Scruffy The Legend

He is still new; he is still learning. He is under the coffee table. His eyes follow me, staring at me, as I enter the living room. He is waiting to see where I will sit. As soon as that is clear, he runs over and sits facing me, staring up into my eyes. He is asking if there is anything I would like him to do. He is telling me that he is my faithful servant and will do anything I request. He becomes a little fidgety because I have not yet asked for anything. His eyes are intense; his ears are alert. He offers some suggestions. “Perhaps you would like me to give you my paw or roll over.” I make a small motion with my right hand. He is immediately on my lap licking my face. When I get up he jumps enthusiastically to the floor ready to follow me wherever I may go. I am on my way to the kitchen. He is right behind me. I stop suddenly and look back at him. I was going to ask if it was really necessary that he follow me every time I get up. He detects something in my movement or maybe my eyes. He immediately rolls over on his back, paws folded above his chest. He is asking if there is anything he might have done wrong, not only just now, but at any time. He is saying “I am so sorry if I have done anything wrong, but I can not change the past – so here I am looking up at you – do what you will with me. I am at your mercy” I immediately tell him he is the most wonderful dog in the world and that he should indeed continue follow me wherever I may go. When I now go upstairs to do some minor thing, I do not look back at the dog on my heels. I know he is there and will always be.

2009 January Charlie

We have now had Ruby since the summer and Charlie for a few weeks. Ruby is about 5 years old and Charlie is about 4. Supposedly, you multiply the dog’s age by 7 to get a human-equivalent age. This would make these dogs about 30 years old. Let me assure you, that they act almost exactly like 4 or 5 year old human children and not at all like mature people of 30. The sibling rivalry is amazing. They really like each other just like a brother and sister do, and most of the time play very nicely (and wildly) together. But give them each a rawhide bone, and the only bone Ruby is interested in is whichever bone Charlie has at the time. Same for toys – toys Ruby was never interested in are very desirable if Charlie is playing with one. I think Charlie has started to consider the space under the coffee table to be his space and he has begun to hoard toys there. Ruby regularly checks to see if any really important toys are in that space. If so, she makes sure to remove them and put them closer to the dog bed (her space and historical dog toy aggregation place for all toys – ever since the times of Major and Scruffy).

Both Ruby and Charlie love to jump up on hind legs to greet you when you enter the house. Here Charlie is the more aggressive. He will stand on hind legs with front paws on your lower torso. Ruby likes to do this too, but with Charlie right in front of you, she has to stand to your side. Charlie, seeing her try to jump up, now moves to the side to block Ruby. Ruby now moves to other side, where Charlie now places himself. There is a constant battle for attention between the 2 dogs. If I am seated in a living room chair, and accidentally make a motion that Charlie interprets as “come”, he will be on my lap in an instant. Ruby, seeing this, will immediately also try to get up on the chair. On the sofa there is more room, so I usually have both dogs lying on me if I am lying down watching television.

In spite of this type of vying for attention, Ruby and Charlie are, without doubt, the 2 most submissive dogs on the planet. Both Ruby and Charlie immediately drop to the floor and roll over on their backs at the first sign that maybe you think they have done something wrong. If, of all dogs you have known, you rated the most alpha dog as a 10 and most submissive dog as a 1, Ruby and Charlie would be like numbers -40 and -41. Yes, there is a slight difference and Charlie is 1 point more submissive than Ruby. Scruffy was certainly a 1 and Major had no rating. Major was not dominant or submissive – these words simply did not apply to Major. Scruffy and I, on the other hand, constantly challenged each other for the pack leader spot (Scruffy usually won). I have now had the opportunity to see Ruby attack a dog (Moma – Scruffy’s old friend –described in the Scruffy book). Here is Ruby’s fighting strategy: snarl, make loud growling noises, open mouth wide, place open mouth on adversary’s throat, do not close mouth, immediately roll over on back to let the other dog finish the fight. I haven’t seen Charlie in a fight but he would fare even worse. He is even afraid of cats. At least Ruby plays with cats. Charlie is still new to us. I think he will become more assertive over time. For example, he has now started to chase the cat. If the cat does something unexpected, however, Charlie will immediately run to me and sit on my foot, looking upward at me to be sure that I will protect him if necessary.

2009 January Jumping, Toys

There aren’t too many places one can take their dogs to for lunch.  Fortunately the dogs aren’t too picky and are very happy to go through the drive-thru window at McDonald’s.

They look forward to riding in the car or truck. You’ll recount from the book all the times we took Scruffy to McDonald’s.  It was his favorite outing.

These dogs are real good travelers. Charlie lies down on the floor in the back of the car, while Ruby has to check out all the sights, running from one window to the other.  Ruby also insists on standing on the front console, which puts her in danger should Karen need to stop abruptly.   Karen uses her elbow (one of those karate moves she learned while working on her black belt) to poke Ruby in the chest  to force her back into the rear of the vehicle.  Of course, once we’re parked in the lot, Ruby and Charlie are welcome to invade the front seat.

We don’t give the dogs more than a French fry or two, just a little treat.  It seems that riding in the car is really the biggest treat to them.

2009 January Car, McDonalds

Major and Jeremy

Television has become so annoying to me that I watch nowadays with the sound muted. This way I don’t have to keep muting or channel changing every time a commercial comes on. I really only occasionally glance at the screen to see if anything catches my eye. Suddenly, a few months ago, it happened. The local news was on. I see two dogs being led into a large cage. One is a very fat Beagle-like dog, wagging its tail like crazy. The other is a small white dog that appeared to be more concerned about what was going on, and not quite so happy. I clicked on the sound. This was a story about people giving up their dogs for adoption. The Beagle dog obviously thought that it was going into doggy day care or some really fun place; the white dog knew otherwise.  I also knew otherwise and knew that they were both possibly going to the gallows.  The Beagle was so ugly – big and fat with a head that was too small for the body, and was obviously not very astute.   The dog reminded me of Major (Karen and my first dog – and predecessor of Scruffy).  Major was always simply the best dog in the world.  Needless to say he has his own chapter in my book.  Major would never hurt a flea.  He was the type of dog that if a child were to run and leap and land on him, he would just wag his tail and move to some other spot.  Somehow, I knew that the Beagle had the same demeanor.  I was so reminded of Major, even though the clip only ran a few seconds, that I decided to find the Beagle and adopt it.

After doing some research and making some calls, I found the dog in a rescue shelter.  It was a 4-year-old female, and her name was Ruby.  She had lived her whole life with the white dog, named Snowball who we were told was a Bichon.  I adopted them both, not wanting to separate these life-long friends.

The first couple of weeks were a break in period.  The main problem was our cat, Narla, who, as described in my book, is partially paralyzed.  Both dogs obviously wanted simply to attack and kill the cat.  It also was obvious that Snowball was the main problem.   From the start, he was totally fixated on the cat (who we kept in the cat carrier when in the same room as the dogs).  You could not pry Snowball’s face away from Narla’s direction.  If left loose he would run to the cat carrier and begin trying to tear it apart to get to the cat.  Looking at his face, I decided he was probably a Bichon- Jack Russel mix.   Ruby was showing signs of learning to accept the cat and was certainly not fixated on the cat.  Getting the cat became Snowball’s entire existence while in the house. Outside, he was a really great dog and a pleasure to walk with Ruby.

After a month or so, we made the dreaded decision to bring Snowball back to the shelter (a no-kill shelter).  If you have read my book, you know how much this hurt.  Perhaps the main theme of my book is about the commitment I think should be made to an adopted dog.  We all should understand that a sudden change of circumstances such as trying to live with a new family or losing the one family you have been a part of all your life, is quite traumatic for a dog.  The dog will almost certainly demonstrate very bad habits at first, no matter how good he once was as somebody else’s pet.  I honestly was convinced that we would never be able to change Snowball’s behavior toward the cat.  I am quite sure that Snowball has a lot of terrier in him, and killing small animals is in the terrier genes.  The decision to return Snowball is one I will never forget.  It hangs over me like a dark cloud right now. Couldn’t even a Russel be eventually trained to accept a cat as his friend –even if it might take months or years? We will never know.

On a happier note, Ruby seemed to adjust quite well to losing Snowball, probably because of the tons of attention we made sure to give her.  She is our new queen and she knows it.  She will always be my queen and number one dog in my life – that is my commitment to her.  As you know, we know have a second dog – Charlie. He is still new. I am sure he will eventually mean as much to me as Ruby.  Still, I will always make sure Ruby knows she is number one.  Of course, Charlie (unbeknownst to Ruby) is also number one.  Thus we have Queen Ruby and King Charles – rulers of my household.

2009 January Jeremy, Major, Ruby

Those of you who have read my book, may recall that I always lamented the fact that, because of a shared driveway on one side of the property, I could not fence my yard. This had always meant that Scruffy (and his predecessor, Major) had to always be on a tether of some sort. There is a whole subchapter in the book (Freedom Day) devoted to describing Scruffy’s first day of total free running in a large field at my daughter’s farm. I must have grown much more intelligent recently. After adopting Ruby, I realized that my whole yard did not have to be fenced. Why not just make a dog run by fencing one area of the yard? So we did this for Ruby. I think its maybe 30’ by 40’. I keep wondering why I never thought of this in the days of Major and of Scruffy. Ruby and Charlie love this yard and run around chasing each other in amazingly fast circles. The back house door exits into this yard, so the dogs can now be let out without having to take them out first on a leash. If you look at the previous post’s pictures, you will see the dogs playing in the yard. The young man in the picture is Jeremy. He is now 23 years old. He was about 13 in the picture in the book (seated with Scruffy and The Kitty in front of a Christmas tree). I know those of you who haven’t read the book (yet) assumed that the man in the yard was a picture of me. No, look at the old man with Scruffy on his lap on the back cover picture of the book, mentally add 10 years to it and that might be what I look like.

Some of you may notice that this is the first post to this blog that I am writing. All previous posts were written by Karen, writing in the third person to make it seem like it was me talking.

2009 January Charlie

There was a little snow today and Ruby and Charlie had a great time chasing each other around the yard. Ruby especially enjoyed rolling over in the snow and having her belly scratched.

Charlie would drop down in “play position” next to Ruby and bark. She would then start running across the yard with Charlie in hot pursuit. Ruby would turn and catch Charlie by grabbing hold of the long fur on his tail with her teeth.

2009 January Charlie, Ruby, Snow

Charlie and Nikki riding home

Our friend Margaret’s Keeshond KeeKee passed away the other month. She was determined to rescue another Keeshond and searched the web for a dog needing a home. She found an ad for 2 Keeshonden looking for a new home. She had room in home for one Keeshond, not two. She called my wife, Karen, to see if we would like to adopt the other dog.

Karen and Margaret, along with Margaret’s husband Dave, drove to the Bronx to meet the dogs, Nikki and Charlie. Margaret called the owners to let them know they were on their way. She told Margaret they would go pick the dogs up from their parents’ house, where they had been living because their new baby was allergic to the dogs. They sat waiting in Dave’s van in front of the house. Every time a car drove up, Margaret excitedly looked to see if there were Keeshonden heads poking up from the back seat.

While waiting, the girls pooled the money the owners had requested for the dogs. The owners had purchased the dogs from a breeder and asked for a small amount of money for the dogs. My wife, being a bit of a scatter-brain, thought she had placed the money in her wallet. Looking in her wallet, Karen found only $40, not the $100 she was expecting to find. Between Margaret and Dave, they dug up the additional $60 needed for Charlie. Between the 3 of them, they had exactly $100.

The dogs were beautiful and obviously well cared for. The girls put the dogs into the van. The dogs thoroughly explored the back of the van, smelling Stu and Tyler, who had ridden in the van only the day before.

Dave drove back to New Jersey, crossing the G.W. Bridge and headed on to the Turnpike. As they took the ticket for the toll from the machine, Karen asked if anyone had the money to pay the toll for Exit 14. Their wasn’t a dollar bill among the 3 of them. Margaret and Karen searched on the floor and in the ashtrays of the van for coins. They found $1.35, just enough to cover the toll for the first exit, which they promptly took. Fortunately, they found themselves on Route 3 and they located a cash machine just a short drive down the road.

When they got to Karen’s house, they took Charlie and Nikki out of the van. Margaret and Dave each took a Keeshond and walked down the street with them. Karen went into the house to get Ruby. The idea being, Ruby would think it was a chance meeting of dogs and it would give her the opportunity to meet Charlie on neutral territory. As the dogs approached each other on the side walk, there was only curiosity. Karen took Charlie’s leash from Dave and walked both dogs together to the backyard. She released them in the enclosed part of the yard. They sniffed each other, but for the most part, just ignored each other. It looked like Charlie would be a very smooth addition to the family.

2009 January Charlie, Keeshond

A friend asked my wife if she would knit a camouflage hat for her niece. She went to Michael’s Craft Store thinking she would need to buy 4 – 5 skeins of green and brown yarn. While scanning the yarn aisle for possible color combinations, she spotted Bernat yarn in of all things, camouflage. Not only was there the traditional forest color, but there were desert and arctic varieties as well.

On the label was a photo of a Schnauzer wearing a camouflage coat. You can guess where this thread is headed.

We adopted Ruby the Beagle in June. As Ruby is of the hound persuasion and therefore a hunting variety of dog, it only makes sense that she has a camouflage coat. The pattern listed sizes from S-XL. The XL was for a dog with a chest measurement of 24 inches. The coat must be meant for small breeds of dogs, because there is no way the large size would fit a Labrador or Golden, let alone Ruby. Bernat offers the pattern free on their website: Camouflage – Dog Coat With Cargo Pockets (knit)

Our gal Ruby is zaftig, with a chest size of 25 inches. When we brought her home, she weighed 44 pounds, about 20 pounds more than she should weigh. She’s on a diet and has been loosing about a pound a month. That said, my wife had to finagle the pattern so that it would fit her. This is her first attempt at making a dog sweater AND modifying a pattern.

Any hunting dog worth her kibble should have a camouflage coat for those brisk early morning hunts. The rabbits and squirrels won't see Ruby in her new jacket - she blends into the brush.

2009 January Knitting, Ruby