Ryo Had A Staycation with Us!

Ryo's pawrents are back from their usual year-end Europe rounds. So we sent him home to await his pawrents' arrival. Heh. After so many years, the boy knows the drill. He knows he gets to spend time with us, then he gets to go home and his pawrents would be back. 

He has been such a good boy this time. We took him for a month! Of course I sent him back to his nanny in between for a bath and a break while I air out the house and clean his bedding. Ryo's older, and he remembers what we expect of him, and he tries his best to please us. He is definitely mentally stimulated each time. And we need to do is to provide him reassurance that we've got his back in this big confusing world. 

Importantly, the husband has bonded with this dog, so the husband would willingly do more for him. Hahahaha. Ryo trusts him. I don't bother to take the floofs for swims or hikes. I cannot be bothered to deal with wet dogs when this is already the rainy season. Zzzzz But Ryo gets longer walks than Choya on some days. We would also separately spend one on one time with each floof.

Choya gets angsty or jealous in the cutest way. It's ME. I am the crucial factor in keeping her happy. I'm writing this down just to be amused by her little antics. It's nothing that needs to be trained out of her. It's not aggression. It's the little quirks that makes Choya so uniquely her. It's fine. We'll manage it. Hahaha. 

• In the car, Ryo now gets to ride upfront with the husband. I continue sitting at the back with Choya as per normal. She has said it clearly that she doesn't like me sitting apart from her. She doesn't mind it if it's just one outing, but she doesn't like it if Ryo stays long, and he sits with her for every trip in the car. I must be next to her. 

• She has learnt to manage her aggression at meal times when it comes to food bowls. They still need their separate eating space, but the gate doesn't have to be closed now. She doesn't rush towards him. Choya needs her bowl to be served first. Ryo is amazing that way — he doesn't rush at her or her food bowl. He will wait, and then come to me at his eating space for his bowl. 

• However, if Ryo eats at an off-timing (which will happen once or twice), and I feed only him, Choya absolutely goes bonkers. She doesn't need a bowl, but she needs to be fed too. This land shark. She will make a dash for Ryo and his bowl, and if I scoop her up before she gets to him, she literally growls and shrieks in protest. She wants his food! LOL I have no idea if this is greed or pure competitiveness. Kudos to Ryo, he DGAF. He simply looks at Choya, realizes that Aunty J or Uncle D has got it, and will protect him, and he continues eating. 

Ryo has had a spate of diarrhea all year. And with the year end break from his school, I convinced his Mom to do a trial. Long recovered from diarrhea with antibiotics, and now weeks after, and without school bacteria lurking, we could discern what might be causing his mushy poop. It's not an exact science, not even with fecal tests breakdowns. What I can conclude is that his gut flora is completely out of whack, sensitive and weak. It doesn't fare well when it meets an overload of bacteria at school. 

Right now, raw food doesn't seem to be the best option for him. Even with the supplier's pre and post-biotics, the entire nutritional profile is still lacking in fiber. His raw diet can be a base, but when I include cooked toppers or sous vide components (with bone and offal), his poop firms up more. He also eats a lot more regularly at ours. 

He's kinda picky about food because he's a dog who's not motivated by treatos or anything. He literally eats to live. Unless he's hungry, there's no way you can persuade him to eat. He totally knows how to ask me for food, and will now indicate when he's hungry. But he has largely adhered to the two meals a day at ours at meal times.  

I'm very selective about the dogs who stay over at ours. And honestly, not many hit that criteria. At most three that I can think of. Ryo is the only one that meets all of it. Sure, he's reactive to other dogs. I don't even mind if he's reactive to people. I can deal with it. Besides being able to get along with Choya and knowing when and how to give her plenty of space, what I require is excellent house manners — no marking or peeing at home, no coming up on my bed, no killing of furniture and things, no separation anxiety if the floofs are left alone at home for 3 - 4 hours, and FFS, let me sleep. 

I'm not in charge of training your dog. Your dog ought to come to me trained, and if you don't think that's an issue, that you must be out of your mind. Most dogs do not understand SPACE or giving Choya space. One can train that but it's really tiring to keep telling a dog 'Place'. Walaoeh. If your dog understands crate training, and you have done it to perfection, then I can consider taking yours too, for three days. This is why I prefer to take only Shiba-ken over at mine.

And Ryo is the only one who gets to stay for weeks on end. I really don't mind having Ryo over. He's got excellent house manners because his pawrents raised him that way. That aligns with how I expect Choya to behave at home and at other people's homes.