Maggie and Rufus

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
You all are going to have to excuse me. Right now my furbabies are my world..........and my children..........and well.........LOL So if I bore you, just go on to something else.

When I brought Rufus home Maggie went bonkers. Total hyper bonkers. Bonkers to the point where I wondered if I'd made a mistake and adopted when she was too young to adjust to a teeny puppy. But Rufus was not the least bit intimidated by her and told her off in no uncertain terms when she over did it. So I figured it would probably be ok. easy child had already volunteered to take him if it didn't work out even though she has Ammo.

"Easy, Maggie, he's just a baby." Is a phrase I said a million times that first week. She was used to playing with Baily who is older. I've said it so often that when easy child's boys are here I hear Brandon saying it too whenever the dogs are playing together........cute as heck. lol This phrase though is how I taught Molly to love/be gentle with anything that was a "baby".

Rufus, while he would tell her off, also did a lot of hiding that first week........which actually made her worse, more excited. And again I wondered if I'd added to the family too soon. But then she made my heart melt only the way she can. She started doing with Rufus what she does with children..........she started bringing him her toys and trying to get him to play that way. Talk about the cutest thing you ever did see. Maggie slept next to his crate at night so he wouldn't cry. She graduated out of her crate when he arrived. (and has done exceptionally well) Rufus does not cry in his crate unless he needs to potty.

This 2nd week? Maggie has learned how to play with Rufus without causing him to hide other than when they're playing hide and seek. She'll lay on the floor and let him get her so they can wrestle. She's teaching him to play soccer with her new basket ball (her herding ball would HURT him)........and he really tries to play. Too darn cute. She shares all her bones with him and they often chew them together and they play with the doggie toys together. (at this moment she's carrying around a stuffed duck and Rufus is trying to pull it out of her mouth) Heaven forbid Rufus do a puppy cry because she'll break her neck to get to him to find out what is wrong. She cleans him after every single potty session. She grooms him too. (don't ask me, never seen a dog actually do this one lol ) And it seems Rufus wants to be just like Maggie. Maggie was doing that over heated let's dig in the water dish I gotta cool down now thing......and next thing I know Rufus is copying her looking so proud of himself. omg lol Maggie will NOT let Ammo play too rough with her Rufus........instead she'll distract Ammo in a game of chase me so Rufus can get away.

Maggie adores Rufus. Right now her whole world is Rufus. She would rather play with him than me......or at least include him in our play as much as possible. She is not the least bit jealous. She did give a growl over a bone once.....and the puppy chow once..........both times I told her firmly NO. (I don't want food/bone wars) And she's been sharing every since....but then they've bonded quite a lot more since those growls too. (I think those growls came from Molly who would not share anymore after Betsy turning on her)

Maggie is as happy as she was with Rowdy and Molly. Maybe happier as Rufus is quite happy to play with her until he is exhausted. lol It's sooooooo nice to see her truly happy again 24/7. She grins all day long.

I haven't done the intelligence test on Rufus yet. He's really smart..........but I'm not sure I wanna know if I've got yet another really intelligent dog. (maggie is enough lol ) He's catching on to things on his own. Pottying I've been pretty mellow about as he's just so young........but this morning he's been going to the door and asking to go out all by himself. Not perfect but 3 times already. Good thing too as the wormer has kicked in and the stool is loose and a bit gross. He knows his name, knows how to come to both doors into the house, how to get from the back door to the yard......he's doing as well as Maggie was and I'm not really having to work with him much. So he's certainly not dumb.

And Maggie? She is not happy with the pills for her yeast infection. But she is taking them.........making it more traumatic than necessary, but she is getting them down and they're working, I can already tell. :)

Guess I was just never meant to be a one dog person since I've never in my life managed to keep it that way. LOL
 

bby31288

Active Member
I love dogs!! We have 3. Try hanging a cell on the door. Every time you bring Rufus out or open the door hit the bell. We have trained everyone of our dogs this way and they trained the cats! So the bell is constantly ringing. But no messes in the house!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I have some of those xmas door bells............I'll have to look for them when we're working on the yard sale. :)

Rufus hunted for the door twice this morning. Seems he's not too fond of pooing in the house, which is just fine with me. lol
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
hmmm

Betsy could open her crate door. Drove me crazy. It's not a "down" motion......it's up over and down. Maggie has done it too. Which is why when Rufus came she graduated out of the crate. lol
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
The only crate doggie #1 couldn't get out of... had a DIAL lock - you had to TWIST it, from the outside. One of our current pups was the reverse - our use crates as "bedrooms", but we don't "lock" the door, just swing it mostly closed, like we do for the kids. And this pup... found a way to pull the door fully closed, AND "lock" it. But HE couldn't reverse the process...
 

AnnieO

Shooting from the Hip
The only crate doggie #1 couldn't get out of... had a DIAL lock - you had to TWIST it, from the outside. One of our current pups was the reverse - our use crates as "bedrooms", but we don't "lock" the door, just swing it mostly closed, like we do for the kids. And this pup... found a way to pull the door fully closed, AND "lock" it. But HE couldn't reverse the process...
You put your kids in crates? :rofl:
 

buddy

New Member
They sound lovely together!
My little dog never liked his crate, but JJ? I put him in and don't need to lock the door at all. He just waits. It's so nice!

I think your puppy sounds just as smart as his pseudo mama.....good luck!
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
We do have lever knobs but she hasnt figured out how to pull the door to her but from outside all she has to do is jump at the lever and push. She learned that very early. We kept wondering how the door kept coming open and she magically appeared in the house until one day we caught her doing it.
 
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