Ruby and Baby

The friendship between Ruby and Baby is stable and strong. I'm getting such a kick out of watching them!

Earlier this week I needed to move a litter of 5-week old puppies into a new setup with more room. This necessitated rearranging the crates in the living room. The final configuration put Ruby's crate about 2 feet to the left of my chair. It was more of a space consideration than a conscious decision, but it has been a serendipitous move.

Ruby has always liked to hang out in her crate with the door open, if she's not there she likes to be in the tunnel on the bottom of the cat tree. (The tunnel is about 2 feet to the right and behind me when I sit in my computer chair, it's always been a favorite hang-out for small dogs.) Since I relocated Ruby's crate, she hangs out in there when I'm sitting in my chair, and in the tunnel when I'm on the computer.

Baby wants to be where Ruby is. So much so, in fact, that when Ruby is in her crate, Baby will often crawl in after her and snuggle up. Ruby - sweet, silly Ruby - is just fine with that. In order to get to Ruby's crate when I'm sitting in my chair, Baby has to pass between my feet and the puppy pen, and there's only a couple of feet between the pen and my chair. She was a little hesitant at first, but now she passes by fairly confidently.

There have been a number of benefits to this new pattern. First, when Baby's in the crate with Ruby, she's toward the front of the crate and that puts her just a couple feet away from me, instead of across the room and halfway behind the dog chair. She has ample opportunity to observe me interacting with the other dogs, and sees that they all want, and like to have, my attention. She is also spending a lot of time physically close to me, and is learning it is safe to do so.

Second, it has given me the opportunity to touch her without it being something scary.

(Speaking of touching and scary, I couldn't stand her dreadlocks any more, so I spent three hours with her on my lap the other night, scissoring her down. She was not happy and kept struggling to get away, I had to hold her collar with one hand and scissor with the other. She struggled hard enough that I pulled a muscle in my chest and worked my left bicep enough that it was sore the next day. She also pooped on me three times. But I was determined to get it done in one shot, so I wouldn't have to catch her each time if I did it in stages. I know she feels better, and I think she's realized that I scared her so she would feel better.)

As she passes my feet, I occasionally reach out and let my fingertips brush her topline as she crosses in front of me. I keep my touch passive and very light, as non-threatening as I can make it. The first time I did it, it was like I'd pushed a turbo boost button on her behind. She exploded forward and away from me. But I've continued to do it occasionally, and she has reacted with less fear each time until she barely indicated that she even felt it when I did it earlier tonight. It's becoming part of the new pattern. From such acceptance of tiny changes in pattern come huge leaps in trust.

I think Baby's ready for a very gradual acceleration of forced interaction. In just a few days she's recovered enough from the haircut to pass by me without fear, and has stopped flinching when I touch her as she does so. Bibi - who has also been braver with me since her haircut - sat on my lap for a while tonight. When I put her back on the floor, Baby sniffed her up one side and down the other, as if to say, "I can't believe she touched you all over, and you weren't afraid, and nothing bad happened to you!" I'll be giving Bibi some regular lap time, and Ruby extra lap time, and hope that piques Baby's curiosity and opens the door to more interaction.