New home

Just 6 months ago, after settling in, Kayla began her new life as Kumbira by taking over the house and the yard and, by proxy, all neighboring yards! She decided that all sounds and moving things in the realms beyond our backyard fence ought to be brought under her control by much running and barking! Thankfully winter was on its way and most of her time was spent indoors - to the neighbors' relief I am sure - even then, whatever moved in the street out front got the usual noisy address. The snow at first was a strange thing to be avoided, and then played in, and then pee'd on when the grass wasn't available. Then after a time, the snows melted away and we thought we had escaped the remainder of winter. That was a joke...

...the blizzard hit, and Kumbi who is usually pretty good at going outside to do her business even in unpleasant weather, tucked tail and literally ran! Craig had to grab hold of her and move her by her butt and push her through the door into the yard to do her thing - which ended up being a very hasty exercise! After that, Kumbi could tackle any weather! SuperDog!

Many things in our house are sources of amusement for Kumbi - getting between the shower curtains for one, though recently, eating cotton squares is much more fun! It is just as well that she has a strong constitution - she has eaten wood filler putty sticks, kleenex (she enjoys shredding a corner of the box and pulling out at least half of the contents and ripping those to pieces too), cotton squares, fluff off tennis balls, heaven-alone-knows-what-in-the-park, and various bits of food scrounged from the counters when we are not looking. The good thing is, she is not destructive except for mutilating her toys. Playing "fetch" is definitely beneath her, so we play "chase" where I seldom get my hands on the trophy!

It has been fascinating to watch the phases she has been through in these short 6 months. Over the past month or so, Kumbi has really settled well and calmed down a lot - in the first period that we had her, she was so wired, she wanted to go walking literally every 30 minutes! And when we did, she would pull on the leash and take me for the walk! It was exhausting! She was always asking for something (living up to her name!). Everything was new and exciting and had to be investigated - still does. Now she has met some of the neighborhood dogs and has taken well to 3 of them (while on her leash), but wants to fight with a fourth who doesn't care much for her either, and thinks he owns the neighborhood. Now that she is a little more used to yard noises from neighbors, she does not always bark. She is also not quite so intent on chasing local joggers and cyclists. She now understands that they are just part of the world around.

Kumbira is very affectionate and even when she has met little kids for the first time, she tries to give them a kiss - right on the mouth!

I was told that it takes about 6 months for a dog to settle in a new home - it's true.

My own little pack for the week

My brother and his wife recently went away for a week and I inherited (temporarily, of course) two greyhounds. We finally had our own little pack, three big dogs and not a lot of floor left in the bedroom, lol. Lucy, always the antagonizer of the group, had a ball. Oreo (the black one) and Lucy are the younger two and don't need much convincing to play. Jango (the white one) who is a few years older and maybe wiser (?) often needs some convincing to give chase. He also does not like the camera, indoor shots are impossible, all you get is a white blur. All three woke up bright and early every morning with more energy than I could ever imagine. Toys started squeaking and the running began before the sun even came up. Luckily the boys settled in fairly quickly, the first night was the hardest. After that they alternated between running and napping. Lucy does, however, does find the greyhounds to be a little lazy. She's still raring to go and the boys have tongues hanging out and are panting away. They lay down to nap and she insists are staring them down and bowing to them. She is such a troublemaker. After a crazy week I know one thing for sure, I am a single dog kinda gal. My husband and I have toyed with the idea of getting another ridgie but after that week I'm happy with one. I give major credit to those multi-dog families, it's amazing how you keep it together, lol. Lucy may not agree, she was a little sad the day after the boys left but until she can speak and ask for a brother or sister, she's outa luck. :-)

at long last i got to the main page

Hi Everyone, First let me apologize for taking so long to figure this main page blog thing out. I confess that I am a rank amateur with this stuff... What I have been trying to do is to let all of you at RRUS know just how humbly grateful we are for the work that you do , the genuine care ,understanding and sheer love of these marvelous animals that we have been privileged to see and experience through you good folks. A thousand thanks doesnt cover it. Tennesse Ernie Ford would say "Bless all your peapickin' little hearts", I think that might get close to it.... Warm regards, D K and C

testcolbypictest

Xyletol

Hi, everyone,

I just read about another serious threat to dogs, this one from common household mints, gums, and drinks.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-03-18-xylitol-sweetener_N.htm?csp=23&POE=click-refer

Xyletol causes dogs' blood sugar to drop and they become lethargic and can hemorrhage. There is also a very short time when treatment is effective. The scary part is how little xyletol is needed to cause a dog to become sick or die. I know no one would intentionally feed a dog altoids or diet pop, but I know how many dogs like ro take food off the counter.

-David

testing

Just testing to see if I got this right.

Roadie

I have taken some new pics of Roadie and Bacari. Enjoy! AmandaAre You Talking to ME?

Mom- He's touching me!

On the Lookout

The Members Only Dog Park

It was sunny on Saturday, after a few days of wet weather so Roadie was ready to play. So Roadie, Bacari and I headed to the dog park. After punching in the secret code that allows access to 2 acres of doggie heaven, we were greeted by quite a few other 4 legged friends. I let the boys off lead- Roadie immediately took off to meet everyone. To my surprise, Bacari was right behind him. Bacari has never had the courage to leave my side when at the dog park. I was so proud. He did not stay long- he was my shadow most of the day. He did walk up and greet a MAN- Bacari has issues w/ men . The man petted him and he returned to my side, looked up at me as if to ask, " I did it. Mom, did you see me?" In the meantime, Roadie is running around like a complete fool- playing w/ this little lab mix who looked like a speeding bullet.

Just another day w/ my boys- life is good when you share it w/ a Ridgeback or 2.
Amanda

Dog Food Recall, Food Causes Kidney Failure

Hi, everyone,

Most every brand of dog food I've ever heard of is on this list of foods being recalled (which says a lot about how many foods are made in the same place and labelled differently...)

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_dog.html

The reason for the recall is apparently that the dog foods are causing kidney failure in dogs.

-David

Posting to the Blog (with pictures!! :))

I thought I would do a picture tutorial on how to post to the blog, since this seems to be the most prevalent problem (so far!). So here goes:

First, you have to go to Blogger's homepage (http://www.blogger.com) and sign in under "New Blogger". Your sign in name is your email address.



Once you sign in, it will take you to your "Dashboard". This is a list of all the blogs you belong to or own. Here's a picture of mine:


Most of yours will only show RRUS Adoptions since most of you only belong to that blog. When you get there, click on "New Post". This will take you to the page that will allow you to create and post a message on the blog.



Type your message in the box, add whatever links or pictures you wish and then, when you are done, click "Publish". This will put your post on to the blog for all of us to see. Hopefully, this will help y'all be able to post to the blog. If not, please please please email me so I can try and give you a hand. If need be, I'll call you and we can go through it together, step by step. Good luck and Happy Posting!

Susan

Surprises Under the Snow

The big thaw is in progress here in NE Ohio. We had about a foot and half of the white stuff hanging around and today the grass is showing. Along with that are the many gifts Curtis and Morgan have left for us to clean up. One looks at the yard and thinks, "Where the heck do I start!" The rain today doesn't make for a pretty task either. I'd send a picture but am sure you all can imagine:) Two dogs times two times a day................................Calgon take me away.

Console Surfer

Have you ever wondered if your dog is truly unique or just one of the pack? I cant say I've noticed other dog heads sticking out top of cars. I had to know what this looked like on the outside--cause she does get noticed. My arm was her restraint before I invested in this cool leash /w a seatbelt latch. The leash is adjustable and gives her whatever range of motion you desire. Although her dancing paws have unlatched it once-- as well as opened the window.

Anyway that's Chloe the console surfer--'cause she mostly knows better than to counter surf.

In case anybody wants one, I got the leash from the catalog : "In the Company of Dogs"-- not so cheap (around $40. ) but worth the peace of mind.

Then Came Chloe

After 25 yrs. of marriage and two male hounds, ( the first being a weimareiner that my mom picked out and had shipped to me--number two was our first Ridgeback "Scout" that I picked out unbeknownst to Greg - both came with a whole list of consequenses) we are approaching our first anniversary with the girl we call Chloe."Pluto" the weimareiner was about as selfish as a dog can be--could not have cared less if we weren't pleased with his behavior..... he gave our early marriage a challenge we liked to think of as boot camp for young (do we have what it takes to be) parents.

"Scout" was my dream dog : loyal,loving playful--- with one big flaw: in Scout's mind Greg did not exist. Absent was the joyful greeting as Greg returned home, Scout wouldn't even lift his head. Greg grumbled about this fact for 12 yrs. and I pretended it was all in Greg's head.
It's a wonder
1. that we're still married and
2.Greg actually consented to another dog --and
3. another Ridgeback at that.This time around we had friends who had told us about the rescue/adoption process and we both made the trip to Nashville to find our dreamgirl. Chloe was an "owner surrender" who spent her first year as a back-yard only pup. We are so grateful that her former owners "did the right thing" and gave her and us this chance to get it all right. This third dog's the charm.

this is a test

hello,

this is just a test to see if I really made it.

Susan in GA aka Chloe's mom

Hi Everyone,

In case you haven't seen it yet, RRUS' own Bob Weaver has created a wonderful new slideshow of our recently rescued ridgies. Please go to www.rrus.org, scroll to the bottom of the page and click to start the show. It's a fairly large file, so it might take a minute or two to load - your patience will be rewarded. Two requisites: turn up the volume on your computer & have some tissue on hand for happy tears.

Enjoy!

Evelyn, RRUS National Director