Happy New Year!

Pouting because the blanket doesn't allow her to bury toys.

Surviving the holidays is always good. Surviving it without being financially ruined and still able to button my jeans is a solid win. Surviving with no Christmas casualties as a result of the wonder dog is a downright miracle.

Props to Ruby for being on her best behavior for MOST of the holiday festivities. No, REALLY. Cookies cooled on the counter and she obediently did NOT help herself. Tempting sparkly decorations draped every surface and she simply observed. Wrapped packages, which must have been almost impossible to ignore, stayed wrapped. People came to the house and as long as she stayed on leash for a brief time and everyone gave her a treat, she was more than happy to mingle with the humans. She was unbelieveably well-behaved.

Well there was that ONE incident at her cousin Murphy's house in Wisconsin. There were no signs in the yard as to where the facilities were and Ruby has a hard time deciding where to poo anyway. So she waited until she was in the house and then left a lovely present on Aunt Pam's basement floor. But that was really just a case of being in unfamiliar territory after a 3-hour car ride. An isolated incident.

Some fun pictures from the holiday below:

 

What? It's comfortable.

 

Must. Stuff. New. Toy. Under. Couch.

   

Is there something in here for me?



Yummmm...bows.



PAY ATTENTION TO THE DOG. NOW.



I love you Sophie! I love YOU Ruby!!



DIRTY TRICK DIRTY TRICK!!!







A significant change in Ruby's eating habits have my scratching my head a little. I guess its just her growing up. But the dog that was once such a gobbler, such an inhaler of food that I had to resort to the bowl-in-a-bowl trick so she didn't puke it all up, is suddenly a grazer. I suppose it changed when we started leaving her out during the day. Maybe she realizes she can eat whenever she wants now. But I fill her bowl in the morning and most days, a considerable amount of food is still there at 4:30 when we come home. She finishes it then, as if it would be wrong to eat without an audience. And then I fill it back up at 5:30. She will graze throughout the evening, and then usually finishes it off right before bed. Nice that she's self-regulating. Some days she hasn't finished it, so I'm cutting back on the amount a little bit. Five cups a day rather than six. Still five times as much as Sophie eats. But Ruby still has lots of growing to do.



Unfortunately, I can't report that her injury is completely gone. Though we do feel it is somewhat better. She hadn't had any moments of intense pain for a couple of weeks. Until the visit to cousin Murphy's house. Not letting Ruby play seemed cruel so we just let them go at it. A couple of times, she yelped in pain and we tried putting her in her kennel, but then she was completely stressed because she could hear all the activity. We decided to play it safe and she slept in her kennel in the spare bedroom with us. At 4:45 she woke us up with a screeching, pained yelping. An alarm clock that wouldn't stop. We quickly got her out of the kennel. Seemed she must have just turned wrong on whatever hurts. For the next few hours she was happy to sleep on the bed with us.

Since then, she still favors her right side, but will still run and play or wrestle with Sophie whenever she has the opportunity. We've decided its a combination of having a slight injury...and being a gigantic sissy. We've isolated the pain to her shoulderblade, but nothing bone-related. Just a strain or a sprain probably and we can't do anything for it anyway. So she will heal on her own.

She still hasn't been back to camp, however the fact that I sit here surrounded by a half-demolished kitchen means she will probably be spending some time there the next couple of weeks. We have hung sheets of plastic to contain the dust, but if Ruby can peek under a piece of plastic, she feels an intense need to go through it. This will be interesting. How many drywall crumbs can a Great Dane consume before her stomach rejects it? We shall soon find out.

One change in all this construction that makes Ruby a very happy dog is that we had to do some rearranging of furniture, and moved her two favorite chairs to the bedroom. So even though I broke down and bought her a nice new VERY BIG VERY FLUFFY bed last weekend, she has spent the last few nights curled up and wedged into one of the chairs. She did lose her view out the front picture window though and she can't be happy about that during the day. The pub-height dining room table is in front of her window during construction. We half expected to see her standing on top of it that first day, standing guard for us to return home. But she has so far stayed on the floor...or the blanket-covered couch.

That's all for now.

Favorite picture. Having been in trouble most of the evening, Ruby finally gave up her quest for undivided attention from...everyone. Good thing the cuteness factor always pays off.