Two Saturdays ago, May 27, Alan and I welcomed Ruffie the husky into our home. He is a 2.5 year old pup who had been at the Oakland Animal Services shelter since early February. While his first days here were a little chaotic even under constant supervision, he is generally pretty well behaved and is even starting to get along with one of our cats, Kiko.

I had not been thinking about getting another dog any time soon. Alan’s dog, Remi, is about 13 years old now. We’re not sure what to expect with him; he is showing age in some ways but has very little white hairs and is still able to hike at least 9 miles, probably more. There were a few times we found a dog outside or saw a post online, and we entertained the thought but it never reached the point we’d actually need to decide to keep another dog.

But I started thinking about it over the past week after seeing a “pet news” post about a husky named Huge needing rescuing at a shelter in northern California in Chico. (They posted one TikTok video May 19, and their Facebook had indicated they got a ton of applicants and would limit to folks living less than an hour away, but now I see another video from May 30 indicating he’s still seeking a home.)

Anyway, that’s all to say I spent some days more seriously considering what getting another, and bigger, dog would mean. I at least decided to finally cut the grass for the first time this year.

The back yard grass was taller than me in places. It was fun, but it was a pain to trim for fire inspections!

Thinking about it more, I checked the website of my local animal shelter, Oakland Animal Services. They had a number of huskies, as well as many other dogs of course. Most of them appeared to be in foster, but two were at the shelter. One named Ruffie caught my attention because he was one of the dogs in the shelter longest, and had a number of photos and videos from outings with volunteers. He seemed like a promising pup, so “we” decided to go see him. Alan was less enthusiastic at first because of the weight of the commitment, but he came around to it and said we should go.

Ruffie's OAS website listing

Saturday morning, I tried calling when they opened at 11:00. I wanted to ask some questions about the dog, about our having cats at home with another dog. It went right to voicemail, so I tried in a few minutes. And again, several more times. Once it got close to noon, when their no-appointment adoption hours start, we decided to just drive there with Remi, our other dog. (I knew they required meeting all other dogs in the household before adoption.)

Once we arrived, I couldn’t believe the parking lot was already full. I figured it was going to be a very long wait. I parked over the curb and up on the grass (thanks Jeep!). We left Remi in the car and went to check in. It was probably only a 5 or 10 minute wait before we got to speak with a matchmaker (I think that’s what they called the role). We answered some questions in addition to the form I had already printed and filled out, and I mentioned already being interested in Ruffie or potentially another husky they had there named Groot.

The staff member asked a bit about why we were interested in a husky or that particular one. I mentioned hoping to go running with the dog, having a companion for our other dog and wanting to give him a chance since he had been in the shelter a long time. They agreed to let us meet him, and asked us to wait in an enclosed area with some tables. They brought out Ruffie, and initially walked him around feeding him lots of treats and trying to get him to approach us. They gave us treats to try to coax him, but he was very skittish when he looked at us or we moved. It took more than 10 minutes for him to even eat treats I had tossed to the ground in front of him. But after some more time, he approached us more and let us pet him a bit. He did lock onto a squirrel for some time, which was a bit worrying since we have cats. The staff and Alan were talking about whether it was looking like a poor match, and whether we should meet the other dog. I remember saying something like “So we’re just going to give up on Ruffie? How will he ever find a home?”

Then they asked us to try running around with him a bit in the bigger play yard. That helped a lot, and while he was pretty aloof and distracted, he did become more friendly and even licked my face a bit. They decided to do the dog-dog introduction next. Alan went to get Remi, and Remi was given a new collar and leash so he would be in totally “neutral territory” when meeting Ruffie. They first met through the fence, and both wagged their tails in a friendly way right away, which made me feel a lot better. Next they let Remi into the play yard, both dogs with leashes dragging so they could be stepped on if needed. Remi got distracted by all the smells, but they played a bit and seemed to get along fine!

Alan with two of the OAS staff in the dog play area

We agreed to go ahead with the adoption. All the staff were very excited, and I could hear everyone saying “Ruffie’s going home!” and “Thank you!” and “Congratulations!”. I got his papers, spoke to the staff and vet, learned his medical history was good and he was recently neutered. I also registered Remi with Oakland, since they could scan him to get his chip ID that we lost the record of. It took about 2 hours total from parking till leaving. I f

Alan had to teach right when we got home, and I took the dogs into the yard and started figuring things out.

Ruffie and Remi in our yard at home

Remi seemed to get along well enough with Ruffie

Remi seemed to get along well enough with Ruffie

Ruffie seems like a happy dog

Once we were inside, Ruffie jumped on the bed right on top of me. He was kind of rude to Remi, though, and kept putting his paw on Remi's face. I think he was either oblivious or being playful, but Remi didn't like it, though he tolerated it once I told him to stop growling.

Although I didn’t expect I’d be able to take Ruffie on a walk the first day based on how hard he was to handle at the beginning — he is 77 pounds supposedly — we decided to give it a try. He pulled a lot, but wasn’t too crazy. I was very nervous though about meeting other dogs, especially the aggressive ones common in Oakland. It turned out fine, though. Phew!

On a walk around the block on Ruffie's first day

The dogs seemed OK on the couch together. Remi growls sometimes if Ruffie pushes him too much though.

The dogs seemed OK on the couch together. Remi growls sometimes if Ruffie pushes him too much though.

I let Ruffie run around Sunday while I did yard work, and he quickly found a dangerous toy Alan was using for some plant maintenance. We'll have to change a few of our habits.

Sunday afternoon we went to get some supplies. First we went to a local place, Mike’s Feed & Pets in San Leandro. We went there before upon recommendation from a cashier at Petsmart when Alan was looking for mosquito fish for his water lily experiments. They have a lot of stuff, including chicks, baby turkeys and other birds. Anyway, we got some treats, dog food and a top entry cat litter box I’ve been wanting to try for easier changing. They didn’t have harnesses I was looking for in the right sizes, so we next went to Walmart and then Petsmart. I spent more money than I was hoping, but came home with an assortment of leashes, harnesses, treats and some other things like a new 2 gallon gravity water setup.

I experimented more with walking him with the various harnesses, and even did a short run around the block. He seemed to be getting better, but I was still doubtful we’d soon reach a point where I could go to the office and leave the dogs with Alan.

Monday I had off work for Memorial Day, so we did more house and yard work.

I combed Ruffie's fur over multiple long sessions, and got most of his undercoat out. He definitely sheds more than any dog I've lived with!

The pillow I got to match the 42" crate seems smaller than I was hoping compared to Ruffie's size lying down.

The biggest issue I need to work on immediately is getting Ruffie to not want to kill the cats. He definitely has a strong prey drive, and wanted to charge at Kiko as soon as they saw each other. Nori has stayed hidden away though. Kiko has shown little fear, and tries to provoke Ruffie it seems. Kiko swiped at him a bunch of times, though I’m not sure if they made contact at all.

Ruffie likes to stare at the cats, which a step down from the chasing them he was doing initially.

Ruffie leashed to our gutter while I did some more grass trimming.

I decided to make another pass with the line trimmer to make everything shredded enough to rake easily. Previously I couldn't rake because it kept getting stuck in the long stalks that were flattened lying every which way.

The rest of the week went by pretty quickly. Ruffie met a few of the dogs we see on walks, and there were no major issues other than Remi getting jealous and causing a stir with his aggressive barking or growling.

Trying to get Remi and Ruffie to play

I’m planning to build some cat shelves in the living room and maybe the bedroom to get the cats up above the dogs. This should make them feel safer, but also show the Ruffie the cats are higher than him in the hierarchy. More immediately, I declared my “gym” side room to be a cat zone, and got a gate to keep the dogs out. I couldn’t find any on Amazon that are taller and also wide enough for my 43” doorway. I ended up getting the closest match that was tall but not wide enough, and used lumber to bridge the gap. Once I saw the pieces that came with it, I realized I just needed another extension piece. I couldn’t find just that piece online anywhere, so I ordered a second gate that I can salvage the extension piece from (and use the gate elsewhere in a narrower doorway).

I had to use some lumber to bridge the gap between the dog gate and my wall. I ended up ordering a second gate so I could get another side extension piece, so I no longer need the janky lumber.

Ruffie is not pleased he can no longer access the cats in my home gym side room.

Friday came around, and it was my 35th birthday. Mom had two little cheesecakes delivered again this year, and we also got a mystery box of donuts that was probably erroneously delivered.

Trying to take a picture for my 35th birthday with the dogs

I’m focusing now on reading some dog books, including a training book — Lucky Dog Lessons by Brandon McMillan — I read about in another book. It seems pretty good so far, so I’m going to stick with it for my training process.

Ruffie loves getting in the hammock with me, which made me happy.

Remi rests near the hammock but doesn't want to get in.

Ruffie in the living room

I quickly discovered putting plants on his crate was not a great idea.