December Update

Mum's been really stingy with my computer time recently, but I've finally managed to sneak it away from her and put up some of my recent pictures.

Monty came to stay for the weekend (again). He has a look-alike stuffie we keep here and spends a lot of time hanging out with it. He's such a mama's boy, that one.

Sometimes, he just falls fast asleep right on top if it.

Even though I make fun of him from time to time, Monty is my best friend in the whole world. We played lots of tuggy and some hide and seek. Monty gets fooled every time when Mum hides from him. He runs all over the house with a worried look on his face. I can't help sniggering because Mum really isn't very good at hiding and if he would just slow down and look, he'd find her right away.

Of course, I would never be seen snuggling up to a stuffed animal. But I do like my cushions.

Lots of peoples came over to the house on Saturday night for the Christmas singing. There was tons of food and little children with plates on their laps, but I just sat in front of them and waited patiently until they dropped something on the floor. That was the fun part of the evening. I really don't know what Mum and Dad and everyone sees in all that singing lark. They get the words all wrong and sing out of tune, then roll around on the floor laughing.

 

Thankfully, there were lots of cushions lying around, so I made the best of the situation and hunkered down. I had the best dreams about what Sandy Claws is going to be bringing me, and how all the ornaments on the Christmas tree turned into dog treats.

Mum and Dad have been reminding me that this is the season Sandy Claws makes his rounds and how I should be a "good girl", so as he will come visit me with lots of goodies. I've been trying really hard, but I must have got led astray by some naughty elves because I just couldn't resist doing some adventuring on my own the other day. I think I've still got a couple of days to make amends, so I'm keeping a low profile and trying to stay out of trouble.

I can't have been too naughty because good ol' Sandy Claws came with an early present last night. He brought the snow right to our house, so when I woke up this morning, I could run straight out of the house and play in it. I don't have any pictures of me in the snow because Mum was too lazy to take any. But here's one of the famous Sedona rocks, so you can see what a lovely place this is we live in.

 

Just Lying Around

I've been trying to get motivated, spending some time on my bench outside, keeping an eye on things.

But it's so hard to keep my eyes open.

I find the best solution is to kick back on my chaise.

 

And take a nap in the proper napping position.

 

But then look what happened today...

Finally, Mum and Dad took me to the snow!

Now, that's more like it!

Christmas already?

Mum finally came back from her trip this week. I was so glad to see her. Dad was vacuuming when she got home (I told him he should have started the clean up earlier), so didn't hear her come in. It made me crazy happy. I was doing puppy paws and racing around the hallway at the top of the living room steps while Mum was hiding on the other side of the wall. Dad couldn't understand what I was so excited was about.

No sooner had we got all settled in as a family again than Monty arrived for a weekend visit. Mum says it's the curse of dog sitting that it rains as soon as there's more than one dog in the house. We all (well, not Dad, he was still in bed) got soaked on our walk this morning. Monty and I are really good at the wet dog drill and sat patiently waiting on our towels while Mum messed about with the camera. She said we looked like we were rehearsing for a nativity play. I don't really know what that is. What do you think? I just know that we both love wearing towels over our heads, and then getting all the rubbles that follow.

 

Indian Summer

The hot weather's back and I couldn't be happier. Don't get me wrong, I love snow, but when it's cold, Mum closes the doors and I can't keep watch from my outdoor lookout. After the sprinkle of snow we had a few days ago, we're back to lovely warm days and lots of lounging about in patches of sunshine.

Mum and Dad took me to the Sometimes Creek (Dry Creek) where there's lots of sand for me to gallop around in. I go a bit crazy digging holes there. They have to be just right - deep enough so I can feel the cool, damp sand on my belly and with just enough of a ridge for me to hang my front paws over.

This time of year is my Coming Home anniversary. It was 9 years ago that Mum brought me home from the Humane Society of Sedona to live with her. I worked really hard to let Mum know where I was and that she should come get me. It was touch and go for a week when another person took me home, but it "didn't work out" and they took me back. So then I pulled out all the stops and visited Mum in a very long and complex dream so she could get a really good look at me and know where I was. It worked, because the very next day she came and found me! I was so excited to see her. I couldn't stop jumping up at my kennel door. I still had another 24 hours before I was allowed to go home with her, but it was worth the wait. She went home and made me a very special bed - the first one I had ever had that I could call my own. I still have it today, even though I don't sleep on it any more.

So because of it being the anniversary and all, today we had to go back to the Humane Society to pick up my this year's legal tag. They specially make a new one for me every year. Always a different color and design. This year, because I'm 9, it's super special. It's a star and it's in my favorite color, purple. (Note from Mum: "Don't tell Ruby, but I think maybe all the dogs get the same design and color!)

It's like when you get the keys to the city and can go anywhere. I bet there aren't any other pups who get the purple star!

Vacation Memories

Mum's too lazy tired to help me write a proper blog post, so she said I could choose some photos from our summer vacation to post instead.

This was a lake I wasn't allowed to swim in. Something about the d-u-c-k-s.
I had to stay on the long leash while we were there.

This is the biggest meadow in the whole world. It would take me the whole day to run to the other side. We drove in the car and it took hours and hours.

I did a lot of running.

And skipping.

And jumping.

That's some of my favorite things to do on vacation. Chasing ducks would have been good too. Oh, well.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Ruby Recommends

What a weekend! Mum's friend from her puppy days came to visit this weekend. She has three puppies herself now and it was my job to keep an eye on them while they were here. Of course, I had to show them my favorite swimming place at the creek, which was a lot of fun. Having an important job looking after puppies and making sure no one gets into trouble can be quite tiring.

Since Mum hasn't sorted out any photos yet, I did some looking around for something interesting to share with you and found this video about Baxter the therapy dog. Baxter went to the Rainbow Bridge a couple of days ago after a very long life of helping others. Mum said to remind your peoples to have some tissues handy when they watch this.

Baxter the therapy dog

Boogie on down! (or why we've been gone so long)

I know, I know, I haven't written anything on here in ages. Mum's been all worky these past couple of weeks, and I haven't had a chance to get near the computer. So to pass the time, I had my good friend Monty come over to practice a few of our dance moves. How are we doing?

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Wordless Wednesday

Daddy time

Final Journey

My buddy, Beau, who spent so much time staying at our house this year while his family was away, unexpectedly went to the Rainbow Bridge last night. His dad was out of town and his mum had been trying to call my mum when he started acting funny, but our family was at a party and so we didn't find out until we were on our way home.

Mum was very sad last night, so I kept my head resting in her hands while her eyes were leaking. I stayed close to her on the bed during the night and my fur got all wet because her eyes wouldn't stop leaking.

We spent a lot of time with Beau this year, so we feel like he was part of the family. Here are some of our favorite memories of him.

At Indian Gardens, a place where there is people food outside and dogs are allowed.

In the snow at Griffiths Springs, one of our favorite winter places. Beau loved the snow as much as I do.

On my chaise. Yes, Beau took over my chaise when he came to stay, but I willingly gave it up - he was much bigger than me. He could make himself look really small when he curled up.

Playing "Beau Stones" at Dry Creek. He would dive right under the water and retrieve a rock from the bottom. He loved that game.

His favorite position. He looked very regal when he crossed his paws.

He was a good sport, too, and would play along with the silly things we do at our house. I'm going to miss you, Beau.

Crawdad Fishing, Ruby Style

It's been an exhausting week. I've spent hours at the creek, fishing for crawdads.

And do you know how many I've caught?

One.

Almost.

It jumped out at me and I almost caught it in my mouth!

There's a fine art to this crawdad fishing lark. Mum has captured some of my best techniques on this video she made.

The fun's all in the hunt, anyway, and boy, did I have fun!

Wordless Wednesday

Crawdad fishing

Sacked out

Oops, I Ate It!

Look what I got from Andrea at Arise2Write! Mum says I should feel very honored since Andrea's blog is such an inspiration.

As I mentioned last post, I've also been tagged by Paco, Milo and Maya.

"When accepting this award, you must blog about the food you have stolen when your humans were not watching.

If you have never stolen any food, you must have been a really good pup!
You can accept this yummy tray of cookies as your reward!
Next add the logo of this award to your blog (optional), then nominate at least 5 other furry blogs and let them know by leaving a message on their blogs."

I couldn't remember any occasion when I've taken food I wasn't supposed to, so I was ready to chow down on my reward of the tray of cookies, but Mum said I've got a selective memory and that I should tell you these stories:

When I was quite young and had only been living with Mum for a couple of months, we had been on one of our training walks. These were a lot of fun and we did them nearly every day. Mum would take treats in her pocket and along the way, she would give them to me when I followed her commands. I learned to "walk to heel", "leave it!", "stay" and "release". These last two I loved because Mum would make me lie down on the trail and tell me to "stay", then she'd walk or run away and I'd have to stay there until she called "release". At that point, I would go tearing along the trail to catch up with her.

On this day when we got home, Mum forgot she hadn't given me all the treats. I knew the treat was meant for me, so I just went ahead and chewed a hole through her jacket pocket and ate it right up! Mum was quite cross with me, but also couldn't help laughing because I'd figured out the easiest way to get the treat out of the pocket.

After that I was very good and learned my "leave it!" command very well. Mum was very proud that she could leave her food within my reach and go out of the room and I wouldn't touch it.

She told Dad this when he came to live with us, so he completely trusted me around food, but sometimes forgot that if he didn't tell me to "leave it!" then all bets were off. He found this out one time when he took me on a trip to the store to pick up a cooked chicken. Now, you need to know that when Mum & Dad buy a cooked chicken, it's usually for my dinner. How was I supposed to know that this cooked chicken was for Mum & Dad's dinner?

Dad had to run another errand, so he left the bag of chicken in the front of the car, and left me to guard the car while he went into another store. My head was so deeply into the bag of chicken when he came back that I didn't even hear him! But boy, was it tasty! I do remember this incident well and even wrote a post about it some time ago.

My best defense, as always, when anything like this happens, is to put on my best "butter wouldn't melt in my mouth" look. And no, I hadn't just sipped out of that cup in this picture!

At least I've never done anything like Mum's other dog, Nelson, who once stole a sandwich out of a man's hand at the beach, just as he was about to eat it!

I know a lot of you out there have some stories you've been sitting on about food you've stolen. Don't worry, if you write about it in your blog, your humans will never need to know! So I'd like to know what Baby Rocket Dog & Hootie, Moose, Sedona, Frankie and Hoover have eaten in the food department that maybe they weren't meant to.

The Winner!

Thanks to all my blogging pals who got their humans to have a go in the contest. We had some excellent entries - not all of them correct, but they were a lot of fun when Mum read them out to me!

First of all, here are the answers:

1. What is the name of my best dog pal?
d) Monty

2. What's my favorite activity?
b) playing in the snow

Several of you said a) swimming in the creek for this one, and I know I talk about the creek a lot, but I actually don't enjoy the swimming part as much as I do looking for ducks and rolling in the dirt. When there's snow to play in, I never want to come home.

3. Which of these places haven't I visited?
c) Oklahoma

4. Have I ever caught a duck?
No, but I know it's going to happen one day
(I thought it was a), but Mum said that was just my imagination)

5. What gives me the willies?
c) Thunder
(and black dogs, as a couple of you rightly noted).

So there were just two of you who had all the answers correct. Mum wrote those names on pieces of paper and put them in my beret.

I had to wait patiently till she gave the word.


When she said "get it!", I stuck my head right in there and pulled one out.



I chewed it around in my mouth a bit because I thought it must be a treat.

When I realized it wasn't, I dropped it on the ground. Sorry about the drool!

It's Ellie! Well done! Please tell your mum to email my mum with your address and we'll send you the book.

I know some of you tried to help your peoples out with the answers, but they obviously weren't listening. I know, I have the same problem with my peoples. But Mum said because I had so much fun picking the name out of the beret, we could put all the other names in there afterwards and I could pick out a runner up. I think you're all probably quite good runners (not as good as me, most likely, but never mind), so this was a difficult choice.


This time, I picked out Eclipse and her mum, Tabatha,

Please email my mum your address so we can send you a prize. It's a picture of me swimming in the creek! It's actually something very special that my human friend Windy made. Mum says it's called a fridge magnet.

Mum was very excited that both the winners are training to be assistance dogs. This just goes to show how smart both Ellie and Eclipse must be and what excellent working dogs they will become.

And now I want to show you all the present my mum got for me.

It came in the mail last week, but I wasn't allowed to wear it because of the little episode with the skunk. Even though I still stink a bit, Mum put it on me today. Doesn't the color suit me?

This is my very own Scruffy Dog Collar, in teal, hand made especially for me by Kelli and Tibby (I think Tibby does most of the work). I'm very proud to wear it and like it a lot better than my purple collar, which gets very hot around my neck in the summer. If you want to get one for yourself, have your person order one from Tibby's mum. She makes them really fast!

Okay, Mum says I have to stop the chit chat now, so I'll have to tell you the rest of my news next time. I've been tagged by Paco, Milo and Maya. This time it's all about food. That's my kind of game!