Ryan Gets a Puppy

Two nights of solid sleep! Two nights I say! We've figured it out! We put the Rusty's crate right beside the bed, on Ryan's side (if it was on my side, I would have broken a bone already, not so graceful). I guess because he's so close to us and can hear us breathing, he feels safer. Which makes sense, considering he spent the first eight weeks of his like in a kennel with six other puppies that piled on top of each other when they sleep. We put him in his crate at night, not a peep, he spends a few minutes settling down, chewing on toys for a while and then nods off. He's waking up around 4 am, and one of us has to take him out to pee, but then he goes right back in and goes to sleep and I have to wake him up when I get up for work. I take him outside for a potty break, then put him in bed with Ryan while I shower and leave for work. Ryan says that's now his favorite part of the day.

Ryan is in love. That's his dog, and it's so damn cute. Rusty is a little more attached to him than to me, which makes sense because he is home all day. He sleeps on Ryan's feet while he works. See above. He does bound out to see me when I get home though, and that's pretty neat. We are his people. He is a little sketched out when new people come around, but he is still a baby and a little timid. It's amazing how much better he is every day. How quickly they learn. He walks a little less like a drunk person now, and is learning how to slide on the hardwood floors.

So this weekend we are going on our first road trip to West Virginia, taking Rusty to see the farm, shown above, and Max, my Aunt Tammy's wonderful dog, whom I adore. Max is a real farm dog who loves nothing more than a long run with the four wheeler. Here's Max, after a long ride:



I'm really looking forward to hanging out with my family, in the woods by the pool, relaxing with good food and drink. It's my fix, and I've got to get it every few months, it's how I'm able to live in this urban place with all these tense uptight Northeast Corridor overacheiver types.



I'm anxious for my family to meet Rusty, too. They were all a little skeptical when I told them we were getting a dog, becuase to them, having a dog in the city is a sin. Dogs should be able to run freely. But that's why we waited so long, we waited until we had a house with a large fenced yard, and we waited until our work situations allowed us to keep a dog as free as possible.

I'm sure Rusty will be a little timid and scared at first, his world is still small, but he'll be having a ball within an hour or 2. It'll be great!