Street Legal

It has been a busy week again. I'm trying to get Ruby to last all day even without the kids home. If you've read the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day post, you'll see that isn't working. The kids are on spring break this week and at home, so Ruby will get lots of extra attention and I'll still get lunches. After that, we'll reassess the timing of all this.

Her ever-growing body continues to be a surprise to her. She still insists on cutting through the railing from the living room to the kitchen. The spindles have to spread apart by a good inch for her to fit her hips through, but she refuses to go around. Waiting for the day when we have to cut her out of the railing. THAT will be on video, I promise. She still thinks she's a lap dog and it really is getting hard to breathe when she's on my lap. I just love snuggling with her though. She now walks over the top of Sophie on a regular basis. And sometimes stops to take a rest while she's there. That's why we call her the Sopha. Because now she is one.

Growth continues to be steady. A visit to the vet yesterday had her at 38.8 pounds. She looks to be close to 21 inches tall. Her feet and legs seem to out-pace the growth everywhere else. I don't think we'll be shopping in petites for her. She had the last of her shots, including her rabies vaccination so she got her tag. She's officially licensed and street legal in the state of Illinois. Unfortunately, the shots gave her terrible diarrhea last night. But on the plus side, she must have learned more than I sometimes think she has, because she woke us up when she needed to go out. It was annoying the first couple of times, until I realized why she was so desperate. I'll get up and let her out 10 times if it means I don't have to clean up runny poop in the middle of the night! GOOD DOG!!

The weather has been awesome for walks. I take her out for about 15-20 minutes in the morning (4:45 am). Kevin lets her out when he gets home at 3:30, and then when I get home an hour later, I take her for at least an hour-long walk. She really enjoys the walks and for the most part, meeting other dogs and people. The only thing she seems to have issues with are things with wheels. Bikes, strollers, roller-blades...all freak her out on the trail. But it is nice to see her more social with living things.

Speaking of living things, she discovered something about the cat that she had either never tried, or just never noticed before. I think the video speaks for itself.

I took her and Sophie to the dog park Thursday afternoon. The weather was beautiful and there must have been 50 dogs there. Ruby wasn't timid at all about the people or the dogs. Sophie acted like a kid dropped off at the mall and just bolted to go socialize. I had to hunt her down to leave. Ruby stayed pretty close to me and the first dog we couldn't miss was a big Dane named Major. He was all black, about 150 pounds, and Ruby seemed to take to him like a big brother. It's weird. Like she knows her own kind. She wasn't really interested in socializing after that, just hung out with Major. I didn't get a picture of her sitting under him because every time I'd back away she would follow me (seems Mom trumps Major). She had a great time there. Ended up getting rolled in the mud by some spazzing yellow lab, but that's just a hazard of the dog park.

I picked up my new car right before the dog park and used that trip to try out having both dogs in it. Sophie I wasn't worried about of course, but Ruby hates not being right next to me at all times. So I tethered her to one of the tie-downs in the way back. I had a blanket in there and a chewie and a toy. And the ride is only about 15-20 minutes. What could possibly go wrong? Ruby was fine, but about 5 minutes from home I heard the unmistakable sounds of Puke-Thirty from Sophie. That's right. Had the car less than two hours, and Sophie barfed in it. She could have hit the blanket, which of course was my hope. And she did, but only about half. So the floor mat got hosed down on day one. But all is well. It won't be the last time I have to do some deep cleaning because of dogs. I know what I signed up for.

Off to take Ruby for a long walk. The weather has decided to take a turn and our 65 degrees from yesterday has turned to 30 degrees this morning. We're lucky to be missing the snow that some folks are getting today. It will be spring again by Monday, so I'm not worried.