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!