Hello,
My name is Ruby, I am a 3 year old Neopolitan Mastiff Cross living in the UK (Sheffield to be exact) and I have a Mummy, Daddy, Brother (Reggie) and Sister (Minnie). My mum thought it would be a good idea to keep a diary of our lives together letting people know what we have been upto and more about our training. Mum was inspired to write our stories down after she came across another blog about a Great Dane called Honey who is very clever and lives with her sister in Australia, although mum is sure that our blog won't be nearly as informative or interesting she still thinks it might inspire her to keep up with our learning if she has to report in! So first of all here is a little bit about each one of us and how we came to live with our mummy and daddy (we are all rescue animals)
Minnie (she is Reggie's mum) and definatley the boss in our house!
Mum and Dad bought their first house in April last year, mum been the animal love that she is knew straight away she wanted lots of pets and so called up the local RSPCA, they explained that many people wanted kittens but not everyone would take an older cat so my mum decided she wanted one of each.... Minnie is around 2 years old and was found pregnant in a field by the RSPCA, she was taken in and after giving birth she came to live in our house along with one of her sons. Minnie is a very quiet and regal charector she keeps herself to herself, she keeps me in my place with the odd swipe across my face if I get to interested. She doesn't like lots of fuss to be honest she will only lay with mum and dad if both myself and Reggie are out of the room. She is a quiet thoughtful lady who is happy as long as she is fed twice a day and has a comfortable bed to lay in. I think you will agree that she is very beautiful and looks to me like a panda bear.
Reggie - My Brother
Reggie is the funniest, cheekiest biggest personality my mummy has ever seen! He is still a baby you see only 1 year's old he has lived with my mum and dad since he was just 8 weeks old so has never really known what its like to be homeless therefore he has no fear of ANYTHING including me who, I certainly tower over him and we play together lots, I have to be careful though as he is so small mummy worries I will hurt him, however I know he can more than hold his own! He very often sneaks up bites my feet, tail and ears. We do love each other a lot however and when we are not play fighting we can be found snuggled up either on my own bed or with our mummy who we both love and adore. Reggie's favourite toy is a straw!! The ones that humans use to drink through, you can't leave them lying around in our house! He takes them out of the glass and carries them around. Ironically Reggie doesn't hunt other living creatures which is rather strange for a cat. He wakes up the whole house every morning at 6.30am on the dot with the loudes meaow ever letting mummy know its breakfast time. He loves to go and sit in with bathroom whilst mummy is having a bath and if she will fill him the sink up he lies in there whilst she bathes - silly cat!! Here are a few pictures of my brother Reggie, mummy says he is a cheeky chappie and a bit of a torment but she wouldn't change him for the world he makes her laugh every single day and he is my very best friend
Me - Ruby - Neopolitan Mastiff Cross Breed.
Now comes the interesting part - ME :0)
My name is Ruby and I came to live with my new mum and dad in July 2010 at 3 years old. My last mummy and daddy split up so that left me and my brother Marlon (Bull Mastiff) needing a new home.
My mummy had seen my picture on the internet for a good couple of months before deciding to come and visit me for the first time (probably because she knew she would just have to bring me home) and that she would need to persuady my daddy that it was a good idea! You see my mummy loves all her babies so much that we eat the best of everything and as she works full time she would need someone to care for me in the daytime which would cost a lot of pennies. In the end mummy came to see me alone..... I am a very nervous girl and find it very intimidating to be in the company of new people, so much so that the people in the RSPCA were very scared of me I only had one human friend there a man called Matt who came into my kennel to introduce me to my potential new mummy. Mum was told before hand to take it easy on me not give me to much fuss and see how we got on. Mum was very respectful of the fact I was nervous walked into my pen but didn't make eye contact with me or try and touch me she just sat in a corner not looking at me, which made me curious so I wondered over and sniffed all round her face. That moment I decided she was meant to be my mum. I could see on her face just how much love she had to give me and how patient she was willing to be with me and from that moment I felt comfortable. I was going home! What I didn't realise was there was another human in the house (Dad) who wasn't quite as good as mum in terms of letting me come round in my own time, it upset him that I was scared and growley and he used to get a little frustrated with me, he would never hurt me he just used to walk out of the room. After a couple of weeks though I came to realise he loved me just as much as my new mummy and it was fine to let him near me.
The one thing mummy didn't bank on with me was my lack of socialisation and excitement around other dogs, I am a very strong girl and actually weigh more than my mummy so she quickly realised we needed to sort this before I got myself into trouble, I am not viscious with other dogs I am just a little unsure of how to behave around them so I jump on them, being the 10st dog I am this is very scary for other dogs and their owners which worries my mum as you can be put on something called the dangerous dogs list in the UK and thats the last thing my mummy wants as I am really just a big softy. I went to a training bootcamp back in January with a brilliant trainer who has actually been on the television here, my mum paid ALOT of money for me to go to him for 10 days in which time he did lots of work with me on my sit, down, stay and recall. I behaved very very well for him and didn't do any lunging what's so ever he says I was a lovely lady and was almost perfect although not the brightest dog (his dogs are German Shephereds and trained to home office standard) so I didn't quite match up, I did however, do everything he asked of me. My trainer has told my mummy that I am taking advantage of her which I admit I am a little as she loves me so much she finds it hard to discipline me, we are both going to work very hard on this though via clicker training and other methods and we are going to have 1 - 2 -1 sessions with the trainer in the hope that one day I will walk nicely past other dogs and not lunge at them and even be allowed off the lead on my own. This is my mummies dream and she doesn't give up easily which is why we have decided to write this blog to keep people up to date with my progress. My mummy has a condition called Cystic Fibrosis (I will keep you updated on her health throughout this blog) which means she will never have human children of her own so we are her babies and I take my role of my mummies baby very seriously and shower her with all the love, effection and loyalty I possibly can. I do misbehave sometimes but life would be very boring if we didn't have anything to work towards wouldn't it? ;0)
Anyway this was a really long first post and introduction so I won't say anymore just leave you with some pictures of me (my mum says I have a face only a mother could love, I don't know what she means I am beautiful) and I will update again soon with our progress and I am sure we will have plenty of Reggie stories to tell everyone too.
Bye for now
Rxx
