Energy

We found out just how energetic Ranger is from day one. We had to keep our poor cat (Feisty) locked in the bedroom for the first few days until we were able to order a baby gate with a pass through cat door from Amazon. The adoption experts recommend you give one to two weeks before introducing Colleen and I took turns watching Ranger and taking him for walks. He had absolutely horrible habits of pulling on the leash, barking when he didn't get his way, trying to eat anything and everything in sight, including jumping on the kitchen counters to get food, etc. Ranger also had previous owners that obviously liked to play rough with him, so Ranger thinks that he can play bite your hands, your dress or shorts as you walk by, your shirt if you bend over, basically he tried to 'bite' anything and everything. He never intends to hurt anyone, but he does. Colleen and I have several bruises and scratches from accidental bites or missteps. Ranger is also part Boxer mix so he can jump like nobody's business. One day he tried to jump over me and onto the couch. He missed and landed on my leg, but was also slipping off. The end result was him landing on the coffee table and me with a bloody leg. See pic below.

Colleen and I are not fortunate enough to have a fenced in back yard, so I took some climbing rope and a carabiner and tied a figure-eight knot around the tree. You'd think he'd want to run around with his new found freedom, but instead he stood there and barked to come back in. Ranger is most definitely not a fan of the heat and if he's not out on a walk, then he wants to be inside snoring on the couch.

Unfortunately we don't have a ton of pictures or videos of Ranger from our first week or so because we were too busy trying to keep up with him!

Welcome!

Welcome to the Dog Blog! Colleen (my fiancee) and I adopted Ranger (formerly Lucious, formerly Kobe, responds to neither) on June 8, 2019. We got Ranger from a 'Mega Adoption Event' in Towson, Maryland. It's in quotations because the adoption event was supposed to run from 12:00 until 4:00 p.m. We showed up at 12:20 and all of the dogs were already adopted. Little did we know that two dogs were outside going potty, so when we made our second walk around the room to say hi and congratulations to all the doggies, we found Ranger who just came back in!

I wanted to write this blog to tell people what adoption is really all about. On Facebook and Instagram it appears wonderful and super easy! It's not. The adoption itself was easy. You fill out some paperwork, answer some questions, take a short half hour class, and you're on your way! The hard part comes when you get home. We were not prepared to bring home a dog the same day, and obviously didn't have any of the necessities. So before we headed home, we stopped at a Petco, picked up a crate, some food, water and food bowls, poop bags, a harness, training treats and of course a toy that Ranger himself picked out.

Having a dog is the most wonderful experience in the world, but still very difficult. Because we don't have a fenced in yard, Ranger needs to go out several times a day. He is mostly pitbull with probably a little boxer mixed in. He has a TON of energy and we take him on at least two walks twice a day, usually around two miles each. This takes a lot of time and energy, especially since we are teaching him how to 'heel.' The first time I took him on a walk to learn to heel, it took us over two hours to go up the block and back.

I want this blog to be all of the real information about adoption. If you have any questions, ask! I'm obviously not an expert, but I will answer what I can. And feel free to share your advice as well!