Ryder

Since the beginning of the new year I have been looking for a dog to join our family. I followed the Human Society and Rescue Rovers on Facebook to see if a dog sparked my interest. I was always showing Tim this cute little dogs in which his immediate response was always no. Ryder came up on my forum as an urgent need for a foster family. I passed it by not thinking much because he was so big. The next day he came up again so I just showed Tim not thinking to much. Tim asked if he was still available. A little surprised, I said I would call and see. Next thing you knew we were scheduled to pick up Ryder on February 5th.

The picture below is picking up Ryder from the Rescue Rovers Transport team! I think Tim and I were both in complete shock when we picked up Ryder. Ryder came from New Mexico, he was an abandoned dog at a high-kill shelter and scheduled to be put down. He came to Utah with 20 other dogs that day -just that day.  Many of the dogs had been abandoned, or their owners did not want to keep them anymore, and some no one knows. This last week Rescue Rovers helped save over 40 dogs in one day! The amount of dogs they save and find great homes for is unbelievable. They truly are an amazing non-profit organization that we are so happy to be a small part of. The dogs go to foster families first and then when the fosters feel they are ready (1-3 weeks) they put the dogs up for adoption and help to find them a good home. Or as what happened in our case the foster "fails" and ends up adopting them. If you are looking for a dog please go through them -you can tell them what you are looking for breed, qualities and 9 times out of 10 they have a dog that would be perfect or can find one for you :) Do not buy your dog(s) from a breeder -after learning so much about this organization it continually makes me upset/mad when people don't spay/neuter their pets hoping to sell puppies or whatever. Even now I am getting frustrated :/ Rrrrr, moving on...

Ryder is a Doberman/ German Shepard mix that they are guessing is approximately a year old. He is named after Flynn Rider on Tangled but I like the 'y' instead. It was out of Ryder, Sven (like on frozen) or Bagel. Ian later decided bagel might not be the best name because if we said we wanted to eat a bagel someone might think we meant the dog. Sven -might get old to say after some time. So Ryder it is! I was a little nervous about his size and the fact that he could literally take me for a walk being that he weighs 60 lbs.  He is so sweet and never leaves my side, like a giant shadow.

When I sit down in my chair to feed the baby he lays down in his bed next to me. If he needs to take care of business he politely goes and lays down by the front door. We heard him bark for the first time after a week. He let out one loud bark at the gold olympic medalist that looked very big on TV. It is very rare for him to bark. 

He loves the kids, going for a walk or run, playing fetch outside, cleaning up the kids crumbs off the floor, playing with other dogs, and meeting new people that come to the house. I am not sure how he handles all of my Activity Day girls coming over but he thinks it is great!

He also loves to rough house and play with Tim.

He has helped to remind the kids to use their table manners (Aaron lost an entire piece of french toast hanging it over the back of the chair). The kids know they cannot wrestle in the house or Ryder will join them. At the same time he knows when he should just wait patiently and let you be. Ryder finally gave up on Aaron giving him any popcorn once he laid down Aaron tossed him a piece. 

Most of the time you can find him in the middle of all of us laying down on the floor- can I just mention how cute Aaron is in this video. He really wanted to take his Jake and the Neverland Pirates ship for show and tell.

See if you can spot Ryder in these photos.

Just some random photos of Ryder. I love the photo of him watching Ava in the bathtub. He cannot figure out why she likes it so much. He is also not sure when she splashes if he should just deal with it, or if he should try to drink it.

 We officially adopted Ryder the end of February. Ryder adores this little cutie :)

She is very fond of him too. Anytime I set Ava down on the floor she heads straight for the dog. Let me just say that Ava holding onto your hurts -it is more of a pinching than holding. Ryder doesn't mind -but eventually he decides it is time to move away. Usually I move Ava away but I had to get a little video so you could see. No I prefer him not to lick her but did not want to be yelling during the entire movie. In the last few weeks Ryder has decided that it is usually best to move out of her way. Then Ava proceeds to crawl and follow him around the house.

Ava also loves hanging out in Ryder's bed and stealing his toys. She thinks it is hilarious, Ryder just patiently waits for her to move onto a new toy.

Now you have met the newest member of the family :) We absolutely love having him, he has been a wonderful addition to our family! He is a little tired in this picture since he just got back from a 5 mile run with Tim -off leash too.  He is doing so well with training. Such a good boy!