Notes from Ruby

Things are going better for me lately. I no longer have stitches and staples in my eye thanks to Mom turning her back on me the other day when I was wearing my Doggles. She told me she had to run outside for a few minutes to take care of the other dogs so I took that opportunity to push off my Doggles and rub my eye, ohhhh…it felt so good to be able to do that! Mom came back in the house and saw that, and told me we would be in big trouble with Uncle Dr. Jeff tomorrow when we go back for a check-up. We went to see Uncle Dr. Jeff yesterday and I wasn’t in any trouble at all, after all, I did put up with those things holding my eye shut for almost 2 whole weeks, and I saved them the trouble of holding me down to pull the staples and remove the stitches. Uncle Dr. Jeff wasn’t there and a new Vet who saw me didn’t know for sure the answer to the BIG question, so I have to go back next week to see Uncle Jeff. Then I will find out if my eye has to be removed. I am blind either way, and I would rather not have to spend another night in the hospital and have to have another surgery, so I hope I can just keep my eye.

On the way to see the Vet, Mom picked up Auntie Debra and she rode with us, then on the way home, Mom & Debra took me to the fairgrounds to see Auntie Val & Jessica and all the other horsie people, and I could hear lots of Horses there. I was brave and walked on my leash some of the time but the rest of the time Mom carried me. . It was big fun to go out visiting and everyone just loved my Doggles, I think I’ll keep wearing them. The Vet told my mom that they recommend Doggles for blind dogs so we don’t hurt ourselves, my Mom was one step ahead of them though, she found them right away and told me they look cute, I believe her now after hearing it from so many other people!

It’s been a busy week, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit me with cousin Abby for a few days and I got lots and lots of attention. Now today mom brought my Daughter, Sapphire in to lead me around and help take care of me. I follow Sapphire around we cuddle on the big pillow in the living room.

I’m finding my way around the house better too! I still get lost in the bedrooms but I am getting pretty good at finding my way around the kitchen and living room. I can find Mom at the computer, and make my way back to my crate so now mom leaves the door open for me so I can go in and out. And the BEST SURPRISE? I heard Mom tell my kid Sapphire that she is to start sleeping with me at night now that I don’t have to wear that stupid collar anymore!

I'll be back soon but I smell steak, hehehe, gotta go!

Ruby's Doggles....

Here is Ruby modeling her DOGGLES!  Isn;t she cute!  I'll be back in a coupla days and give more details about them, and her next vet appointment...

The Ruby Chronicles

She's sitting comfortably in my lap right now, and has been for the better part of today seeing as the weather is so shitty  STILL....   The weather news reiterated that this makes 2 and a half  MONTHS of shitty cold rainy wet weather and I am not joking when I say I cannot take another day.    I really can't!!!!

The swelling in Ruby's head is starting to go down finally, infection is my biggest fear right now, and once we're out of the woods in that department we can start to work on getting back in touch with the familiar. 

Ruby has always been a PRIMA DONNA, she was born cute and has heard it all her life.  I've already had to mention to friends not to talk of her other missing eye in front of her because she is so sensitive, and only used to people saying what a cute little girl she is, so it's especially imperative at this point that she never hear the words "OH MY GOD WHAT HAPPENED TO HER" or anything like that...... so today I ordered Ruby some DOGGLES. 

Once Ruby's Doggles come she has told me I can post photos of her wearing them but she dosen't want a pity party so I am not to post any photos of her the way she looks today, with one eye totally gone leaving a soft pink tissue, and the other one sewn and stapled shut/swollen  and wearing the Elizabethen collar.

Yesterday before the rains came we tried our hand at the "seeing eye dog for my dog" routine.  I'd been planning it out in my head over these past few days,  to me  it seemed the logical plan for a blind dog, to have a guide dog, as any human would...

The locigal choice for Ruby's seeing eye dog was her daughter Sapphire, who she loves to cuddle with, and Sapphire has been the one taking care of cleaning Ruby's other blind eye all these years but the first session didn't go so well.  Hindsight tells me this is probably due to impatience on my part, which I thankfully now realize.  This is a trial and error process for both me and Ruby, and hopefully Ruby will forgive me my shortcomings until I learn a few things.  I put a collar leash assembly on Sapphire and took her out to the yard and she just trotted along so we went and added Ruby via a coupler and I had hoped/expected things to go better.  Was it the Elizabethen collar bothering Ruby or Sapphire jumping around or was Sapphire jumping around due to the distraction of that big plastic collar on her Momma's head!  I know not to push an instance where an animal  is frightened so I let up on that idea and thought I'd try the same thing with Ruby's niece, the one and only CH. POGO A GO GO.  Working Pogo and Ruby together went much better and I felt a glimmer of hope that this idea will work.   My next plan I guess will be to work some obedience with both Sapphire and Pogo and go from there who is most suited, but generally keep both of them on thier toes, nothing wrong with  backup eyes!     Till next time....Stephanie & Ruby

Rojo's Ruby Margarita.....

Ruby as a young girl

My name is Ruby, I'm a very cute,  11 1/2 year old Miniature Pinscher who's had a great life so far, my mom loves me so much and spoils me rotten.    I did a brief stint of a career as a show dog when I was younger, but I stayed small and cute and after I was over a year old and never got any taller,my show career ended, but I did get some great points, the judges loved me.    In those days I beat out some of those other 'top dogs',  which was big fun for me and my Mom.  In the photo I am about 6 months old and it was big fun walking down on the lakewalk in Duluth with my 'mom', who took me there to get socialized .  We would actually  stop traffic,  people in cars would stop and we would hear them saying "oh look at that cute little dog"!!!

This is me the morning I left Tuscon where I was born.  Mom put me on the dashboard of the car so I could see where i was going but I was so scared to leave home and to go a place called Minnesota that I was crying out loud!

I was about 5 years old when I lost the sight in one eye from it getting injured, I was a little terror on paws and I accidently ran into something in the yard when I was injured.  My Uncle Dr. Jeff assured my mom that I would get along just fine with just one eye but my mom always worried that something would happen to the good eye so she protected me from any further harm to myself and didn't let me out to play as much as the others but she kept me happy with treats and cookies and lots of love.....

Well, something happened to me this week, and suddenly I couldn't see at all out my good eye.   Mom thought I had a scratch so she put the eye ointment in for a couple of days but then when I wandered into my water dish and couldn't find where the stack of crates were, and was climbing the wall instead, she took me to back to see Uncle Dr. Jeff yesterday and they kept me overnight.

The minor procedure to lessen the pressure of the glaucoma in my eye didn't go very well, the pressure had built up in my eye so much that when they stuck the needle in to relieve it, it burst and collapsed and now I am totally blind.    I was very scared at Uncle Dr. Jeff's hospital, because I couldn't see anything at all, and I didn't hear my Mom's voice and I was worried that she wouldn't come back to get me, so I was very glad when she did come and she held me and told me she loved me and that everything will be alright....

My new bad eye is both sewn and stapled shut, I don't think I look very cute right now but my Mom thinks so anyway, but I wish she wouldn't make me wear the Elizabethan Collar so I could paw at my eye, it itches and is driving me nuts. 

That's all for now,  I am gonna go rest up in my crate, Mom has to mow the grass inbetween rain storms.  When she's finished mowing, maybe she'll take me out on a leash and get me re-aquanted with my yard.  I am not like other dogs that went blind slowly, it happend overnight so I've lost my bearings completly but I'll be glad to get outside and walk on the newly cut grass.

Walking in the house is another thing, I already heard Mom say that she won't be moving any furniture again so once I find my way around the house, I will be OK, but right now, she has to watch me every second, ohhhhh, I get myself in so much problems trying to get around, getting stuck in corners is no fun, especially with the collar on, it's way bigger than I am, Mom said. 

Well, I gotta go now, Mom said my computer time is up and it's dinnertime!  YUM!  I love dinnertime, maybe Mom will feel sorry for me and put some people food in my dish, that wouild be really great!  I'll be back to tell more story about learning to be blind as soon as she let's me have the computer again! 

Till next time...walk carefully and keep your eyes out of the branches!!!

Love, Ruby