hard way. After one of the most stressful workdays I've had in recent memory, I got to come home and spend 20 minutes scrubbing the muddy pawprints out of the family room carpet. That Ruby somehow created in less than a minute.

Vet says Ruby has a broken canine tooth. I actually thought ALL her teeth were canine teeth. That doesn't really narrow it down.

We went to the dog park after the vet. Our dog park is on the west edge of town with nothing to break the bitter wind. We didn't stay long, but will hope to go back soon when it warms up. Both dogs ran around for a few minutes, but I was not dressed for subzero temps so we left.

When she runs through the house, it sounds like a pony or a baby elephant. At 30 pounds. What will it sound like when she's tripled THIS weight?

I have to convince the boys in my family (you know who you are) that sneaking up and scaring Ruby is unacceptable. The big boy did it last week, scaring her to the point that she peed AND pooped and then wouldn't come to him right away. Then the younger boy did it this morning with similar results. What is fun about scaring a puppy?? I don't get it. But STOP!

Despite the scaring incident, Allan is the best caretaker of Ruby when I'm not home. He must have picked up Pack Leader qualities from all those years in Scouting because she listens to him, she doesn't bite if he tells her to stop, and he remembers to get her outside on a regular basis so no accidents. For a kid who sometimes can't remember to put on his shoes, this is surprising to me. He, and possibly a friend, are spending the day here tomorrow to watch the dogs while K & I go to Chicago. I hope the video games don't distract from the puppy needs. But it won't be my mess to clean up if they do.

Ruby FINALLY saw the squirrels this morning. Her reaction is to watch with curiosity. I think she wants to play. As soon as Sophie realizes what has Ruby's attention though, it's all over. The bulldog doesn't want to PLAY with the squirrels, she wants them to die. And she hits the door with enough furious growling and barking to send Freddy Krueger packing. But the squirrels will be back. They always are. Something about the big bowl of squirrel kibble that we keep at the back door that is enticing.

Discovering the advantages of her ever-growing height keeps us on our toes all the time. This morning she chewed up a sponge that was on a table. She can now get on all the furniture and does until she gets caught. She can easily put her feet up on the bar-height dining room chairs and her nose is at the edge of the table. Of course the only reason she does that is because the cat takes cover on those chairs. That perch won't work for long.

My uber-stressful day at work gave way to a very restless night of sleep. Now that Ruby is napping, I may do the same. Who cares if it's 10am? It's my day off. I deserve a little shut-eye.

Notes To Self...

• Bulldogs make great chairs.


• Let her be a lap dog as long as possible. It just doesn't last long enough.


• I'VE apparently been missing out all these years by not grabbing the toilet paper and running across the bathroom with it. I'll have to try that. Every chance I get.


• Purchase larger rawhide chewies. She can consume the little ones now in about 2 minutes. Its remarkable.


• Next time I'M out of water, I should frantically scratch at the empty glass until someone refills it. Because that's the best way to tell humans you're thirsty.


• When Ruby's bed has a small tear in the seam, stitch it up IMMEDIATELY or suffer the consequences.


• Get down the stairs completely before the puppy, or completely after. Never try to go down together.


• Puppy + cat = endless entertainment value.


• My fingers look just like those little rawhide chewies. Ouch.


• Never underestimate the value of unconditional puppy love and adoration. It can brighten even the darkest day.

Ruby has gone from sleeping through the night and allowing me to do the same, to needing a potty break. After several nights of seeing 3am, I decided she was drinking too much water in the evenings. Last night I confiscated the water bowl around 8 and got to sleep from 10 until 5:30. What a treat! Sleep deprivation is my excuse for not updating the blog all week.

Growth is steady. I think the last time I weighed her, earlier in the week, she was about 26 pounds. But its getting hard to weigh her at home these days. She's a lot of dog to hold on to. Not so much the 26 pounds, but the amount of legs that are part of that. She's all legs and feet right now and rather cumbersome to hold on to. Plus I can't see the number on the scales when I'm holding her anymore. She has consistently gained about 2 inches in height every week. Two days ago she ripped the measuring chart off the wall. So...yeah.

My AKC Puppy book says between 3 and 4 months is when puppies start teething. That was obvious this week. It seems she can't keep her teeth off A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G. There must be a half dozen chewies in every corner of this house and she still needs to chew on all sorts of things. Firewood. The corner of a kitchen cabinet. Rugs. Shoes. The cat.

A word about the cat. Lest any of you feel sorry for the rotten little furball, let me be perfectly clear. ZAMBONI DESERVES EVERYTHING HE GETS. If Ruby fails to pay attention to him, he will create a scene to get her attention. He attacks her when she's in 'training' with me and being told to SIT and WAIT. The nightly drive-by is not an accident, it is a way to get Ruby to chase him when she's tired and ready for bed. So that he can screech like he's being slaughtered when she catches him, or even comes CLOSE to catching him. He's a total drama queen. Zam pesters Ruby like an annoying little brother. Don't feel sorry for him.

Most of the week really did seem to be spent taking stuff out of Ruby's mouth and yelling NO NO over and over again. I'M even tired of me saying it.

It's one thing when she gets in trouble from me, but just a little while ago, Ruby got in trouble with the big dog, the queen bee, the big sister. It was HER turn to be the pesty annoying one and Sophie had just about all she could take. She, ahem, 'gently corrected Ruby's persistence.' I witnessed the whole thing and Sophie had every right to say ENOUGH. But Ruby's reaction was so cute, I had to take this picture. 'I'm a bad dog.'

I'm wondering if I'll ever get my lunches back. I don't know at what age/size/maturity Ruby can stay in her kennel for what amounts to 8 hours. She's not there yet, so I'm trying to stretch her mornings. I've been leaving my desk around 10:45, which puts me back at work after letting her out and feeding her, by 11:15. This I do because I still get an awesome parking spot that way. :) I'm going to have to let go of my need for primo parking, though. On Thursday, a meeting kept me at work until 11:30 and she did just fine. I had to park in an outer lot when I returned at noon, but it wasn't that bad.

We had a project to tackle Tuesday night and Ruby was SO helpful (please note intense sarcasm). We installed the new dishwasher that we bought over the weekend. The following pictures speak for themselves.





And finally, I had to include the above picture. Explanation might be needed, but I'm not going to give one. Please feel free to make up your own captions.

Sleepy Puppy

After having her first official puppy TIME OUT tonight for chewing up a random scrapbook page, Ruby and I were making up. She was in full-on snuggle mode and so sweet. How could I have been so mad at her?

Cat vs Dog

I had to share...

He's pinned!!!!


He escapes!!!!

He's trapped!!!

He's pissed!!!!

He retaliates!!! If there was sound with this picture you would hear the dramatic squeals of Ruby (yes, that's her ear the cat has in his teeth - ECU below).

One ear is now longer than the other.

Cat - 1
Dog - 0

Ruby Long Legs

First, and most importantly, the puppy is sleeping all night, almost every night. Sweet, blissful, sleep. Finally!

It has been a fun week with Ruby. One where she's getting more and more comfortable with her surroundings and the routine around here. Kevin was gone for the week and Tuesday was a snow day (for the kids) and the latter messed her potty routine up for a day, but she recovered nicely. Unlike the bulldog, Ruby was oblivious to the fact that Kevin was gone, even when he came home.

I would have happily splashed an A+ on the potty report for this week, but Ruby decided to keep us on our toes and somehow, sometime after school and before 8:30 Friday, she peed on the carpet in the front living room. She had been out multiple times, so I have no idea why, other than she doesn't want me to get too comfortable.

We have identified Ruby's favorite toy on the planet. It's name is Zamboni and it is 100% feline, with the quirky cattitude to prove it. Zam never gets far from Ruby, but then runs away and squeals like he's getting stabbed when Ruby catches him. See, Zam's been conditioned to base his reaction time to the speed of a bulldog. He doesn't quite know what to do with the speed of this puppy. We've always laughed that in a footrace, Sophie beats (or at least can catch) Zam in the straights, but Zam wins in the curves. Bulldogs CANNOT corner at high speeds. Great Dane puppy's however, can corner, weave, jump, belly crawl, have amazing speed through the house and they are persistent like no other. If Zam wants to get away, he simply finds a place to go UP. But the day will come when 'up' is going to have to get a LOT higher than the back of the couch or the dining room chairs that he's using now. I'm not sure what will be high enough to be a safe zone. It is entertaining to watch, and Zam hasn't left us a 'Dear Owners' letter and packed his bag. I think they will be good playmates.

Sophie was very out of sorts because Kevin was gone. She's always like that, but this was the first time since she had an annoying puppy climbing all over her. She got very snarky a couple of times, going after her once Monday night from across the room, completely unprovoked. She earned herself a time out in her kennel for that one. I've seen Ruby be completely annoying and deserve for Sophie to put her in her place, but that instance was out of line. Sophie was better after and now that the Dad is home, she's her sweet, lazy self.

As far as growth, yesterday's scales put Ruby at 22.4, so up about 2 1/2 for the week. I'm very happy with her slow growth and I credit the decision to not feed puppy food with making that happy. She has eaten Iams Proactive Large Breed Adult since the day she came home. Dr Burk agreed and is very happy that her growth is as slow as it is too. For those who don't know, a giant breed puppy (as she is considered) that grows very rapidly is at a higher risk of improper bone development and future problems like hip dysplasia, breaks, and arthritis as she ages. I toiled over the decision before she came home, talked with the vet, and did loads of Internet research, so I'm very happy it seems to be paying off. She is up to about 2 1/4 cups a day, spread over four feedings.

I believe the appropriate caption to this picture is 'Na-na-na-na-na-naaaa.' Cracks me up. Where she's growing the most right now seems to be in height, easily two inches per week. And in the size of her hoves, um, er, FEET. She is almost exactly the same height as Sophie now. I know that's not saying a whole lot, unless you go back and compare the pictures from when she came home just a little over a month ago to how they look together now. The first week one of her favorite games was to belly crawl under the bulldog. If she tried that now, it would undoubtedly turn out like the coffeetable incident. The other thing that has grown disproportionately this week is her ears. I guess she'll grow into them. But right now, they're kind of long and silly.

Ruby has also developed a love for chewies. Well, check that, Ruby has also developed a love for SOPHIE's chewies. We have never gotten rawhide for Sophie very often because she unties them, gets them soft and slimey, tries to swallow them, and pukes all over the floor. Sophie has stolen Ruby's small knotted chewies several times and can destroy one in about 5 minutes. So we took both dogs to Petco Thursday night and got Sophie one of her own. A giant one, to see how she did with it. It lasted longer than I thought, only because Sophie still seems to want Ruby's small bones and Ruby can't leave the big one alone. So fine, dogs. Switch. I don't even care anymore.

The list of behavior issues for the week is pretty small. My biggest pet peeve is that this puppy will not come down the stairs without being dragged. At 4:45 am, I'm not really in any mood to discuss it. If I leave her sitting there, knowing her bladder is overflowing, I run the risk of having to clean up pee at 4:45 am. And I KNOW I don't want to start my day like that. I can't figure out if the standoff is a game, fear, or if she wants me to carry her down like I did when she was smaller. Spoiled puppy. She eventually comes, but usually only after I pull-start her.

I tore up the last downstairs room to be painted on Tuesday, or the kids did on their snowday for me, so that was a real treat. Somebody's puppy was out of control spazzing around the room and managed to roll into the wall where I had JUST finished painting around 9pm. So SOMEBODY got a bath. I didn't even think to take a picture, but she had red paint all over her butt. Dork. She also chewed up the blue tape sometime. It's awesome to only get pieces of tape 10 inches long. That makes taping such a treat. She got a paintbrush once, but I got it away from her (and it was clean). Mostly she's just been enjoying the mess of things stacked up. All sorts of off-limits things that are suddenly on her level. Good times.



That's all for now. Wish I had the time to post more often. Thanks for reading though!

21 Days

They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. Whether it is a good one, like exercising regularly, or giving up cigarettes, or a bad one like not making the bed every day. Regardless of the effort or lack thereof, as you repeat the same actions over and over, a path gets trampled in the neurons of your brain, until it is so well-traveled that you head down that path without effort.

Training a puppy is all about habits. Ruby has been here a little more than those 21 days, 25 to be exact. I guess it's because of this that I'm starting to see some definite progress in the area of habits being formed. With 87%-96% accuracy, she will now:

• Sit on command. Without expecting a treat.
• Go straight outside during her nighttime potty break.
• Never jump up on people. Cute at 20 pounds. Not so much at 150.
• Chase the cat on command.
• Eat out of her food bowl only.
• Shake hands or high-five anyone.
• Go back to her kennel after the nighttime potty break, walk around the door instead of running into it, and go right back to sleep. The nighttime yipping and whining days are over.
• Stop WHATEVER she's doing if anyone yells 'NO-NO.' Doesn't mean she doesn't try whatever she was doing again, 30 seconds later, but it's a start.
• Respond to her name.
• Sit quietly at her kennel door to get out while I'm opening it. The whole dramatic scractching at the door and yelping hysterically thing is over. Thankfully.

There are plenty of things we're still working on that seem to have recently become bad habits. Among those:

• Laying on the kitchen rug if I'm cooking. I mean I'm glad she loves me, but I'm tired of tripping over her.
• Taking shoes off the rug by the back door. It is winter, we have to take wet dirty shoes off at the door. To Ruby, they are just new chew toys every day. I wish we had another place to put them.
• Telling all of us when she needs to go out. She's getting better. If I ask, and she has to go, she will usually head toward the door. But that path isn't trampled down yet in her little brain. I think it's just that SHE doesn't recognize the urge to go potty yet. But accidents in the house were almost non existent this week (one that I can think of) and she goes every time we take her out. I give her an A for the potty report.
• On the subject of potty time, she does not go in her kennel anymore. At all. Yeah!
• Fetching could use some work. Like all puppies, she's great at the chasing. Not so much at the bringing back.
• Ruby's success at catching things in her mouth is hovering right around 0%. I don't know how you train a dog to do that if it isn't instinctive. Everything from treats to toys bounces right off her head.
• She's a little timid around people outside of this house. She warms up quickly, but every new person causes her to back up and assess. Even Dr. Burk, her vet. We need to work on this. Superbowl party today will help.
• Chewing on firewood. She can't resist it for some strange reason.

In other puppy news...she went to the vet Friday and got some shots, and a heartworm pill. She was officially 19.7 pounds and pronounced very healthy. Dr Burk is happy with her growth rate and the amount of food she's currently eating. He gave me some math to do so I know how much food to give her as she gets bigger. So that'll be fun.

All for now. Ruby is going back to bed, and so am I.

BREAKTHROUGH!!!

This morning, I asked Ruby if she needed to go out...and she went to the back door and sat down.

**sniff**

It's happening...it's REALLY happening!

My Week. By: Ruby Sue Wisniewski.

Weird things are going on around here. It's like the whole world is shrinking. Monday evening, I went under the coffee table, like I ALWAYS do, and I almost couldn't get out. Four days later, I squeezed under the shrinking coffee table and I couldn't get out at ALL. The Mom had to pick it up to get me out. I sure do like her.

Then, one night, damned if the same thing didn't happen, this time under the humans' bed. See, I like to wake the Mom up at all hours (so I can pee outside and not get yelled at for peeing inside). To get to the door, it's fun to belly-crawl under their bed. But at 3am Sunday, I got stuck and the Mom had to pull me out. She was LAUGHING! At ME!!

The other thing that keeps shrinking is my collar. They (humans) made it bigger on Tuesday night because it was choking me. And then tonight, after my bath, the Mom made it bigger again. I guess I'll need a new one very soon, because it was on the last hole.


At the beginning of the week, I was hungry ALL THE TIME. I spoke very clear Doglish, really loudly all night Monday, but nobody would listen. Finally, the Mom figured it out (only when I started licking my food container in the middle of the night)and has since been feeding me much more. Now I just poop a lot.

I go to the vet in the morning to see how much I weigh and maybe get a shot (not sure what that is, but it sounds like fun!). Mom picks me up everyday and groans that I'm getting heavier. When she weighed me, it was around 17 pounds. So I'm not growing THAT fast, which is good. Gives my bones time to grow the right way. Because I got TWO INCHES TALLER last week. The vet will look me over, and then I get to watch him poke at the cat. He's going with because it's convenient. He gets to do shots too. So it'll be like a party!

Speaking of the cat, I think he really likes me. He's ALWAYS hanging around, but usually just out of my reach. I can totally outrun him though, so I suppose it makes it a bit more challenging. Because if he were on the ground all the time, I would never let him sleep. What he DOESN'T like, is when I get him cornered, or pinned. He hits with his front paws, but he kicks the heck out of me with the back ones.

I love playtime with the big dog at night. It doesn't last very long, but she's fun. Every once in a while, I get stuck on her back and she spins around. Mom calls it a Bulldog Ride. What the big dog doesn't like, is when I get close to her food. I won't do THAT again.

I really like the kids in the this house. Very confused though that they left and didn't come back. I miss them. The boy came back yesterday and hung out with me for a couple of hours. He has awesome chew toys all over his floor. Cords, cables, clothes, shoes, tissues, school papers. Pretty much everything a dog could want to destroy is right there! I think he's super-cool because of that.

I sleep pretty well these days. But I still have to pee usually twice each night. I'm tired of listening to the Mom whining about that. It's not like I can HELP it.

I like to rub my belly and stretch out my legs when I go down the stairs. It just feels good.


I get in trouble kind of a lot. For taking laundry, for sometimes peeing on the floor (but not very often anymore...I'm getting better!), for barking at the hair dryer at 5am, for taking shoes out of the closet and running away with them. Also, for trying to climb on the 'good' furniture, for getting the toilet paper and running with it, for being stubborn about going outside at night, for peeing on the deck because I'm too lazy to walk to the grass, and some other stuff. Like this picture of me chewing on some woodwork. Just because it was there. I can't explain it. I'm a puppy.

For the most part, I dig it here. There's almost always someone to play with. They feed me well, and I get tons of love and kisses. The Mom just adores me.

I think I'll stay.