OMG. A kid in a buggy.

Up at 6:30am to find Sarah had already beat me to it. She had heard Ruby whimper at around 6:15 and had got up to take her out. Just in time as she did a large poop in the garden. At least she held it in.

I promptly took over dog-sitting duty and Sarah went back to bed. Ruby obliged by going to sleep and stayed asleep for a couple of hours. I sat and watched the Japanese F1 GP in peace. Sebastian Vettel won (again). 5th one in a row for him and in touching distance of the title. Lewis Hamilton got a puncture going into the first corner of the first lap and eventually retired from the race on the ninth lap. Ruby noticed NONE of this.

Stop with the photos. I'm
tired.

Later in the day we took her out for another walk. Same route as yesterday. Down the estate to my parents. A chat on the doorstep and then up the path and around the estate. 15 minutes non-stop would do it. However, Ruby is so interested in just about every bush, lamp-post, patch of grass, driveway, car (parked), car (driving by), bird, pedestrian, leaf, piece of paper, drain...etc...that the 15 minute walk takes around an hour.

She does enjoy the walk though. On this occasion, we passed a family with young children, one of whom was in a buggy/push-chair. Ruby saw them coming and looked freaked out; like she does with cars going by. So we stopped and waited. The family were really nice and stopped to pet Ruby, allowing her to sniff the buggy. I think it was just that she had never seen one before. Something that, to us, seems so normal and 'unthreatening' was pretty unnerving for Ruby. She quickly got over it though.

After arriving back home, Ruby was pretty tired (as the photos show) so she crashed out on the floor in the living room for a while.

Zzzzzz

A few bursts of energy and she settled until around 11:00pm. Everyone else had gone to bed and I had stayed up to make sure that Ruby got a toilet trip before bed. Unfortunately, she woke up and almost immediately crouched in the living room, spraying poop on the carpet and wall. I ushered her into the conservatory and before I could even grab her lead, she had let loose her bowels all over the floor. Just to rub salt in the wound, she finished the poop, moved a couple of feet under the table and peed a huge puddle. So it was out with the kitchen towel, carrier bag, scooper and cleaner. 15 minutes later all was clean so I took Ruby outside into the cold, rainy night to see if she needed to make another deposit. However, nothing was forthcoming. She soon fell asleep again so I tucked her in her crate, switched off the TV and lights and dragged myself upstairs to write the blog before bed.

Monday tomorrow, and my mum is coming round at about 11am until 1pm. She will stay until my mother-in-law arrives. Ruby should have plenty of company. I just hope she behaves and that the 'accident' tonight is not a sign of things to come. Not least because her poop looked quite runny again. It would be bordering on soul destroying if, after all the trouble with diarrhoea, she has again gone back to having runny poop. As if toilet training a puppy isn't challenging enough!

Walkies

We decided to take Ruby around the block for a walk this afternoon. The vet had told us that 'unofficially' she can go out as from Wednesday as long as she is not taken somewhere that loads of dogs congregate. We waited a little longer to be sure as 'officially' she isn't supposed to go out into the world until next Wednesday.

Anyhoo, out we went. Ruby on her normal lead (rather than the extendable thing), a pocket full of treats in case distraction was needed, waterproof coats, and fingers crossed. 

What the Deuce?

To begin with, Ruby was managing a few steps at a time before stopping to sniff and explore pretty much anything and everything. A big bird of some description flew over us and Ruby stopped to watch in fascination.

Slow progress was made getting to the end of the street. Then a car drove by. It freaked Ruby out a little and she tried to run away, then she turned around and made as if to run after the car (presumably she thought it needed to be rounded up).

Getting friendly with Buddha

She remained quite spooked by the cars but I kept trying to take her mind off them. Every time one approached I talked to her and distracted her with the offer of a treat. It was working quite well and she settled down a fair bit. She still flinched when a 4x4 or diesel with a loud engine went by but she wasn't too bad. When we got to my parents house we stood talking to my dad and Ruby positioned herself next to the car on the drive, watching all the other cars driving by. She seemed interested but not frightened (as the picture above shows).

As we were on our way back home, we went past a bloke walking his dog (on the opposite side of the street). Ruby paid attention and her ears pricked up. But she didn't make any attempt to go towards the other dog and didn't bark or growl. When we got to the end of our drive, Ruby picked up speed and ran to the front door. She seemed relieved to be home. It must have been a lot to take in but she did pretty well for her first time.

Let me in ffs....it's wet out here.

Apart from the walk, Ruby has spent a lot of time in the garden today. She continues to love chewing things; bark chips, twigs and bamboo shoots to name but a few. She also noticed our Buddha and decided to take a closer look.

She enjoys rooting around in the garden, digging here and there and generally getting down and dirty with the soil. 

So day one of the introduction to the big wide world has been completed. From now on, the real fun starts. Meeting other people, dogs, cats, children, cars etc...etc.... And short trips to the garden to go to the toilet and have a little play will no longer 'cut it'.

Border Collie Intelligence

I knew the Border Collie was an intelligent dog but some of Ruby's antics have still taken me by surprise. At just under 12 weeks old, she has clearly been keeping a close eye on where we put some of the good stuff (ie rubbish).

Our Bin

We have a brabantia bin just like this one, in our kitchen. We will put all manner of kitchen waste in there and Ruby has clearly been taking note of all this. 

Cue Ruby suddenly deciding to see what all the fuss is about by copying what we do. So she promptly got on her hind legs and whacked her front legs down onto the lid, causing it to flip open. She could then just about reach her snout into the bin to check out all the goodies.

Another thing she has learned is that if she grabs the draught protecting strip along the base of the kitchen door, she can pull the door open and get out into the hallway. So I decided to use her natural curiosity and intelligence to set her a little test. She has been playing with a crushed 1 litre plastic milk carton for the last few days. Today, I crammed in some her dried food, ensuring it was well packed into the crushed inside and would not fall out easily. For the next 45 minutes, Ruby used a variety of methods to release the tasty treats. She stood the carton on its end, grabbed it by the handle and whacked it against the sofa...and so on. She got every last treat out of the bottle eventually.

They grow so quickly

I keep having to look twice at Ruby as I still find it hard to believe how quickly she is growing. Rhianna put these two pictures together to show the difference in just under 4 weeks. 

Her levels of energy and craziness seem to be growing at roughly the same rate. Mind you, it's hardly surprising given that she is still officially not allowed out into the big wide world. Her injections are effective (so the vet says) from next Wednesday. However, we are going to take her for a walk this weekend; making sure that she doesn't get too close to other dogs or their poops. I'm hoping that by getting her out and about and properly exercised, she will be less inclined to go mental. Of course, being a puppy, she is going to have her fair share of mad moments but it must be really frustrating for her to only be able to go into our back garden and nowhere else.

I am also going to contact our local dog training club this week http://www.calverleydogclub.co.uk/ as they offer puppy training classes each Monday evening. It will be good to get some structure to my training as I have hit a bit of a wall when it comes to trying to get Ruby to 'stay' and 'come'. She is a quick learner but it can be difficult to get her to focus when she gets giddy. Again, I have to accept that as a young puppy, she will be like this, but still, I would welcome some experienced input. 

Once the basics are in place, I want to take Ruby to visit Gillian (the breeder) so she can socialise with some of the dogs on the farm and maybe do a bit of herding. But all that comes later.

Conference

I'm not able to put a big post up today as I am about to set off for a conference in Slough. I'm staying at a hotel overnight and then travelling back home after the conference tomorrow evening. It is unlikely I will get chance to post tomorrow, but hoping to be back to normal by Friday.

Ruby is being looked after by my mother this afternoon. I'm hoping she behaves herself. So far today, everything has been ok. She's toileted outside when we've taken her and she's played nicely. 

It's MY stick

Ruby has a thing about bamboo. She loves running around the garden with a stick in her mouth. As you can see she enjoys it immensely.

Milk carton

Ruby likes plastic milk cartons......she REALLY likes plastic milk cartons. There was an empty one next to our kitchen waste bin and when Ruby noticed it, the game was on.

MY carton

She played with it relentlessly. It didn't take her long to get the screw top off the bottle and then it was a matter of steadily biting and lying on the bottle to squash it as flat as she could. 

The best thing (as far as Ruby was concerned) was the fact that the bottle had a handle. She soon found that grabbing it by the handle meant she could race up and down carrying the bottle without fear of dropping it. She also likes to play fetch with the bottle and takes great delight in one of us 'pretending' to throw it one way, then suddenly changing direction and throwing it another way. It rarely caught her out though. Must be something to do with the BC focus.

Toileting wise, Ruby has been pretty good today. Apart from doing one poop in the conservatory without anyone noticing. However, not content with leaving the little present, she found my mother-in-law's slippers, picked one of them up, took it to the pile of poop and dropped it on top. That got everyone's attention!

Time for a power nap before more fun

All this fooling around made her a tired puppy and as it was quite warm, she decided to crash out on the conservatory floor. In less than 4 weeks, she has grown loads. Her legs are MUCH longer and she no longer resembles the little squat puppy we brought home. Soon we will only have the photographs to show how small she once was. 

Crate training - a new dawn

Last night we tried a new approach to crate training. I had installed the divider into the crate to make it much smaller. It is now just big enough for Ruby to stand and turn around. It fits her bed perfectly and has no room to move around any further than the size of the bed.

Before putting her to bed I made sure she went poop outside (around 10:30pm) and then settled her down in the crate. Sarah decided to get up at around 2am to check on her and although she was fast asleep, she woke when Sarah entered the room. Outside they went and Ruby obliged straight away. Then it was back into the crate until 6:30am. No accidents and outside for another toilet trip. Great stuff.

We are basically going by the book and it seemed to work. We had not tried it up to now as Ruby's stomach was 'icky' and it was obvious she would have difficulty in holding it in had she needed the toilet. The last thing I wanted was an upset dog after messing her bed.

Ruby was back in the crate at 8:00am as Rhianna was out. She got home somewhere around 10:30ish to find Ruby happy enough but looking like she wanted to go pee. It was obvious that she was avoiding soiling her bed so it was a good day overall.

My mother then came up to see Ruby and Rhianna so she could get a handle on what the routine is. With Rhianna starting work part time from Wednesday, my mother will be round to make sure Ruby is ok and that she gets fed, watered and toileted throughout the day. 

This trampoline is MUCH
more fun than going poop

It will be interesting to see how Ruby fares tonight. She did the business at around 7:30pm but although she has been outside plenty of times since, she has shown no interest in 'vacating her bowels'. I tried again just before bed but Ruby simply went to her new favourite spot and chewed on a twig for a while. Eventually, it became clear that she was not going to do anything toilet wise so in we came. 

She is now safely tucked up in her crate and awaiting what will no doubt be another early hours excursion to the garden.

We have only had Ruby for just over 3 weeks but she has already grown loads. Although we don't tend to notice day by day, she will suddenly surprise us by putting her front paws on something and showing us that she can now reach things that would have been impossible only a few days before.

Tonight she put her front paws on a nest of tables we have in the living room and was able to reach over and (nearly) take a drink of Sarah's hot tea. It just adds another dimension to watching her. You think something is out of reach but she has grown so quickly that she takes you unawares.

Size IS everything

Ruby's stomach is getting much better. She has pooped in her crate for the last 2 nights and avoided using the puppy pad. After some good advice from Gillian (puppy's breeder) we have decided to dispense with the pad, use the divider in the crate to make it smaller and see how we go. I'm going to set my alarm for 3am and take Ruby out. Hopefully the absence of the pad and the fact that the space in the crate is just big enough for her bed will encourage her to 'hold it in'. Up to now, I haven't been confident that she is capable of holding it in given the diarrhoea. We'll see.

It really IS a dog's life

We've also spent all day reinforcing her going wee/poop outside by much praise and intermittent treats. She has done pretty well with it although she is so clever that I believe she was doing poops in 2 stages in order to try to get 2 treats for separate 'toilet events'. Crafty! It didn't work though, because she only gets the treat sometimes.

 After a whirlwind of activity this morning, Ruby settled down for a well-earned rest. She slept on my legs though, so by the time she woke up, my backside was pretty damn numb. I didn't have the heart to kick her off me though. She looked far too comfortable.

To break the monotony of just going in and out of the back garden, we took her out front a couple of times. We have a private parking area in front of our block of 4 town houses so there was no real danger of her coming in to contact with other dogs (or their poop). There is still over a week before she can officially get properly out and about but there shouldn't be a problem as long as we are careful. 

I'm not pooping until I
get a treat

Later today my sister in law Rhiannon came over with her two children Catherine and Patrick. We took Ruby out the front again for a bit of fresh air. She loves the patch of grass and was happily playing on it until she suddenly went in to herding mode. Even for such a small puppy it was impressive. She was down so flat to the ground and quickly moved then down again. Luckily she never goes outside without the lead otherwise Catherine and Patrick would have been well and truly herded (somewhere).

Patrick is nervous of dogs so his reaction did add to Ruby's herding instinct. He was really good though. He stopped and stood still when I asked him to; which must have taken some willpower for a 6 year old who is already skittish around dogs. I took Ruby's mind off herding by calling her and walking her down the drive, and all was well.

I'm sure that once she gets a bit bigger I will be calling up Gillian and asking her nicely if we can bring Ruby up for some herding lessons. She will absolutely love it. And Ruby should like it too....hehe.

Picking up the Puppymobile

Up at 7am this morning, so Ruby had let us have a bit of a lie in. When I got up, she was laid in her crate but had done a poop all over her blanket. Cue some cleaning up of bedding, crate and doggy. She seems to have settled down after the diarrhoea saga and I'm at the point where I am having to decide whether to use the divider in the crate to make it smaller. It might help with the training by deterring Ruby from going to the toilet in the crate. Then again, most mornings, if she has done anything it will usually be on the puppy pad inside the litter tray. A darn site easier to clean up than doing it on her bed. I might give it another few weeks until she is that bit bigger. 

Today was the day that I picked up the new car. The VW Passat estate that will be Ruby's mode of transport to nice places once she can start to go out. It has plenty of room for a travel crate and is a real nice car to drive. I have to say that I was sorry to see my Volvo S40 2.0D go as it has served me well. But it was starting to get a bit old (8 years old) and it was likely that some serious money would have needed to be spent on it. Still, I liked that car a lot. Hey-ho, life goes on. At least if I need to transport a wardrobe or grandfather clock I won't need to hire a van.

Ruby has flipped between lively and sleepy all day. Sarah is starting to get irritated that Ruby can jump/nip at her a lot and whatever she does it seems to have little effect. I appreciate that puppies are going to do it but I can often quickly calm her and stop her doing it to me; whereas Ruby doesn't seem to react to the same strategy with Sarah. I think I need to do some more reading on tips to establish the pack hierarchy.

Although Ruby has not been too bad at chewing things she shouldn't, when she gets excited she can have a right go at her dog bed.

DON'T JUDGE ME!

Here she is after being told to stop chewing the cushion in the bed. She had pulled it out from the bed and was ragging it around (having a great time). I distracted her with something more interesting but she soon went back to the bed. She likes the woolly pile on one side of the cushion and will tug at it, then start digging at it until she can push her nose underneath. She then gets a grip and pulls it out from the bed.

As you can see, she is good at effecting a "What?...surely you're not blaming me.." pose.

Fetch

We are guilty of taking our eye off the ball a few times today. No damage done apart from a couple of poops on the conservatory floor. Ruby did her bit but we weren't always responsive enough to the signs. I'm sure she'll have us trained before long.

I attempted some training with her this evening but decided not to use treats given that her stomach has been problematic. Nevertheless, she did well. She is getting really good at fetch and will run, pick up the object, bring it back and drop it at my feet. There is a bit of a pattern forming though; she does it 2 or 3 times and then decides to run back with the object but not give it to me. I think she gets to the point where she thinks 'enough is enough'. 

I attempted to progress Ruby with 'stay', and had a measure of success but she then started to get a bit giddy and I decided to call it a day. It's definitely the trickiest command so far. I think I'll wait until puppy training classes to get serious with that one. I need to remember that she is still less than 11 weeks old and we've only had her for 3 weeks.

I'm pretty tired tonight and I'm picking up the new car tomorrow, so I think I will leave it at that for this entry. I didn't get chance to get a picture of Ruby tonight so I've just put up one from my little archive...

Wet dog

A quiet day

And a quiet day it has been. Ruby has been really good today. She has eaten, slept, gone to the toilet and played, all in a nice, well-behaved way. That is, until I arrived home and I made the 'cry wolf' mistake again. She had gone to the back door a few times only to come back into the house when I went to investigate. The one time I thought she was 'pulling my chain' she decided to curl down a massive poop on the conservatory floor. Of course, I realise it is wholly my own fault. And to be fair, the floor is vinyl (as I think I have said before), so cleaning up any 'accidents' is not a big deal.

On the other side of the coin, I was just getting ready to crate her at bedtime and she made as if to go to the back door. I followed her, put her on the lead and took her outside. A big poop followed almost immediately. She is doing a great job after only a couple of weeks. She does know that outside is the place to go. It is the fault of the human family members when we don't pay attention enough and she ends up dropping one inside the house. Never mind, she will have us trained before too long.

We are all really looking forward to when we can start taking Ruby out and about. The vet say we can start a week after her injection (which was yesterday) as long as we keep her away from other dogs and dog poop. So a little walk around the block should be fine. Then a week later, she will be ready to enter the big wide world.

We bumped into an old neighbour (ex-neighbour rather than one of advancing years) in the vet yesterday. Katie had 2 greyhounds and she was always exercising them in the fields behind our house. Sadly one of the dogs died a week ago but she still takes the other one out for walks every day. Katie has offered to show us a few walks around our local woods, starting with a short 20 minute one that should not be too much for Ruby. Should be good to start with.

Unhand me or I shall lick
your face

Ruby was playful tonight and we took it in turns to keep her occupied. She likes having her belly tickled and doesn't seem to have a particularly favourite toy. She fluctuates between favourites although she will always go for the Kong as long as it has banana inside it.

The antler chew is also one she spends a lot of time with as well as a milk flavoured nylabone. Oh, she also likes to tug on the cut off leg of a pair of jeans that has been knotted at one end. And of course there is the old faithful, flattened plastic drink bottle.

We are slowly but surely building up her collection so eventually she will have a box full. That is when the training on how to put them all away will start.