This weekend was different in many ways from last weekend, and the past 11 months of Jackie and I living together. This marks the end of the first week with Ruby living in our apartment, and as part of our family. Last weekend was crazy, adjusting to a new dog in the apartment was a challenge. But in this week we have changed and adjusted to better the life of Ruby, our new Lab mix.
Before this week I never thought I would sit next to a dog to help them eat, or scoop food out of a dog bowl and feed a dog from my hand. When Ruby came home she was hesitant to eat any food, both Saturday and Sunday this weekend Ruby ate 1.5 cups of dry Nutro and Mixables. We microwaved the batches of food (half a cup per feeding) and fed Ruby around noon, 5pm and 9pm both days, we also tried feeding wet food first thing in the morning, but Ruby was not interested. Either way, the amount of food Ruby is eating now versus when she first came home shows just one of the changes Ruby has made since coming home.
Along with eating more, Ruby has become much more playful. Her tail is always wagging now, eager for someone to play with her. She has tried several times to get Zoey to play with her, but Zoey has yet to warm up to the idea. I have wrestled with Ruby the past couple of days, falling on Ruby and having her crawl out from under me, her tail wags the entire time. One thing that hasn't changed is Ruby whining, in fact she has gotten much more vocal with her whining since bringing her home. The more we play with her the more she whines for attention.
Having two dogs at once proved to be more difficult than we anticipated. The constant tangling of leashes when we're walking them and giving both equal amounts of attention while realizing that maybe they both require different amounts of one on one focus were two of our bigger problems to overcome. Ruby has trouble walking in a straight line, she enjoys stumbling from the left all the way to the right and back again. This normally ends up getting her leash very tangled with Zoey's. We're working on keeping Ruby on one side of us, so it's not such a challenge to walk the dogs. We have been challenged to make sure Zoey does not feel like an outcast now that a new dog is home. Zoey has always been a bit stand off-ish, keeping to herself from time to time. Jackie and I are trying to feel our way through when she wants to just be left alone, and when she's feeling left out.
Ruby is the first dog over 10lbs. that I've owned, and as the week has progressed I have been noticing many differences between the tiny dogs I am used to and Ruby. On a basic level, a larger dog takes up more space. Snuggling with Ruby is not as easy as it is with Zoey, Jackie and I have not been able to sit next to each other since Ruby came home due to her taking up the whole middle of the couch. We've started moving her as we become more comfortable with her not feeling rejected, but I think we are still working towards set positions for the animals and us on the furniture. When the vomit storm hit, other aspects of large dog ownership came to light. Sneezes with a little dog is a light mist that you may or may not feel. When Ruby sneezes it looks like water balloons have exploded on the blanket, it's the difference between a shot and a fifth of vodka, all over the blanket or clothing or whatever Ruby happens to be around at the time. Same issues with the amount of vomit, it was much more than I could have anticipated. Another item that I hadn't considered until after bringing Ruby home, everything is bigger with a bigger dog. Bathroom time is a hand-full, rather than a drop.
More to the point of this blog, the first week of dog ownership has been much more difficult with adoption that it would have been with a new puppy. With a puppy, they come home and usually are very trusting and happy to be with you right away. Adoption dogs have a history, a past that affects their perception of the world, with some things this is for the better like when a dog comes home house trained. Other times, like with Ruby, her past caused her to close herself off from the world and trusting others. In this first week we have worked towards building trust between Ruby and us while also trying to rebuild trust for people in general.
Overall adopting Ruby has been one of the larger personal challenges I have faced in my life. All week I was being woken up by Ruby in the middle of the night and having my patience tested with her eating habits. Through all of the challenges of this week, it has been a very rewarding first week. To see Ruby willing to eat without scooping food into her mouth is amazing on its own but to see her interested in playing with Jackie and I as well as the other animals in the apartment is wonderful. A week ago, if I were to have wrestled with Ruby she would have been scared and ran away from me, now her tail doesn't stop wagging and enjoys our time together. There is still a long way to go for Ruby to be a well adjusted dog, but knowing what she has been through and where she is now, I am positive the best is yet to come.
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