Ruffles comes to visit

Every once in a while, my cousin Cathy takes a trip her little dog, Ruffles, can’t accompany her on. It isn’t very often — most of the time, she drives when she travels and so Ruffles goes with her — he absolutely hates to be separated from her. Starting several years ago, whenever she would have to fly, Cathy would bring Ruffles and Spud, her other dog, to stay with us. It started a tradition that continues. Although Spud crossed the rainbow bridge a couple years ago, Ruffles still comes to visit on occasion. 

This time, Cathy had to travel with her disabled brother-in-law to Texas for a funeral. They flew out of Billings, so Ruffles was delivered to our house with his travel bag on their way out of town. The poor little guy spends about the first two hours just looking for his person and wondering why he got left behind. 

She told me this time that he has her well-trained: he has to have cooked chicken and hamburger fed to him at the same time we eat. Not a problem at our house because our dog has us pretty well-trained, too!. 

By the end of the first day, Ruffles settled in and is now my constant shadow. He goes to the chicken house, he goes to the garden, he goes to help set water. He just wants to be with someone. Out here on the farm though, we have to watch him because he likes to roll in animal poop. It doesn’t seem to matter what kind — cow, horse, chicken — it all smells good to him! He usually gets a bath a few days before coming, so I would rather he not end up going home smelling like a chicken house. And he likes to sleep on our bed, which is a good reason to not let him roll in stuff. 

Yup, he sleeps on the bed. That is a new one for us because we have never allowed a dog to sleep on the bed. The cats have always been a different story and have always slept with us. It can get a little western while the cat and dog figure out who is going to sleep where, but after a small skirmish, things settle down and everyone is happy. 

It is never more than a few days before Cathy is back and Ruffles can reunite with her and follow her around again, thus leaving me to trip over my much bigger dog. See, Ruffles is a small Shih Tzu and maybe weighs 9 pounds. Our dog on the other hand weighs about 75 pounds. I chuckle because I have always said that I don’t consider anything under 17 pounds a dog, but I have to love Ruffles because he is so ugly, he is cute and is a most loyal, loving companion. 

He can come visit anytime because we really do love having him. Scotchy loves him, the cat tolerates him and we just enjoy his quirky ways. 

Glad you could visit, Ruffles. 

Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Dog Treats

1 cup oats ( old fashioned, quick or instant)

1/3 cup pure pumpkin

¼ cup peanut butter

Put the oats in a food processor and whirl until it reaches a fine powder. Add pumpkin and peanut butter and continue processing until it forms a dough. Roll out on a floured surface, cut in desired shaped and bake at 300º for 25-30 minutes until the treats are dry and hard, let cool. Store in an airtight container.