Wet Kisses and Warm Fur

I would like to introduce you to the new Love of my Life!



This is Ruby. We rescued each other. My last blog post I talked about possibly getting another dog to help ease the loneliness of the day. I had started looking half-heartedly, going to dog adoption events, of course I liked all the dogs I saw but I couldn't "see" any of them in my house or in my life. Until a rescue I followed on Facebook posted this picture of this beautiful Australian Shepherd:



I don't know what it was about her... but within about 5 minutes of  hearing her "story" I fell in love. After 9 months with a family, they were giving her up because they were moving and only wanted to take the puppy with them. For nine months, they fed her to obesity. Her records show she was of "normal stature and weight" in December 2014 and by September she was 20 lbs. overweight, and on what should be a 50 lb dog, that's pretty significant. The previous owner also said Ruby did not like to go for walks. Her Foster Mother took a picture of why that was:



Well, I wouldn't want to walk on those either, it was probably extremely painful to walk! I just knew that this pup needed to be with me. I kept up with updates on Facebook and kept falling, fast and hard. I think a week later, her Foster Mom found out that Ruby was also Heartworm Positive. I was heartbroken, for Ruby, but it in NO WAY affected my decision to give her a home. I checked around here and found a vet who could treat her very affordably, and we all decided that Ruby would come up to my neck of the woods for treatment. I picked her up on October 17th when I met J, the foster mom, halfway between Chicago and St. Louis.

I had NO doubts that I had made the right decision. This was the sweetest dog I'd ever met. I couldn't figure out why anyone would give her up. She is gentle and loving and attentive. She is a velcro dog and wants to be in the same room as me. She loves to go for walks. And given her issue with weight and overfeeding, she proved to be so well behaved around food. She eats fast, but after I set her bowl down, she puts her nose by my face and looks me in the eye as if to say "thank you." I tell her "you're welcome" and then she eats. I can put food on the nose-high living room table and she's never tried to eat it. I can drop things and she looks at me to see if she can get it. She is so NOT a mooch dog.



She is fully house trained and has never pooped or peed inside. Even when it poured one weekend, she held it for about 14 hours. She doesn't chew on shoes or furniture, or anything. Even bones :-)
She gives little kisses on my chin. She comes to work with me (right down to the basement) and I'll be working and she'll be snoozing, and she'll come up to be and put her paws on me and give me a kiss, like she's checking in. She is not a puppy anymore, we think she is about 5 years old, give or take a year.

We had a few months of fun before we had to start the hard Heartworm Treatment. This girl loves her walks and wants to run so badly. We took her to my parent's house in the country a few times and she had the chance to run a bit. And squirrels. Well, she is a Squirrel Hunter for sure. It's the only time she is still enough to get a nice clear photo of her. Like the above picture she is staring down a squirrel.

Yes, she has several nicknames! I don't compare her to Maddy, even though I've called her Maddy several times and they look very similar. Ruby doesn't have a tail though. She just wiggles her butt maniacally when she sees me. Her whole body shakes. She LOVES going for car rides, even if it means the vet. But mostly it's to the park. Look at the smile on her!



The best thing? She laughs at all my jokes.



She is at the vet right now, getting her third injection for Heartworm. The night will be very difficult. She had her second injection yesterday and was hurting all night. But that's it then. I have to keep her quiet and inactive for about a month, until the last of the worms die off, then she will be allowed to run like the wind and be a dog again. We might try going to the dog parks around here. She's okay with most dogs, for some reason, the only dog she barks at around here is a black Lab. She's not sure what to make with small dogs that yap in her face either, so she just gives them a warning growl and goes on her way. She loves kitties. She is also very protective of me. She will get between me and any other dog at first. She's sweet and gentle, but she can hold her own. While she doesn't automatically submit to other dogs, she is not aggressive either.



 
This summer I want to take a road trip with her. I also want to look into what it takes to be a therapy dog. Everywhere she goes, people love her. She won over everyone at the vet's office with her sweet disposition. I think she would do well as a fuzz therapy dog. I have big plans for us :-)