Tsavo

My wife says his table manners are atrocious. Robespierre, the cat is appalled by him. I just love him. When he doesn't eat his food the two Bassets will, so we pick it up and put it up higher. Tsavo just climbs up and helps himself, and folks these are not staged photos, he just stands there while I snap pics. He is crazy, he's in my bed as I type.

Chilly Little Lucy

Here's Lucy and her beloved Kong. I'm convinced it's the best thing in the world. Lucy has a few stuffed toys but they don't tend to last long, somehow the stuffing comes flying out. Some last minutes others a rare few weeks. At least she's not the only one with a stuffing fetish according to the blog.

New York has finally gotten some chilly weather recently and Lucy is not happy about it. We even got a little snow yesterday morning and she walked out, turned around and came right back in and went back to bed, lol. Lucy is a true sun goddess, if there's none to be found she's curled up sleeping on the couch. She's even taken to laying on her comforter in her crate in the kitchen while we eat dinner since it's the warmest place in the kitchen (unless the oven is on of course and then she's camped on the rug in front of it). Lucy is also a leash puller when it's chilly out, presumably because she's trying to warm up by walking faster. At least she has a coat this year to keep her warm. I also try to jog with her but I can't keep up, lol.

We have a cute picture of her when we first got her and had a big snowfall. She's got her nose close to the snow and her two front paws in it like she's trying to figure out what the heck it is. Snowballs are fun, Lucy loves to chase and eat them. For such a cold doggy she loves the ice (like some of her fellow ridgies), whenever she hears someone get ice out of an automatic ice maker in the fridge she comes running and sits patiently waiting for her share.

Or course, Lucy has her not so good moments. Lately she's had a few spitting up accidents on the bedroom and living room carpet. I think it's because of the cow hoof she's been chewing on because that's the only thing that's new so they'll be no more of those. This morning was one such accident at 5AM and I've been wide awake ever since. All in all though I know I made the right choice to adopt my ridgie last year. A little while ago I found a poem online about the love of a ridgie, I think it's copyrighted but anyone who'd like a read a beautiful poem about a ridgeback should try to find it or I'll try to find it again and set up a link.

Love those ridgies forever :-)

Bacari Makes His Move

I recently got a new job which has me overnighting out of town about once a week. That means Bacari is left w/ my husband who loves the dogs but is not generally responsible for every day care w/ feeding and potty. I guess there was some bonding time b/c last night Mr. BooBoo on the couch of course, nothing different about that. But Scott was curled up and letting Scott rest his head on him- kinda like a Ridgie pillow. I was amazed, Bacari was sound asleep. He was not the least bit worried. Scott said the night before- as he worked on the computer, Bacari would get up about every 30 minutes, walk over him, nudge him, give him a kiss and head back to the couch. It sounded really sweet- sorry no pics as I was not here to witness.
Bacari has come a long way- he seems to finally enjoy his life.

Amanda

Two questions

Hi,

So an update on Hannah (the half-lab) and Cheever (the none-Rhodesian). Hannah is doing well and enjoying the recent snowfall. Cheever is not as happy about it because yesterday he caught a toenail on something and tore a half of it off, exposing the quick. He has for the past day (since whatever he did to his toe yesterday) occassionally been favoring the inside of that foot. Are there any precautions needed to avoid infection? It didn't bleed profusely, but he left a number of red dots on the carpet that have mostly stopped appearing anew now.

The other question is happier. Hannah has been changing color somewhat recently. In July when I adopted her she was a solid black but has developed a distinct chocolate hue. The coloration is really beautiful and in certain lights and from certain angles the color shift is more noticable. It generally looks like she has a black undercoat and a topcoat of very dark Rhodesian-colored fur. Is this a factor of the seasonal change to winter or is it linked to food or some other factor? She seems very happy and very healthy, so I know this is nothing to worry about.

-David

A day in the life of a Northern Ridgeback

Hi Everyone,

It's been quiet on the blog. Is anyone out there? I hope everyone is having a good New Year and keeping warm in the colder states. We've had snow here in Ohio and Morgan and Curtis love eating the ice that forms in the footprints. It's so funny to watch them dig up the chunks and chomp away. Little do they know I have a whole freezer full of the stuff. Their favorite is the snow balls I make and let them take inside. It's been too cold for our long walks so they are zooming around the house like crazy hounds. Then they kurplunk and sleep it off.

Curtis is doing well with his training classes and Morgan likes when we go too. You see, we bring her a present back with us:) I think we have every Kong out there since they have defluffed every stuffed toy they had.

Curtis is getting much better with Annie the Cat. He's learned that hissing means "No" and backs away. Annie still prefers the safety of the basement. I can't say I blame her with two 70-80 lb. hounds running amuck. She looks at them like they are beneath her, which in a cats mind I guess is true.

Looking forward to hearing from all you Ridgie lovers out there.

Patti

CR Finds a New Home

Just a quick hello to all the other rescue families. We just brought "CR" home. He is an absolutely precious dog and feels like he has been in our family since always. His name has been changed to Guss-Guss, after my daughter's favorite stuffed toy... I find it hard to call him Guss-Guss, so he is just Guss to me.

So Guss is doing well. We had an easy ride home with him, thanks to the sedative Guss's foster mom gave us. The first night he whined a little bit. The second night he slept like a log, until my daughter crossed the hall to get in bed with us. She had a nightmare and scared Guss when she made the dash for our room. He started barking at her... briefly. We are going to organize things a bit differently tonight until he undertands things a little bit better.

Other than that all seems to be going well. Thanks to everyone for such a great process and great dog!

What's Yours is Mine

Had to share this with you all.

I usually stop at Pet Supplies Plus on my way home from work on Friday's to bring home a specail treat for Morgan and Curtis (they are not spoiled). They actually know when I've been there even if I come in empty handed. Must smell like the store or maybe they know what day of the week it is. Anyway, today they each got a smoked bone. Off they went gnawing away and as they usually do, switched bones every 5 minutes. It's so funny to watch. If one gets up and leaves the bone, the other will steal it and when the first one comes back, he or she will just pick up the abandoned bone. It still amazes me that there is never a growl. Well, Mr. Curtis had been working away for a good while and had done a good job of grinding down one end. He needed a potty break and when we came back in, low and behold Morgan had stolen his bone. You see, once one of them gets an end going, it's much easier to crunch away little pieces. Poor Curtis. The only way I can describe the way he looked is crestfallen. He had worked so hard to get it just right and there was Morgan enjoying all his hard work. I picked up the other bone, but he wanted nothing to do with it. I was waiting to hear the growls start, but instead, Curtis layed down nose to nose with Morgan, with his head resting on his foot and patiently waited until Morgan left it unattended. Did I mention, i love my dogs?

New Blogger, again...

Okay. I've been able to assist some people with getting back up and running on the blog. If you are not able to post, please contact me and I will see what I can do to help you. If I can't get you up and running again, we'll just re-invite you. That seems to solve it. You can email me at: rrustx @ earthlink . net OR rrusblog @ yahoo . com. Good luck everyone and keep the stories coming! :)

Update on Lucy and her anxiety

First of all I can't believe we've had Lucy for almost a full year. Time sure flies and I'm so glad she adjusted so well. I just wanted to give everyone a quick update on Lucy and her separation anxiety. Ever since the Christmas tree was put up Lucy has been in her crate while we were out. We were a little worried about leaving her along with the tree and the model train set underneath (she did try to chase and bite the trains when she first saw them move, lol). Anyway, we took out the shredded sheets from her crate and put a comforter in there that she liked to lay on. So far, the comforter has had no damage. We also started to feed her in the morning and at night which I believe may stop the chewing in the crate.

Lucy also got a wonderful toy/treat for Christmas. Her aunt and uncle got her a Kong and liver treats to put in. At first I was worried she would destroy the rubber like she did to a rubber bone she had but no. We stick peanut butter or the liver treats in there and she's a happy camper. She was left out of her crate, tree and all, with no major problems. Lucy barely notices us leave the house because she's so preoccupied trying to get the food out. She even throws it in the air to try to make the stuff fall out. Progress is a wonderful thing. I'm going to try to leave her out for longer periods and see what happens. If she moves a few pillows and even goes on the couch she's not supposed to I'm not going to worry if that's her worst. Hopefully eventually we won't even need the crate. Thank you everyone for your help and suggestions and we'll keep working on it.

Happy New Year All!!