Off To A New Adventure

Ruby's Mum here. Our sweet red rock adventure girl left us yesterday for adventures in pastures new. It came out of the blue and was very quick, leaving us shocked, but grateful there was no long, drawn out suffering, and that we were both there with her. We think it was a heart attack.

Ruby left the way she lived, with no dilly dallying. The day before she had an acupuncture session, visited the staff of OfficeMax, then spent an hour fishing at the creek. She was the liveliest we've seen her in the water for a while.

She slept outside with me that night, and slept in for a little in the morning, both of us enjoying the cool morning breeze, until Dad came to take her for a walk at Long Canyon. In her usual way, she made friends with some Japanese girls walking the same path, and when she was ready, told Dad it was time to come home for breakfast. A couple of hours later, we heard her scream. She struggled for two breaths, and was gone.

Ruby touched more lives than any dog I've had. Just a couple of days ago I was walking with her in our neighborhood, when someone in a car that Ruby seemed to recognize, stopped to say hello. They of course greeted Ruby, not me, but as if she were a person. "Hello Ruby, how are you? I haven't seen you in a long time. You're looking good."

I had no idea who this person was or where they might have met Ruby. This happened on other occasions too, to the point that we thought maybe Ruby was leading a parallel life and meeting these people without us. The strangest one happened when we were on holiday in California a few years ago. Some people stopped us in the street and greeted Ruby by name. To this day, we have no recollection of meeting them anywhere before.

Emails and Facebook notes have been flooding in, and we are so very touched by the depth of feeling people have for our girl. She has been my constant companion and workmate for almost 11 years. Today was my first day giving a massage without her. I sorely missed her trotting out to the gate and giving the client their first greeting. This was clearly her job and she never liked to miss a session. Once the greeting part was done, and she had led the person to the studio, she would take her place on the kitchen floor and stay there until a few minutes before the end. She didn't like me running over time, and would let me know when she thought I should be done by getting up and stretching, and shaking her collar so the tags jingled.

Many a time I would reenter the room when the session was over and find the client down on the floor with Ruby, having a heart to heart. People connected with her on a very deep level. One of my friends, who never met Ruby in person, sums it up perfectly.

"All people and all creatures have their intrinsic worth, but some people, and especially some dogs have a special luminosity. I think Ruby Red girl was one of these special beings. And she seemed to have chosen you to communicate her love to the world and other human beings. I will miss your wonderful stories about her."

There are a few stories yet untold, and when the rawness of it all has subdued, I'll share them here, along with some more pictures.

With boyfriends, Robert and Gabe, in California. The boys were training to be service dogs. Only Robert made the grade and lost his battle with cancer just a few months ago. Gabe still lives with his trainer parents. Ruby learned a lot in that week.

Pepé le Who?

I stink!

Mum said so.

Dad said so too. He called me a Stinkerpoozer.

And it's all because of that tricky little black and white critter they call Pepé le Pew, who hangs out down by the creek.


I had to get doused in this stuff.

We waited for it to dry, then Mum did it again.

The stink didn't go away. That was Thursday.

Since then, Mum has washed me at least 10 times* with all of this stuff.

I've had to sleep outside every night.**

I'm almost going bald from all the bathing.
(But I'm still quite glamorous, aren't I?)

And apparently, I still stink!

*This may be a slight exaggeration, but I swear it was at least 8 times!
**Mum did sleep outside with me so I wouldn't feel lonely

Fossil Creek Adventure

So after Monty went home, Mum and Dad took me on a special adventure.

I tried to be patient waiting for them to put all the camping stuff in the car...

And then we were off. I kept a keen eye on the road to make sure Dad took all the right turns.

Finally, after hours and hours in the car and lots of twisting and turning down a bumpety road, I spotted THE CREEK!

In case you don't know already, I love the creek!

I tried stalking some creek critters, but no matter how long I waited, those fish stayed under the water.
I tried staring them down, and willing them to jump out.

Next, I tried some of my duck hunting tactics. I bet you can't see where I'm hiding!

When I was thoroughly muddy and covered in burrs, it was time to rest for a while on the fresh bed Mum had made in the tent. Mum said she loves camping with a wet, muddy dog and spending hours picking out all the burrs and foxtails from my fur. Well, I think that was the gist of it, anyway.

Catching Up

I've had a really busy week since I last wrote. I've been wanting to tell you all about it, but Mum has been a bit under the weather after our camping trip to the far away creek (the one with the blue-green water) and hasn't had her computer open for me to use. She got bitten by a lot of no-see-ums and her face looks all funny and lumpy. That's funny-peculiar, not funny-haha, although me and Dad did have a bit of a laugh. 

I'll tell you all about my creek adventures soon, but first of all I have to tell you about the award I got from Jack.

“This award is presented to those dog bloggers out there who know the meaning of GREATNESS. Their blogs are consistently interesting, funny, or informative. Their KINDNESS is extended to others without expectation of it’s return, and their FRIENDSHIP inspires others to do EXTRAORDINARY things. These are the blogs you can’t wait to read everyday.

In short, they are AWE-INSPIRING, full of wonder, and simply PAWsome! Pass this award on to 4 others who you feel exemplify a “Paw”some Blog, and leave a note saying why you think they deserve the Pawsome Award!”

Well, I'm not surprised that Jack got the award too, because I always make Mum read his blog to me so I can see what he's been up to. He's still got a lot to learn, but he's a young pup still. I was happy to hear he's been getting a place staked out on his dad's bed recently. Good work, Jack!

We're supposed to pass this on to 4 other pups with blogs that we really enjoy, but I want to give it to every one of the blogs my mum reads to me. 

As you all know by now, Monty is my best friend in the whole world. 

He can be a bit of a goofball at times, but he's always up for a game or two and never says a cross word - even when Mum is flashing that bright light from the camera in his eyes.

When he arrives, he goes to the toy corner and picks one out. Sometimes he just likes to use it as a pillow. Here he is with my lion that I got for Christmas. Mum and Dad are very proud of me letting Monty play with my toys. I didn't complain once.

I tore the lion's head off today, so he won't be playing with that one again.

A Walk on the Wild Side

(Photo: Lamb, A. & Johnson, L. (2004). Coyote Walking. Naturescapes Starters.)

It's almost full moon and the coyotes in our neighborhood have been particularly vocal the past few nights. It *really* bothers me when they come so close to our house. They mock me from the street and dare to run across our land right by the living room windows.

Last night, when Dad was taking me for my bedtime walk, I saw a really cocky fellow waiting for me at the bottom of the driveway and managed to slip my collar to take up the chase. I could smell him as soon as Dad opened the front door and it made me so mad! This coyote always has a good laugh at me when I'm on the leash, and taunts me something rotten. 

Well, last night I'd had enough. I chased him down the driveway, then back up the side of the hill and around behind the house. I really let rip with my barking, and we were almost on the other side of the hill near the wolf-dogs' house - they were howling like crazy - when out of nowhere I heard Mum's blood-curdling yell down on the street and a light a thousand times brighter than the moon shone right in my eyes. 

If you've never heard my mum yell, consider yourselves very fortunate. There was nothing for it but to admit defeat. She had a flashlight trained on me and there was no getting away, so I slunk down the side of the hill to the street and Dad snapped my collar and leash back on me.There was a lot of talk when we got home about how naughty I'd been, and how dangerous it was to go chasing after coyotes at night. And coming so soon after my escapade the other day when I tried to chase a snake swimming across the creek, I think Mum and Dad are going to be keeping a very close eye on me from now on.

The worst of it is, I've got to wear this stupid contraption now when I go for the nighttime walks.

I feel suck a dork! I'll never live it down if word gets out, and those coyotes are such gossip mongers. Grrrr!

On a much happier note, The Woof Gang has given me this lovely award for my services to the greater dog community, and for generally being the swankiest dog around. Okay, I may have embellished a bit there, but it is a pretty cool award, don't you think?