New Family Member!

Meet Ruby Rose! She is my new puppy. She is a Chihuahua Pug, about 9 months old. I met her on Wednesday and picked her up on Saturday morning. She is really cute (as you can see). She also has serious anxiety when I leave the room. Tomorrow when I go to work things are going to be very interesting. On a good note, she did very well in her crate last night. Although, she did wake me up at 6:30am. When I took her out she didn't want to go potty at all. No pee, no poop. I crawled back in bed, but realized that it was a lost cause and that I most likely wouldn't be getting any more sleep. It will be good because I won't have any problems getting up in the morning.
She is quite the couch potato. She would happily spend most of the day on the couch under a blanket. Her favorite one right now it the Mexican striped blanket.

Yesterday I brought her home to introduce her to the rest of her family. The cats are doing much better than I expected. It helps that Ruby almost couldn't care less about Rascal and Pearl. They are certainly more interested in her than she is in them. Rascal seems to be very curious and will get pretty close to check her out. He even chased her lead which I left attached. Pearl was much more upset, which I knew would be the case. She isn't hissing at her at this point, which is progress. Pearl even jumped on the couch when Ruby was safely asleep and sniffed her out. I think it is only a matter of time before they are all cuddling together. Especially Ruby and Pearl. It goes to follow since they both have the same favorite pastime: sleeping.

So far Ruby has met Paul, her grandparents Julie and Mark, and Rita. She ignored my parents' cats completely. She is very social with people. She seems to love kids because whenever she sees a small person she stops to check them out. The thing she hates most is when I leave her alone. Like when I go in the other room to brush my teeth or take a shower (oh, that's right, that's why I haven't taken a shower yet). She comes up to the doggy gate between the living room and the bedrooms and cries like a baby. It is really rather pathetic.

Ruby does like to go for walks and trots along, usually in front of me. At times she will slow down and things can get interesting because she is so small. I am afraid I am going to step on her!

Today I took Ruby with me to get my nails done. She sat on my lap contentedly the entire time. The sound of the water pouring into the foot soaker freaked her out at first, but she got used to it quickly. This afternoon we are going for a walk around the lake with my friend K.S. I may end up walking her some of the way, but usually she is happy walking.

I am learning about house training her, including potty training. Ick. This morning at around 7am she started circling the living room. I almost didn't catch her in time. One little drop of fairly dry poop came out and I grabbed her and took her outside. At the grass she didn't want to go in to potty. I stayed out there until she decided she was ready. I was relieved because I didn't want to get back upstairs and have a repeat performance.

There is a thing about the stairs. She is okay on the first flight, but the second flight, she completely freezes. This is both coming and going, up and down. It is something we will have to work on with treats. So far I am trying to not be too hard core, but also not too accommodating. I think there are bets about how long it will take me to let her sleep in bed with me. I did very well last night. And I feel strongly that Pearl should have some time to have me to herself. This is a difficult adjustment for her too.