Read more about the article Do you have a #selfcare buddy?
Family Pets / My thoughts / Ruby / Self-Care

Do you have a #selfcare buddy?

Lizze took the boys to school and let me sleep in this morning. She's pretty awesome. Actually, she's pretty and awesome. 😉 Anyway, she had an appointment this morning, and when she got back, I was able to go for my walk. I don't usually like walking between the hours of 10 AM and 3 PM, especially when the sun is blasting but I slathered on some SPF 50, packed up my self-care buddy and hit the park. If you've not figured out yet, Ruby is my self-care buddy. She's quite passionate about walking and will relentlessly me until we go to the park. This really helps, especially on the days I don't feel like going. 😀 Everyone should have a self-care buddy. It's roughly 80°F and incredibly humid today,…

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May 23, 2019
Read more about the article Just a quick update about Ruby
Family Pets / My thoughts / Ruby

Just a quick update about Ruby

We had to get Ruby into the vet because we were concerned about her stitches and what looked like recent bleeding. This is what we were looking at. Turns out she's actually okay. That's a big relief. ☺ She did mess up one of the stitches but the incision is still closed and she's not bleeding. She's a very, very, very, very high energy dog and even sedated, she's too active. That causes the muscles to tighten and fluid to seep out a little bit. That's my takeaway from our appointment. She's in good shape but she needs to be inactive. Unfortunately for her, that means she's going to continue living in her kennel until next Monday. She needs her rest because she needs to heal. We're going to put…

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April 3, 2019
Read more about the article Another Day Another Routine Disruption
Autism Parenting Insight / Family Pets / Gavin / My thoughts / Ruby

Another Day Another Routine Disruption

The boys got off to school after a rough start to the day. They were at each other's throats before they were even dressed for the day. That said, they made it to school, albeit a bit later than normal but in a good mood. I got my morning walk done and was just settling in to get some writing when Lizze noticed a problem with Ruby. Ruby was fixed about a week ago and has been sedated and living in her kennel, with her cone of shame because she's just too crazy. Unless she's physically in our lap, she's too hyper and she's not allowed to be until next week. It appears that she's popped at least several stiches and there's been some recent bleeding. It also looks like…

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April 3, 2019
Read more about the article We had a very early morning trip to the vet
Family Pets / My thoughts / Ruby

We had a very early morning trip to the vet

We had an early start to the day because Ruby had to be at the vet before 7 AM. She's finally getting fixed this morning. We've been trying to get her fixed for awhile but when we had the money, she was either going into or coming out of heat. Anyway, we dropped her off at 7 AM and while there's a chance we can pick her up at dinner time, she will most likely stay overnight. The boys were worried about her so I wanted to give them a chance to say goodbye, so I woke them up. Elliott went right back to bed, which is exactly what I expected. Emmett insisted on going with me, which is what I expected as well. I'm really hoping that Elliott doesn't…

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March 27, 2019
Read more about the article Our little dog has started biting our kids. What do we do?
Family Pets / My thoughts / Ruby

Our little dog has started biting our kids. What do we do?

We're beginning to have some problems with Ruby, our 5 pound Chorkie. She's started biting Emmett. It's not provoked other than accidently sitting too close to her or trying to get her to schooch over. She's not startled or not surprised. He's never been aggressive and nothing has been warranted. The vast majority of the time she snuggles with Emmett and seeks him out. Noone is ever rough with her and it almost feels like she becomes possessive of the person she happens to be with. I'm the only person she hasn't growled at or snipped at. I get that she's a little dog and can't really hurt anyone but that's not the point. Does anyone have experience with situations like this? I'm open to advice. Could the fact that…

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August 19, 2018
Read more about the article An important update on Ruby, our cute little Chorkie
Family Pets / Maggie / My thoughts / Ruby

An important update on Ruby, our cute little Chorkie

This is a short but interesting update, dealing with how Ruby is doing since Maggie passed. We've had animals pass away before and there's almost always a change in those that remain. When Cleo died last year, Blue (our only remaining cat) became much more outgoing than he'd been previously. When Maggie died a little over a week ago, Ruby didn't seem too impacted, at least in a negative way. She refused to eat at first because we had her trained that Maggie went first. It took some doing to undo that. That was really biggest thing we noticed at first. As time has passed, Ruby seems to be coming into her own. She's more relaxed and confident since she's been the only dog. When we come home, she quietly…

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April 24, 2018
Read more about the article It’s funny how things work out
Family Pets / Maggie / My thoughts / Ruby

It’s funny how things work out

Tomorrow marks one week since Maggie passed away. I'm not sure if the significance of the day will strike the kids or not but I'm certainly not going to raise their attention to it. We've been preparing for awhile now that Maggie wouldn't be around forever but we had no idea how soon she would be taken. When I stumbled across Ruby a few months ago, I had no idea how important that moment would be. We would have survived Maggie's passing and eventually moved on, because that's the way life is. I will say that having Ruby a part of our lives has made the adjustment a little easier, especially for the boys. She may only be the size of my shoe but she packs a whole lot of…

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April 19, 2018