Week in Review - October 3 - 9, 2022

This week's review is brought to you by...

Ruby!

This is a move I had been considering for some time now - a companion for Slider. And the idea was brought forward the past couple of weeks by a few things.

The first was a friend of Texter's whose mother was having to be moved into care and they needed a home for her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He is 11 and no one in the family could take him. At the last moment (literally), the next door neighbor took him. It was ok because the mother knows the neighbor and would be happy to know the person who had her beloved pet.

Then, on the news, was all the reports of the hundreds and hundreds of animals they are rescuing from Florida and the devastation from Hurricane Ian. There were reports of the animal shelters throughout South Carolina (and I'm only about 10 miles for the state line) filling up from all the animals.

The thing which spurred me to action was the local shelter in Charlotte had a release on the news about an event they were planning for the weekend. The reason was they were at max capacity and more animals were coming in and they needed to find homes for some animals or they were going to have to make the difficult decision of having to put some of them down.

On the way home on Wednesday, I decided to 'go look' at the shelter since it was basically on my way home. I spent about an hour walking around and around the kennels, checking out the dozens of dogs up for adoption. (This does not count the many, many animals in foster care at the present time.)

The first couple of loops were about checking off dogs who were 'barkers'. And there was one 'scary' looking dog. Not that he was aggressive or anything like that - it was strictly his appearance. He looked like a white solid pit bull with chihuahua eyes. And one was blue and one brown and the blue one was a thin outline of black. He was too odd for me to want to look at every day.

It came down to two dogs which seemed calmer and more chill and relaxed than the other dogs, which is what I wanted.

"Spencer" was a 1 year old neutered male pit. He was so sweet. But in talking to one of the people who worked there, he had originally been in the shelter back in December. He was adopted and for whatever reason was back again. Hmmm... That gave me a bit of a pause. Was he a runaway or was there something that the owner turned him back in for?

So I asked if I could play with "Ruby". It was then I realized she was actually an eight year old spayed female. Well, I knew the spayed female part, but not the age. And knowing she was an older dog, I knew she would be one of the last ones adopted and one of the first ones on the 'hit' list.

She walked nicely in the room with the handler and was alert and interested in the surroundings. She wasn't barking at people or other animals coming through the shelter (on the other side of the window to the room). Another real plus was because of the need to reduce animals in the shelter and her age, there was zero adoption fees involved and she is up to date on her shots until September, 2023. 

I picked up Texter on my way home with her to help me with introducing Slider to Ruby. He has done well with other dogs on walks and at the dog park, but now we were going to be on his territory.

Well...

I have known Slider is a dominant dog from when he was a puppy. So he spent most of the introduction with his head over her shoulders as a sign of his 'alpha' status. (Note: he might be the alpha DOG, however, he knows I am THE alpha in this household.) Which means his slobber glands went into overdrive and she was sopping wet.

It's now been a few days. And the verdict is...

She's a keeper!

They get along so well. Neither one of them are food aggressive (which I will not have). They play together well. She is basically house trained (we need some fine tuning) and knows basic commands. Ruby also reminds me of our old pit - Noel - who is with Savvy in Arizona now. 

And yes, there are some negatives - 

One, I need a bigger bed. And two, a bigger couch. She knows couches and beds and will hop up and settle down in a heart beat. That's great. But then here comes Slider who is use to being right there with me too. 

And double the poop. To be expected. 

Overall, I am very happy I have found Ruby and she is now a member of my family. Now to double up on the treats!