Tag Archives: ripley

Look what I found…

I was driving to work on a local highway that runs through a rural area. This little guy walked out into the road and nearly got hit by the car in front of me. I expected him to retreat to the field where he came, but he didn’t, even as I drove up to him. So I opened my door, plucked him up, and drove back home.

My parents aren’t too thrilled about me bringing home a stray (for good reason! As a child I brought home TONS of strays and they don’t make good house pets when they’re not trained and are feral!), so I’m trying to keep to my word about finding his owner or a home. I notified two local shelters, posted an ad on Craigslist and on Saturday we’re visiting the local Petco to have him scanned for a microchip.

All the while he’s growing on my husband and I, particularly because he’s a puppy so I felt obligated to treat him for fleas and ticks – pricey because he’s a puppy. Aside from his energetic playfulness, he’s has blessed periods of calm that we never experience with Ripley. With Ripley she’s always jumping or licking or running or something – I think I’ve only been able to photograph her a handful of times because she’s never still. It doesn’t help that I don’t have the time or the want to run all the energy out of her. Even if we spent time at the park throwing the ball she’s still to keyed up to relax with us at home that night. This puppy however curled up right between us on our bed as we played a video game last night a fell into a deep sleep within minutes. It really highlights the difference between some breeds. You can’t really tell here, but I’m pretty sure he’s a Beagle mix – his ears are really wide a floppy – and Beagles are well known for their even temperament. Maltese & Pinscher on the other hand are known for their energy, separation anxiety and jealous protective natural with their owners.

I’m trying not to compare the two because it’s not Ripley’s fault that she’s the kind of dog she is and I’m the kind of owner I am. Its my fault for not catering to her needs – and for not properly training her when she was young. Seeing the excellent behavor of both this Beagle and my sister’s newly acquired Mini Schnauzer makes me realize I need to take more aggressive steps to get Ripley to a comfortable state where she’s not always bouncing off the walls – or is obedient enough to have around people & children in particular.

Anyhow. This post kind of ran away with itself. We’ve named him Sampson for the time being.

Last Week: Part Four, Dog House

Ripley’s in the dog house right now.

As I said, this weekend I was taking care of her by myself. Part of that meant making sure she goes to the bathroom outside. I didn’t really want to take the dog for a walk with the baby so I decided to just let her do her business in our front yard and pick it up later. Well she’d urinate, but wouldn’t pass anything solid so I thought she didn’t have to.

Well she did. And she did, right in our living room, as Evy and I sat on the carpet beside her. Sunday afternoon when I was already frazzled from a bad nights sleep and Evy’s need for a lot of attention.

I was SO upset! She’s pooped in the front lawn before, so it’s not as if she just didn’t know she could. And I took her out REPEATEDLY when she didn’t go the first time. But she chooses not to and then chooses to go in our living room instead.

Out for the day!

Fast forward to Sunday night. Paul’s finally home. I’ve stuffed Evy with enough rice cereal to make a good sized water ballon, and she’s playing happily on the carpet. Ripley, out of no where that I can see, SNAPS AT HER! She actually bit her, on her right cheek. Broke the skin enough to cause bleeding.

Out for the night!

Paul and I decided that we’d just keep her out if the baby was crawling around, so once the baby was asleep for the night we let her back in. I’m not going to hold it against her if she has an accident – and I’m not going to hold it against her if she can’t play with the baby.

Then this morning we come out, and I dont’ know how we missed it, but last night she pooped in the living room AGAIN!

I don’t know what is the matter with her, but she’s not going to be indoors for a bit. She can’t seem to hold it when she has to go to the bathroom and I’m not going to deal with that. Evy need to be able to play on that carpet and further more it’s not our house so I’m not going to even try and work with it.

Ripley’s been my buddy lately

Ripley's been my buddy lately :) Since we live so close to my work I come home at lunch and now she's not as spastic to see me when I'm home. That means *occasionally* she actually calms down enough to close her eyes and I think its SO cute :P it doesn't happen often – I have to document it!

{o,o} — hoot.
| )__)
" "

Aha! Caught you :P

Aha! Caught you :P

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On the right track!

Just last Monday I was writing about how Ripley was not adjusting very well to the new house. We'll I'm pleased to say that I think we've made a lot of progress since then. There are a few things we've had to change – some for the better – and it all seems to be working very well. For one thing, we find that she doesn't even need the piddle pad when she stays in the bathroom at night and that we no longer need the baby gate – likely because she's become more comfortable in there and doesn't panic. Before it was a lot in our teeny bathroom and it made using the bathroom at night hell (I have to use the bathroom at least once EVERY night right now so it really was noticeable). Also, I've been going home on my lunches to let her out so I find she's not so explosive at lunch time or when we get home. I've been working on leaving the back door open when we're there so that she's allowed to just come in and out and I don't know if it's just hopeful wishing, but I think that's doing a lot to ease her anxiety as well.

When I go home during the day and when we get home at night I find she's okay with hanging around outside and doesn't instantly want back in. In fact, unlike before when she'd just stare at me for the whole 45 minutes of my lunch, I seem to matter very little now as long as I stay quiet. Playing with her is much more enjoyable now too because she's not so concentrated on ME that she can actually have fun and chase after what I throw for her. She's cuddling now more too while before it was really just a painful attack of claws and vicious licking.

All in all, I've really been enjoying Ripley and I hope we can only improve. We haven't left her by herself in the back yard yet while we're not there – even though we've made the improvements – so that's next on our list. We ended up buying her a really nice cozy house to put outside – and she's okay with being in it – it's just that she never does go into it. Not quite sure why, but we're working on it. I just wish there was some doggy GPS system we could buy that would allow me to see if she's left the yard :P They have systems like that, but the initial cost is expensive and then you have to pay a monthly service fee.

Anyhow, just wanted to record the fact that Ripley is a cute dog, she's smart, and we're working together to get this all where we need to be :)

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The lazy man’s post.

I don't want to get out of bed this morning. This is coming from my Sidekick.

Its not that there's anything to dread – quite the opposite. José is bringing his family over this afternoon for a BBQ so all we have to do today is clean a bit (I've been on top of cleaning now :P ) and go pick up the food for the BBQ. Plus Paul's making breakfast right now so there's more to look forward to. I'm just comfy :)

Yesterday we tied up a bunch of loose ends. 1st, when we went to retrieve our 3 trash cans from the curb on Thursday night, one was missing – the one for trash to be exact. We called over to Waste Management, worried we'd done something wrong (we've never had trash cans before) but they said not to worry – they'd bring us a new one next Thursday. 2nd, we'd been given a key to our mailbox but weren't told which box was ours so we'd been unable to confirm if our forwarding service was working. Yesterday I got ahold of our property management firm and by the end of the day we were able to check it. 3rd, in the mail we got our final move out paperwork from the apartment complex – and while I don't agree with everything – I'm satisfied. We're getting back everything but the pet deposit (they charged us $280 to replace the carpet) which I'm fine with. Great weight off of our shoulders. 4th, Tuesday night our internet cut out and they weren't able to get anyone out until Friday afternoon. Ends up the line is bad and they have to contract out to run new lines. They got us working for now, but its just temporary.

So, lots of progress for one day.

Tomorrow we're going to work on Ripley proofing the backyard – wish us luck :)

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Ripple of Woes

Ripley's not adjusting as well as I'd hoped to the new house.

I was SO excited to get her a backyard – but she only wants to be in the house with us all the time. This wouldn't be so bad – but we have to work and she's a terror when she's loose in the house. She seems to forget where her pee pad is when she's free in the house, and will pee anywhere. She also chews on anything and everything she can get her little snout around. Hell, she's a puppy still and there's nothing we can do about that. It's only when she's cozily confined that she remembers about the pad and we can make sure that her area is clear of anything for her to chew on. We've been placing her in the bathroom at night and she seems to do wonderfully in there – trots in there happily at night and snuggles up in her bed with a little wag of her tail.

During the day, we tried to place her in the backyard while we had to leave the house. But she dug her way out already and Paul & I are both nervous that she'll do it again. So – until we could spend some much needed time in the backyard "Ripley proofing" it, we would just place her in the bathroom again – she did so well there at night. Well, the other day we left her in the bathroom for a few hours (while we were working at the apartment) and when we came home we found that she'd begun to paw and rip the carpet at the doorway!!! NEW CARPET IN A NEW HOUSE! I was so upset – and also really disappointed. I just want her to be happy and I can't seem to do that. No amount of toys or playing with her seems to keep her content when we just can't be there with her.

We had to go to Petco that night and get her a 20 ft cable to keep her in the backyard during the day when we can't be there. We tried it out on Saturday and found that she survived, though she did get tangled up on one of the patio posts and so wasn't as mobile as I'd hoped. We had her in the backyard for a few hours while my nephew was over yesterday, but when I peeked out there I saw her shaking and I don't know if its because of the weather which was cold (50° F) with a strong wind or because she was just feeling lonely. We tried to find her a dog house, but the local Petco didn't have anything other than vented carriers and they were too expensive considering it wasn't what we needed anyhow.

Today, because its cold again – we opted to put her in the bathroom with a baby gate between her and the door so that she's not as confined but she's out of the cold, and she can't get near the door where the carpet meets the wood. Tonight we're going to another pet store or maybe even Wal-Mart to get her a house. I went home on my lunch to let her out of the bathroom a bit, I just hope I didn't make her apparent separation anxiety worse by coming and going so quickly again.

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More about Ripley…

Lap dog? I don't think so.

Lap dog? I don’t think so.

Last night I rolled over on the bed and realized there was blood in a few places. Realizing that Junior was all right, I was all right, I looked to Ripley. She seemed all right – but she was licking at her crotch. She was in heat! I'd never had a female dog that wasn't fixed before, so I had no idea. I was reading online and apparently she's a late bloomer considering she's about 14 months old. We're going to Petco tonight to pick her up some stuff – doggy diapers at the most. I might take the other suggested route though – men's underwear – since she hasn't visually bled since early yesterday afternoon.

We're also going to pick her up some more toys and something to clip her nails. She's been wrecking the carpet and I think her long nails are what are helping her pull it away from the wall. I think she just wants to dig :) I can't wait until we can find a house we can rent – Ripley will be SO much happier…

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