Ryder, Day 3

Day 3, Tuesday March 21.
The turning-point day.

Today was the day that we hoped would reinforce the positive developments of day 2 and continue to assuage the fears of day 1. In summary, that's what we got. Amp had a bunch of ladies come over for mah jong in the morning, and Ryder was calm and well behaved. Food was present and he didn't make a nuisance of himself. Strangers were in the house and he didn't go bonkers. His walks were a little more walk and a little less owner-drag. A little.

Homework and toy-chewing

We had a vet appointment at 5:15 to have him checked out, and everything went very well. He seems to be happy, healthy and well-adjusted. We detailed our observations of him, and the vet said "congrats, you definitely have a beagle".

We had lots of questions of course, and were impressed with the vet and the assistant we dealt with. We asked about what breed he seemed to be, and they thought he was mostly blue tick beagle with not much sign of anything else. We asked if he was actually one year old and they said that seemed to be pretty accurate, as best they could tell. We asked if he was 20 pounds, and they said no, he's 26 pounds and likely on his way to ~35 pounds, given that he is perhaps not done growing yet and has been recently neutered, and will therefore "thicken up" a bit in the next couple of years (he is very lean now). So our small dog may end up nearing 40 pounds. But that's fine. Once you are a part of the family, you are part of the family. And that's where we are. He's ours. Additional training we will deal with. Fencing the back yard we will deal with. But he's a good healthy dog and we all love him. So...welcome to the family, Ryder.

Ryder making himself at home

With everyone in a good frame of mind, the evening was low-key and relaxing. We ate dinner. We walked the dog. Julia did her thing. Grace worked on her homework. Amp enjoyed not being the sole caretaker of the dog. Ryder roamed the house, playing with me, Julia or Grace as the situation allowed. It was as nice a night as we could have wanted. All things considered, we couldn't have expected a much better transition for a new pet over a 3-day period.

As I sit here writing this at 10:15pm, the kids are in bed. Amp is in bed reading. Ryder is in his crate, sleeping without a single peep. Life is good.

He's a keeper.