Welcome to the Aussie Gang

 Its just crazy that I left blogging after awhile because of losing 2 dogs in one year was just too much for me... & now, I'm venturing back in with the addition of a new fur baby to our gang.

When we lost Harvey Dent - I'm telling you, it left a HOLE. Losing every dog we've had has been the absolute worse. There is nothing harder.  Something about Harvey Dent hit so different. He truly was our soul dog. He MADE himself known in our family so with him gone - its indescribable the emptiness.  Ernie even took it so hard. It took him monthssssss before he started acting like himself again.   

Ozzie - he just cares about his frisbee & silver ball. LOL

Ernie is 7 years old & has always been a grumpy guy - an old man at heart. Ozzie is 4 & full of life & still acts like he's a few months old with his energy. So we had been looking for another dog to keep Ozzie occupied.  What to do - get a rescue - find a puppy?  I really wanted to save a dog because Harvey Dent was our rescue too & I just feel like rescue dogs know they've been saved & that's why they love harder. Zoe was the same.  

I was in touch with a rescue center for a few dogs & that fell through - Ricky was chatting with an Aussie breeder down in Kentucky that has puppies & then our neighbor shared a post of a red tri that needed to be rehomed. Ricky told me - reach out & see what you can find.  

Everything after that went pretty fast.  The post on FB was actually posted for her brother & she gave me his number & we decided to meet up the next day. OK - looks like we may be doing this.

We get out of the car & meet Mr. Ramsey.  

The first meeting! He's like - are these my new brothers?

We took our 2 boys with us to see how they would do. Neutral ground is always the best for meet ups.

The previous owners were so nice & explained why they wanted to rehome him & it was just going to be a good situation for everyone. I felt so bad taking Ramsey from them because they had him since he was 8 weeks old.... & he had just turned one year old the week before.  So this family was all he ever knew.

I made sure to get their phone number & promised lots of pictures & updates ... they will always know how this little boy is doing.

We loaded up & then Ernie was like - hold up - this dog is coming HOME with us? ... we knew Ernie was going to take some adjusting.  He was the same when we brought Ozzie home & Ozzie was an itty bitty puppy.  Luckily Ramsey was so sweet & just tried to buddy up with the two boys.

We got home & let them in the back yard ... & we showed Ramsey his new home.

He immediately was running & scoping everything out & learning where everything was.  It was a lot ot take in

He was anxious the first night... trying to find his bearings.  And the worst part - storms were coming in overnight so we had such big winds & we wanted to keep him separate from the dogs so he could settle in.... I think that made him even more anxious.  Being in a new home. Being with new people. He wouldnt drink any water - he wouldnt go to the bathroom ALL night long. He just paced. Needless to say - I got 3 hours sleep that night.  I took him outside through the night & sat with him. Ozzie went out whenever I did & I'd play with Ozzie & Ramsey was like, what is this?  We play at 2am in the morning here?  .... the wind was something else. It was an exhausting night for me.  When Ricky got up at 6am - I told him, this shift is HIS & I took a 2 hour nap.  

After a 4am play time

The next day, more storms were rolling in so we got an early play time session outside & then it was a lot of being in the living room  &getting to know us really well.  Of course, there's the male dominance thing to find their pecking order - but honestly - its been a really smooth transition.

He was potty trained so he knew immediately how to use the doggie doors watching the other 2 & no issues in the house.  He is the SNUGGLIEST little guy - loves to just lay on top of you & snuggle HARD. I missed that from Harvey Dent.

And some of you are like - wait - who is Ramsey?
You all know him by a different name... 

I just had the hardest time with saying the name Ramsey.  It kept coming out Ramsiesies ... see - even spelled out, its weird. With my lisp, it just wasn't connecting with my brain for some reason & the S was tripping me up.  We kept using it on him & he wasn't responding to it with us anyways. I'm sure it was the excitement with the new surroundings - but we thought this was a good time to change it if we were going to.  Well, with most of our dogs, we love having superhero names to go with our babies .... so we went with Rusty! We figured the R sound at the start & the Y at the end was an easy transition from Ramsey to Rusty - & honestly - he's picked up on it really well.  I think the training class really helped him take to it well

And his color - Rusty fits him so well

So Rusty Collins Vincent it is!

And the cool thing - Rusty Collins in the Marvelverse is knowns as FIREFIRST... he has red hair & he controls FIRE! I mean..... come on. This is perfect for our household with our own Redhead in Ricky DEFEATING fire!  

It is funny - we DID almost go with the name from the kid in Christmas Story - the red head - with yellow eyes - So help me God - YELLOW EYES! .... but Scut Farkus didnt seem like a fun name to say over & over. LOL

I wanted something fun to do with him so he would learn to trust us - & with us always teaching dogs that are puppies or up to 6 months, I thought it would be a smart idea to take Rusty to a training class. I think its just been the best thing we could have done.

It's given him something to look forward to - he KNOWS when its training class days. & he's learned the clicker & knows treats are soon to follow.  I think its helped him learn to trust us & connect & bond with us too.  Especially with Ricky.  & I'm not just being a proud parent but I really think he's the best in the class. ... as I'm sure every dog owner in the class would (& should) say.

He really does hit it out of the park though on tricks. He's the only dog in the class that has learned to SPIN and also ROLL OVER.  Our little trickster.

The training has helped us though because he LOVES to grab things & run under the bed with them & would growl if you try to take it away.

The sitting command & "leave it" has worked wonders in our home.

One of the things we always love about having multiple dogs it that they learn so well from the other.  Rusty has already learned from Ozzie how to play. He knows if you bring the ball back to me or Ricky, its a fun fest for hours.  People are always amazed at how well our dogs "retrieve" .... you dont have to chase a toy down - they'll gladly drop it right in your lap & it took Rusty just about a week before learning the ways of the masters on that.

Funny thing is, we wanted Rusty to help keep Ozzie occupied - now I have TWO dogs that bring me toys & want me to throw them all day long.....

I'm OK with that.

Rusty also loves my work from home days.  He's learned right away that when I go into my office, he gets snuggles all throughout the day... & a good mid day play session at lunch.  

It works so well that he only has 2 days a week where we both go to work & even then, Ricky is home early on those days. Its funny because I watch them when I'm at work on the camera & all 3 of them just sleep for those hours we're both away from home.  They probably think FINALLY, we get a break from mom & dad. LOL

Its been just the best thing to happen to have this little red guy in our home... it honestly couldnt have gone better.  Timing was perfect. All the other dogs we looked at ... this was the little guy who was meant to be part of our family ... & I'm so thankful

Welcome to the Aussie Gang my sweet boy!