Saturday, February 3, 2007

A Day of Dogs and RVs


On our way to visit Ruby, we stopped at our friend, Brett's house to see his Rat Terrier, Jay-Jay. We is a standard-size -- around 15". Very sweet -- as nice as I had remembered. I love this picture. Gage is not a dog person but he loves these Ratties -- they are such a nice breed of dog. The kids played with Jay-Jay for ages!


We went out to visit Wild Oak Ranch today in San Jose -- home of horses, chickens, a big white cat, and a whole passel of Rat Terriers. In the picture above, they are checking out a gopher hole. But best of all, they had a litter of puppies -- adorable, sweet Rat Terrier puppies. Is there anything cuter than kids and puppies?



So, what about Ruby? Well, we are thinking about her . . . a lot. First of all, she is very, very sweet. She's smaller than we'd hoped -- maybe 13" tall (at the shoulders) and delicate. But, she is also only 8 mos old so she has a bit more growing to do. I like the picture below because it shows her puppy-ness quite well.


So, pros and cons. Pro -- she was very sweet, very pretty, and very eager to please. She's a puppy and I'm sure she'll adapt to our life quite easily. She's not at all dominant - her mother is quite dominant, however. Cons -- she was a little concerned about the kids -- but all the dogs were at first. It seemed to mostly have to do with being protective of the puppies and they got over it nicely when Nancy told them to knock it off. She's smaller than we'd pick in an ideal world.

So, what are we thinking about? Well, we have had Labradors for the last 20 years and Greg had labs before that and I had a Golden and a Samoyed. We are used to big, exuberant dogs. Ratties are small and a trifle aloof with strangers. We have to keep reminding ourselves that we want a different personality type. We have always picked the dogs that sat up and said, "Pick me! Pick me!" and sometimes we've had a hard time living with that personality for the next 10 years. I'll have to share some stories about some of my past dogs. One of my BEST dogs was a rescue lab who wouldn't make eye contact with me for days. She was the epitome of aloof at first and then grew comfortable with us. She's been gone for 6 years and I miss her still. But that personality is not what we would normally pick -- but it's kind of what we want. So, we need to think about that a bit and wrap our heads around it.

I'm going to contact the local Rat Terrier breeder and talk to her this week and maybe go see her dogs if I can. And, then we'll decide.

Ruby clearly got over her aloofness with Greg and she did come up to the kids -- not that they could see anything but the puppies. Both kids talked about the puppies several times today. They just adored them.

So, more thinking. More research. I don't know if we found our dog or not. I know she would work for us but I want to make sure we aren't rushing in where angels fear to tread . . . if you know what I mean.

So, my dear peanut gallery, what are YOUR thoughts? Is Ruby to be or not to be?

PS. Oh yea, we went to the RV show too. Interesting but we've done that for the next several years. Tiring but we say some interesting ideas. Not sure any will help us with our big project of fixing up the FMC slowly and surely. Still, I'm glad we went!

PPS. Saw about 23 hawks today and about 50 Turkey Vultures. Before we left town this morning, we saw a Sharpie drop from a power pole down to the ground by the road RIGHT next to us. Amazing. I didn't see that he'd gotten anything but it was so cool.

8 comments:

Mary said...

Liza - you need to go with your gut feelings. When it's right, you'll know it. I'm glad you are taking this seriously. Too many people rush out and get the first dog that wags its tail and decide later it wasn't the right time or dog. So, take your time. Ruby is sweet and will find someone who clicks with her instantly.

Unknown said...

Thanks, Mary. We're far from deciding that Ruby isn't the right dog. In fact, if I had to decide today . . . we'd be getting her. :)

It's just that we've done the whole rush out and get this dog thing and it didn't work for us. We'd be taking time to think about it no matter what Ruby had been like.

We're hoping to see some more rat terrier next weekend and decide after that.

Ruby is being spayed this week so even if we wanted her, she needs time to heal in an environment that she feels safe in.

Mary said...

Liza, Ok, I understand. Take your time and see what Ruby is like after her spay. In the meantime, keep looking! It's so exciting to plan a new family member :) Keep us posted, please!

LauraHinNJ said...

Like Mary, I think it's a good thing that you're thinking hard on it.

She does look awfully sweet!

Susan Gets Native said...

Slow goes it...
You are going about it the right way. If the shelter had done a little bit of evaluation with Boomer, I never would have been in this situation of having to give up a dog I love.

Hawks! Yay!

Unknown said...

Thanks! We are taking it slowly. I am still wanting to call up Ruby's breeder and say, "She's mine!" But we're going to take it slowly!!! This coming weekend, we're going camping and I'm trying to arrange to see a couple of breeders in that area. One of them has a couple of older pups who are the larger sized ones. We'll see what we think when we see some choices and meet some other breeders and dogs.

I also wrote to the mastiff people we talked to at the big show and started that process rolling. I think we're insane on that one but it's what Greg wants and since I've been the sole chooser of our dogs for like 20 years, it doesn't seem fair to stand firm on the "drool" issue. :)

Bird Advocate said...

Cookie... Nope, sorry, I don't have any to offer. That was the name of a rat terrier Dad brought home to us when I was small.
She was a super dog with us kids and a great ratter, which meant something because we were near pastures.

Anonymous said...

She is such a sweetheart... real cool man! Muaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!