Delilah was the name of the dog we owned before Ruth – she FIT her name perfectly. So…I decided in my great wisdom (laughter) to start THIS dog off RIGHT! So I named her

RUTH!

Eric, my husband of 30 years describes all dogs with these simple words,

“All dogs are dumb.”

Unfortunately Ruth meets this expectation explicitly and with consistent accuracy! (Laugh)

Case in point…language development.

Stage one: Bark, whimper or whine and yelp
When she was young these  3 styles of communication worked for a range of communication purposes. Bark for attention,
whimper or whine when the bark didn’t work
Yelp when she was hurt.

Stage two: we taught Ruth the ‘pack’ howl – WHY? I DO NOT KNOW!!!

Stage three: she has developed grunts, various whines, the raised lip, and the disgruntled ‘humph’ all these additional sounds mean different things for her and us.

My favorite? The ‘humph’ when she is given a command, complies, but let’s you know she doesn’t like it! ? This is the sound she makes when I ask her to sit, lay down (humph!) and stay!

Is it no wonder that she struggles with ‘pausing’ just as much as I do? ?

She’s developed this ‘only Eric’ can walk her attitude. Sooo she waits as long as she can until he comes home then she is ‘in his face’ whining, running laps, throwing her bone to get his attention or grabbing something she knows is ‘off limits’ to get his attention!

Eric acts surprised every night.

Each night I watch this little drama unfold and when we finally take our walk she MUST be in front of us to check if everything smells ‘just right’!

Quirky dog!

She fits in nicely with our clan❤️??

When we first met Ruth she was 10 weeks old, she immediately ran to me, licked my toe, then did the same to each boy. When she was done she ran back to my feet and plopped her rearend right on top of them then layed completely  down, placing her little head between her paws … ? I was hooked!

Ruth still greets me each day with her little ‘check in’ lick. ?

She loves her family and we love her too. She turned 10 in the spring of this year, she is healthy, runs, playes, likes to chase sticks and play in water. We are not sure how long she will remain with us but she’s ahead of her game as a Chesapeake Bay Retriever❤️

Stace

JE7.18.17