My how time flies when all I do is stand in the yard and say "go potty"

Dear friends,

It's been over a week since we last talked. I'd like to say it's been such an eventful week that I've simply not had a moment to stop and write. The truth is, I've had plenty of moments this week, just none of them at my laptop.



There's the part where I stand in the sun, rain, wind, cold or warmth while waiting for miss Ruby to do her business in the grass. We prefer that she toilet in the yard rather than in our home. It's just one of our quirks. So far, she's only had two piddles in the house and no poop-poops so that's an excellent track record for a 10-week-old puppy.


There's also the bits where I'm doing all of the above-mentioned standing and saying "go potty, Ruby" at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. It's not so bad, really. She goes right back to bed in her kennel and has stopped crying in the night, so that's a bonus. The first few nights were hell, I'm not going to lie. There was much regret in my mind, much sadness for the sleep I used to know. But, unlike when I brought my two kids home, this time the sleeplessness only lasted two nights and then she quickly figured out we sleep from 11 to 6.

The boys have gone from liking her to completely ignoring her unless she nibbles on their bodies. Which is strictly verboten but I seem to be the only one who is mindful of it.


Binnie hates her guts. And yet, oddly enough, she has reacted to this new trespasser much like she reacted to us bringing home each of the babies. She's retreated to the office and spends her time in there, alone. It's sad. She doesn't know how to play like a dog, she never has. So she gets all verklempt when Ruby adopts the play stance and barks at her to play! And there's the parts where Binnie waits for Ruby to come bounding in the house, only to sneak-attack her with a vicious snarling/growling/nipping thing. It's crazy. I put an end to that wackiness because it doesn't even appear to be healthy dog pack dominance behavior. It just kinda looks like we have a clinically insane elderly half-blind dog on our hands. And Ruby usually ends up hiding under a table from the whackjob resident senior cause you never know when she's going to snap.

Other than that, things are hunky dory. Time passes quickly with puppies, so I know all the nuttiness will be over sooner than we know it. Of course, my kids will be leaving for college soon, too.

** I wrote that post on Saturday morning. Somehow, I failed to post it and oooooh how things changed shortly afterwards. Updated post on Roo-Boobie coming soon.**

- H