Ryder’s First Two Weeks

As much as this was supposed to be a post about Ryder, it is also a post about reality biting me in the butt.  Remember I mentioned in the first Ryder post how puppies are worse than human babies?  Bringing a puppy into the house for the first time in over 30 years (my youngest in the past 30 some years was 6 months) was a major shock to the system.  I’m a night person.  I perk right up at about 10 or 11 p.m. But the Husband has to go to work in the a.m.  So the puppy has to go to bed at a reasonable hour so that he is up with the Husband and getting fed the same time as the cats.  He certainly isn’t going to go back to sleep and he can’t be left running around unsupervised.  And it wouldn’t be fair leaving him in his crate for hours more waiting for me to crawl out of bed. And that certainly wouldn’t help his sleep schedule any.  So that translates into mom, here, having to get up at what, for me, is an ungodly hour of the morning.

Getting a dog sooner than planned meant I hadn’t adjusted my sleep schedule back to a more day oriented routine.  It was like getting thrown into rough water without a life jacket.  I am a light sleeper and thus have a very low tolerance level for sleep deprivation.   My inability to adjust quickly (i.e. go to f@#king sleep at night!!!) that first week was killing me.  I couldn’t function.  And I was getting mad at the dog for existing.  I was ready to just give him away.  I didn’t want him anymore. The hell with having a dog.  I was shocked at how angry I was and how willing I was to consider getting rid of the dog.  I was not in a good place.

As a result, the Husband is going into work an hour later at a more normal time so that I have extra time for sleep. (He normally likes to get in before anyone else so that he has peace and quiet to work undisturbed.)  He is also handling the middle of the night trip to potty.  Unlike me, he can fall back asleep in like 2 minutes and said it made no sense for me to keep trying to handle the potty trips.  Which made me feel bad ’cause I’m the one who brought the dog home out of the blue with no prior setup for it.  But, he was right.  I’m still not sleeping well but the extra I get has taken me from insane to somewhat functional.

Something I’m sure everyone appreciates.

Despite the insanity, some things have gotten done and this second week I have been actually falling asleep by 12:30.  Fingers crossed for continued improvement and attitude adjustment.  It’s been really, really hard giving up my evenings.  Here are some pictures from our first two weeks:

It’s hard to be angry with someone who curls up to sleep at your feet even when the floor is hard.

I’ve learned that walking on a leash can lead to many interesting places. 

First bath. But since puppies get cold easily, I was wrapped up in a towel and rubbed dry and cuddled till I fell asleep. Nap time!

I now pee outside when asked except when I’m nervous or scared. Mom wishes this meant no more accidents in the house. I’m working on it!

I like my chewy and my basket of toys.

Dad got out that monster thing that sucks the carpet. I ran and hid in mom’s lap.

Mom eventually left me to go pat that noisy monster. I was waiting for it to eat her.

I eventually came over to take a look, but I don’t think I want to be friends.

Tired puppies hate missing anything. But they are no match for the Sandman. (Puppies can sleep in the darndest positions!)

Mom says it’s important for me to stand still while I get my feet wiped off. I can do this on the porch now, too!

I’m learning to play on my tie! There are lots of good things to eat out here. Unfortunately, mom is a buzz kill. She keeps sticking her fingers in my mouth and taking away the rocks ‘n things I want to eat.

I have a ball to herd. It rattles!

This one bounces funny, but I can drag it around!

After all that work, I need another nap. And this is a really great place to do it!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

A New Puppy. What Was I Thinking?

Ryder: Day One

Full Disclosure:  I have a very low tolerance for sleep deprivation.  I have tried to make this coherent.  If I have failed, sorry! 😀

Last fall we lost our dog to cancer.  I knew eventually I would want another dog, but I was planning to wait till better weather. And I usually do shelter dogs, save a life.  But this time I wanted a puppy, not a half-grown or grown dog.  I have been dealing with abused animals literally for decades and this once I wanted to start from scratch and not be cleaning up other people’s messes.  Jake, our last dog, took years to fix and I just didn’t want to risk going down that road again.  Don’t get me wrong, Jake was a sweet and wonderful dog.  But he was a ton of work with a lot of issues that had to be addressed.

So I wanted a clean (ish) slate.  Something along the lines of a Shepherd/Lab cross or a Standard Poodle cross.  Uh, huh.  As I was looking around I discovered puppies from shelters were pricey.  $150 to $300 depending on where you got them.  Wow.  And it was going to be tough to find a Shepherd/Lab cross at a shelter now.  Why?  Get this – they’re designer dogs now!  Shepradors they’re called.  And they are not cheap either.  Who knew?

In the meantime, a friend had decided she wanted a Border Collie.  She knew someone who had one and was put in touch with the breeder.  Finally the pups were born and she went to check them out and pick one.  She showed me pictures of a bunch of really sweet puppies.   I noticed a reddish guy.  She got a cutey with a half black / half white face.

Earlier last week I received a text from her.  Apparently the reddish pup was returned (don’t ask – craziness) and couldn’t he find a home with me?  I hemmed and hawed, should I or shouldn’t I,  I wouldn’t be rescuing anyone, I was going to wait till later, I wanted a bigger dog, etc…  I was going to say “no” but then I asked myself, “A month from now are you going to look back and regret not at least going to look at him?”  So I caved and went to see him.

What did I find?  Border Collies outside, Mom dog and 3? 4? Jack Russell Terriers, and a couple of preschool aged kids sharing space.  Bedlam.  Sort of.  No one was causing trouble, just a lot of noise and activity.  And a little puppy just doing his thing around everyone else.  Mom was delighted to have company, i.e. a new play buddy.  She danced up to me with her preferred fetch item and threw it for me to catch. And even though we were playing fetch in the livingroom, no furniture or people were knocked over. And mom had no problem with a complete stranger handling her.  Eventually I got down on the floor and started playing with the puppy; and handled and pushed and pulled.  He’s definitely going to be an independent little cuss, but he was a good guy.  So I sucked in a deep breath and said I’d take him.  *head desk*

“I don’t have time for this! And what is that ‘thing’ you’re pointing at my face?” I took 6 pictures of this rascal while the Husband struggled to get him to hold still. This was the only one that wasn’t blurry!

Did you know that I haven’t had any dogs under 6 months of age since my teens? That’s more than one or two decades ago.  And having baby critters is worse than having baby humans around.  Baby humans can’t squeeze themselves into impossibly tiny places.  And baby humans don’t have the ‘tooth power’ that baby critters have.  So when baby critters put things in their mouth, they tend to shred them.

“So many toys! I want them all!”  Hey, Saver! Remember that sewing job you did on the octopus toy there after Jake tore it open? Took Ryder about 5 minutes to find the repair and rip it back open! 😀

All babies have a tendency to over extend themselves.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to still have all that excess energy?!

“I’m too tired to eat my supper. A new home is very tiring.”  Ryder takes an evening nap so that he can resume exploring and chewing.

“Mom, he’s making banging noises up there. It’s scary!”

“But maybe something interesting is going on.”

Future Disc Dog?

The best toys are free!

Nap time. In the middle of the livingroom floor!  I wish I still slept that well!

That’s all for now.  It’s been a long six days.  Reality has jumped up and bit me on the butt. Did I mention I don’t do mornings?  *head desk* But I’ll post about that later. Yaaaaawwwn.

A Quiet Day

Random Thoughts

 I was sitting at the table this morning eating strawberries and reading blogs when I happened to look into the bowl.  Small white lumps were floating in my strawberries.  Huh?  They can’t be getting moldy already!  I just thawed them out yesterday!  A closer inspection revealed a lump with black dots.  Eeeeeew.  Another lump appeared with orange on it.  Wait.  Orange?  WTF?  I turned my light box back on, shoved my glasses up where they belonged, and stuck the bowl in the light.  Oh-for-pete’s-sake.  ***head to table***  I had eaten eggs for breakfast and was using the same spoon.  Egg bits had soaked off the spoon while it sat in the juice.  Mornings are not my best time.

This appealed to me today.  An attitude reminder from Robert Louis Stevenson:

“There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy.  By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.”

Life At Our House

The ‘big event’ here today was my baking bread (sourdough).  Unless of course you want to count my succumbing to a chocolate craving and going out to buy a stash of Sixlets.  Here’s the bread:

Sourdough

It’s been out about 30 minutes now so when my tea is ready I’m going to lop off a chunk and slather it in butter.  Can’t wait.

Fur Babies and Other Friends

Hey!  Saver of Bugs!  About those peacock feathers…

Annie

 While eye shine normally annoys me, I think this is very accurate showing of our ‘witch’ cat.

Is it dinner?  Is it? Is it?

Out in the Yard

You’ll notice I changed my header.  I’ve decided to try to put some small picture from in the yard as my header every time I post.

Today’s pic is a very small pansy that I found in a planter in my yard.

A tiny determined seed survived the winter.   And despite a less than ideal beginning to life, has produced a beautiful flower for all to enjoy.

Gooooooood Morning!

Now that I’ve recovered my sense of humor (sort of), and need to play and learn, you get this post.  There should be a “real” post (snort) later.  Maybe.

I don’t do mornings.

Seriously.   I don’t do mornings.  Because of my metabolism and sleep needs, I wake up every morning hung over, with a headache, groggy, and sometimes nauseous.   Get between me and my tea and shower, you will lose body parts.  Got it?

This morning my cell phone yelled for me.  Since the number hasn’t been handed out to the general public, it Must Be Answered.  I  rolled out of bed, and ignoring the back, neck, and ‘surprise!’ hip that were not happy with me, staggered for the kitchen.  As I attempted to go vertical I immediately realised that my sinuses and ears were fluid filled.  Since I was lying on my left side I began listing to the left like a drunken sailor and connected painfully with a corner in my hall.  Unkind thoughts followed as I straightened up and proceeded to step into a cold, wet, squishy furball.  Did I notice?  Of course not.  I had to take another full step forward with the furball and goo stuck to my sock before the cold, wet, squishiness reached my bare skin.  So instead of one gooey spot to clean up, I now had two.  More unkind thoughts followed, verbally expressed, as I stripped off my socks.  I then gimped forward on the heel of my foot.  And the phone call?  Wrong Number.  How was your morning?