Me & Ruby

And an oldie but a goodie.

DOGGIE DAYCARE HANGOVER

Without a doubt, Ruby is nursing a major daycare hangover tonight. I dropped her off at Paradise Pets at 6:20am. She was very excited to learn that the pool is already open for the season. While I don't know exactly what she did all day, I know it involved playing with a variety of dogs, climbing in the playhouse, and NOT napping (just a guess).

The normal end-of-day greeting I get is something like this:

"HEY WANNA PLAY!?"
"WANNA GO FOR A WALK!?"
"I LOVE YOU!!!"
"LETS RUN!"
"OH A SOCK!"
"KITTY!!!!!"
"ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T WANNA PLAY???!"
"I LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!!"



Today, I got:

" 'sup. "



For the peace around this house tonight, that was well worth $15.

Enjoy the rest of your Mondays this week. ;)

Ruby has stayed largely out of trouble this week. Well...except for the muddy paws...and the peeing (just once)...and the roaming the neighbors' yards...oh and that whole incident with the bananas. Sigh. Life with a giant puppy does keep me on my toes.

They say that as dogs get more comfortable with their surroundings, they are likely to start expanding their boundaries. Ruby is definitely living up to that theory as we spend more time outside and she pushes the boundaries on a daily basis. So far she comes back every time, but her ability to be out of vocal range increases every day. On a dead run, this dog can cover some ground in a hurry. Because of that we will be installing a 6' fence in the backyard, as soon as finances allow. That project will make life a lot easier for everyone.

Last weekend we took full advantage of the good weather and did some hard manual labor in the back. Ruby 'helped' as much as possible. Part of our project was removing a line of shrubs that left behind a giant patch of dirt. It took Ruby about 27 seconds to find it and earn herself a second bath for the day. And Sophie fell into the 'let's play in the dirt' trap and had to have two baths in the same day as well. Ruby doesn't mind the bath so much. But for Sophie, a bath is torture. That's what she get's for following the dorky puppy's lead.


I've probably relayed this before, but Ruby has NO ability to catch. Not a ball, a piece of popcorn, or a scooby snack. And now, I have proof (this 'training session' had been going on for about 30 minutes):



The puppy tooth fairy has been very busy here this week. I think Ruby lost at least 3 teeth in one day, always while chewing on something or in a tug-o-war with big sister Sophie. She keeps it up, she'll be gumming her food.

Her growth is steady. We haven't been to the vet (knocking on wood) for several weeks, so no official measurements, but Kevin got on the scales with her this weekend and came up with just over 50 pounds. She is 26" to her collar on my unofficial measuring wall. It's worth noting that 18" of that is leg. When I invite her to jump on me and stand on her hind legs, her head comes almost to my chin.

Big change this week. Starting tomorrow, Ruby is going to spend a couple of days a week (on non-kid weeks) at doggy day care. I know it sounds silly to some, but I think it will be good for everyone. Especially her. She gets to run and play with dozens of other dogs from 6:30am until 4:30pm. They have an in-ground swimming pool, will feed her lunch, and she'll get endless attention. And there's no committment, so I can take her every day, once a week, or once a month. I'm thinking we'll start with M/W and see how it goes. We'll be taking a summer vacation with the kids in July and she and Sophie will both have to go to 'camp' for 8 days. This will help her get used to the place.

Oh yeah...bananas. When left to her own devices for what couldn't have been more than 4 minutes one night this week, Ruby did some counter-surfing and ate a bunch of bananas. Dogs don't eat fruit. Apparently she missed a memo.

That's all for now.

Ray Charles said it best...

On my Sinatra playlist, courtesy of Pandora, this morning, I heard a song for the first time. I know Ray Charles wasn't singing to my unruly puppy, but the song still fits!


They say, Ruby you're like a dream
Not always what you seem
And though my heart may break when I awake
Let it be so, I only know
Ruby, it's you

They say, Ruby you're like a song
You just don't know right from wrong
And in your eyes I see heartaches for me
Right from the start, who stole my heart?
Ruby, it's you

I hear your voice and I must come to you (must come to you)
I have no choice, so what else can I do ? (what else can I do?)

They say, Ruby you're like a flame
Into my life you came
And though I should beware, still I just don't care
You thrill me so, I only know
Ruby, it's you...

Is there a puppy tooth fairy??

In a fierce battle of wills (definitely not wits) tonight, one of the dogs came up bloody. Surprises me that it hasn't happened before, considering how viscious things can get. Of course it was on the carpet and OF COURSE it was Ruby.

I know she's been losing some baby teeth. But fairly certain one of the two she lost in her epic battle over the rope pull toy was not ready to come out yet. Not judging by the amount of gum tissue that remained on it. We quickly got her off the carpet and I tackled her to check her out. She's fine, just bloody. It must not hurt as much as it looked, because she couldn't wait to get her remaining teeth on the same blood-stained rope toy we had just wrenched from her jaws.

Sparing both my readers close-ups of the bloody tooth.

You're welcome. :)

Spring

I realized recently just how many things were new to Ruby. Having been born in the bowels of winter, there are so many things she has truly never seen before. She did her business on the last patch of snow to linger in the yard until it was gone. Because she had never been able to pee anywhere but on snow. We've long-since conquered grass, but there remain many new adventures for any living creature who has only been alive for 5 months. Among them, butterflies, lawn mowers, bumblebees, etc.

Ruby has five general reactions to everything in her life. Well, six, but I left out 'Yawn And Resume Sleeping.' The chart below outlines those reactions and a sampling of items that trigger them.

Those readers who know me well will not question the time spent to make an Excel spreadsheet and pie chart. You guys GET me. To the others. 'No, I'm not crazy.' Click for a close up view.




We took a giant leap of faith late last week and moved Ruby's kennel downstairs so she has more room during the day. That's not the leap, however. The leap is that she now is free of constraints at night. The bedroom door has to be open enough that the cat can come and go. Ruby was TOLD to stay on her bed, but the first few nights, she took full advantage of the open door and went on a late-night tour of the house.

"To your right, you'll see the kids' bathroom. Feel free to pull all the trash out of the trash can and spread it from one end of the hall to the other. Downstairs, and to your left, just over the baby gate, is your midnight snack of cat excrement and feline food. Please, take all you want. It is served buffet style. Back to your room now...I hope you've enjoyed your tour."

So, yeah. Leap of faith. Once the initial freedom wore off and she spent a couple of nights tethered by leash to the end of the bed, she settled into the new routine just fine. But the change has cause us to do a little rearranging. The baby gate is being passed on to people with an actual baby, because it is no match for Leapy McLeapy who can clear it without making a sound. That meant we had to find a new home for the cat box and cat food. See video below for brilliant solution.

Humans - 1, Puppy - 0



We are enjoying having a guest bath again. For those of you who kindly stepped over the gate (or through it...you know who you are;) ), we appreciate your understanding.

It is time for Ruby to get a nail trim and bath. Then on to some yardwork. Have a great weekend everyone!

Walking With Cleofatra

Ruby is used to our morning walks. BEFORE the crack of dawn, we go around the block, takes about 10 minutes, she gets all of her business done and I get to work on time. Kevin is gone for a couple of days this week, so I need to manage Sophie, a.k.a. Cleofatra/SoFat/Fatdog in the mornings as well as Ruby. I decided to invite Cleofatra along for our walk this morning, because I HAD extra time. Our brisk morning walk turned into a slow walk/stop/beg, and me rolling into work 10 minutes late.

My head was apparently not on straight or I would have never invited her, nor would I have decided to forgo the leash. I know she doesn’t NEED it, it’s not like she would go anywhere, but I should have remembered that she needs the occasional pull-start to exercise. We got across the street the first time she stopped. Then we got two houses down. Then we got to the corner. And the next corner. Each time, she looks back toward the house, or ‘promised land’, and then at me as if to say ‘Are you out of your MIND? You do this EVERY DAY??’

The opposite side of the block ALONE took ten whole minutes and four treats to get her from one end to the other. At the point when we turned toward home, when Ruby typically takes off for the driveway, Sophie picked up the pace to an actual walk instead of a trudge. She collapsed in her kennel and I had to coax her out to eat her breakfast. She couldn’t get back to sleep fast enough.

So lesson learned, don’t try to walk a bulldog. Especially not at 5:30 am.

In other news, Ruby’s choker paid off in spades this morning. One of the many times I was begging Sophie to keep up with us, Ruby took off after what I assume is a very hungover Easter Bunny. I didn’t feel the flexi releasing and by the time I turned my head to the left, she was at the end of the leash. I nearly lost my footing and my right arm, but when she hit the end, she was in the shadows in someone’s side yard and all I heard was a very painful yelp. I’m sure it’s wrong that I felt a twinge of satisfaction at the sounds of my dog in pain. My goal is to make sure she associates the consequences of that device with her own behavior and not with the person walking her. She’s catching on. Without the choker, I’ve no doubt I would have made a divot in the neighbor’s yard.

All for now.

Poop Soup

The week started out a little rough. Ruby started having tummy trouble again. We initially blamed it on the fact that she may have gotten into Murphy's food, but found out later there was another, more likely culprit. She started waking me up about every 2 hours at night. And as I've said before, if she's got to go, I'd much rather have her wake me up than have a mess to clean up. So Sunday night, up 3 times. Each time she has diarrhea. Monday I came home at lunch and she had a relatively normal poop. Walked Monday night and she had one normal poop, and then another poop soup. I figured it was just residual from eating food she wasn't used to.

Monday night, I was exhausted. She woke me up twice and through the front door and my blurry non-corrected vision, I couldn't tell with certainty what she was doing. Pee? Poop? Pretty sure I saw her chase a leaf the second time so I made a near-fatal error in judgment and decided she was sleeping in Sophie's kennel in the living room and I wasn't getting up again. I heard her once more, but ignored her and went back to sleep. In hindsight, getting up for another 5 minutes would have made for such a better start to the day.

The smell hit me when I got to the bottom of the stairs. I was ready for work with a pair of open-toed shoes on, the dog was excited and stressed all at the same time, there was poop soup coating the bottom of the kennel and the bed that's in it, some had slopped over the edges and onto the carpet, and it was 5:15am. Awesome.

Cleanup was not easy, as we discovered that every garden hose on the property squirts water in every direction except the correct one (I don't know how that happened). My banging around woke up Kevin so he got up to help. Ruby, while obviously not in trouble, THINKS she's in trouble and she's covered in poo so she's outside nervously running laps around the house. Inside, I managed to get the carpet clean. It could have been so much worse but most of it stayed in the kennel. We finally get a hose to work (this required tools...I'm not even kidding) and the sludge cleaned up outside about 5:45. Then Kevin muscles the dog (no with dried poop on her) to the bathtub and gives her a quick bath. We get all the cleanup done and Kevin is headed back upstairs when he looks in the front living room and sees another pile of poop soup. Must have been from the night before and neither of us saw or smelled it. So a second round of carpet cleaning and I get to work only about 10 minutes late. Not bad, considering the morning.

I made an appointment with the vet as soon as they opened and Ruby was there by 8:15. This was obviously more than getting a few mouthfuls of different food. Kevin's theory was that Ruby had picked up something from licking the floor drain in the basement. Something she's been obsessed with over the last couple of weeks and got into again a few days before the poop soup started. We think there was some sort of small backup when things were really wet. Although there was never anything visible, it smelled for a couple of days and she wouldn't stop licking it. We cleaned it with bleach and she still wouldn't leave it alone. We may never know if that was it or not, but Dr Burk examined a sample (easily found) and gave her some doggie immodium, first in a shot, then in pills to take for a couple of weeks. That afternoon she was still loose, but by night time she was all good.

Poor puppy. We were sleep-deprived. She was sleep-deprived and felt terrible, though she never showed it. Since then shes been fine, back to a regular schedule and even sleeping out of her kennel at night. This is becoming a necessity because she's getting close to not fitting in Sophie's kennel during the day. I'm going to move her giant kennel downstairs today so she has more room to stretch out during the workweek. This is how she woke up the rest of the week. So cute.


Other than poop, we had a pretty good week. Weather is nice, so lots of long walks. At the vet Tuesday, she was 42 pounds and on my self-made height chart, she has exceeded two pieces of paper end-to-end. So she's at least 22 inches tall at the shoulder. When we walk, she can reach up and lick my fingers easily now.

Last night on our walk, we stopped to play with Duke again. He is the sweetest boy. Dad (Greg) said he was 152 pounds at his yearly visit this week. They love to play.



We are trading out our almost 30-year-old jacuzzi tub on the deck for a newer model. Ruby has been overly curious about the space under the deck and twice has gone under there and nearly gotten stuck. Mostly in an effort to be right next to me when I'm working on it. I wonder if she'll get in the new one when it is all settled and filled up?