Okay, so we're in the second day of The Plan to get Ruby civilized enough to survive life at the Funny Farm in the wake of at least one and possibly two more fun surgeries on The Human. After despairing as to whether I would be able to keep Ruby in the face of growing female/female competition plus a ridiculous unending series of increasingly wearing surgical procedures, friends and corgi fanciers began to advise rehoming the little dog. Too stubborn for good sense, I decided to give it one last effort, since we've got almost three weeks before the next Adventure in Medical Science.

And to everyone's surprise, Ruby's first day back from my son's house (where she resided for a little upwards of a week) went pretty well. Keeping Ruby on a training lead all the time she was in the house worked a) to reinforce the house-training routine and b) to defuse her schemes to grab Cassie by the throat. No longer threatened with evisceration, Cassie herself stood down from trying to throttle Pup.

This morning opened with a very obstreperous pup. And come to think of it, we're ending the day with a bit of obstreperousness -- Cassie is throwing Ball at me, which is more than Pup can bear. In fact, at this moment I would be inclined to suggest, if dogs were primates, that Cassie is deliberately using Human to taunt Pup.

Naaaahhhh...not possible, eh?

In between times, though, things again went surprisingly well.

I had a 7 a.m. meeting and so we did not get a walk in before temps rose to high to venture forth; by 7 p.m., Human  was too whipped to wriggle, so we have not had an opportunity to run off any extra doggy ginger. Tomorrow morning, though, the mile-per-dog plan will re-engage.

Nevertheless...

When food was set down, Ruby did NOT try to lunge at Cassie's dish. And when asked to "SIT!" before being served her own magnificent meal, Ruby sat! By evening, she didn't even have to be asked. Quick study, eh?

Cassie did NOT run away from her dish, even though the dogs were fed within about four feet of each other. Neither dog raised a lip or bared a fang. Good.

So it was mixed: some moments of rebellion, not unexpected; some moments of higher learning, displayed much sooner than expected. No accidents in the house. No damage to either dog.

Ruby's breeder, Lindsay, said Pup is always welcome and I can bring her back at any time. She liked the idea of training for herding (will have to wait till the Medical Adventures are over) and getting her into the ongoing set of obedience training classes. We both hope Ruby will be pretty manageable by October 15, the date of the next surgical frolic, and completely socialized by the end of October (after one full month of full-time attention to this project). More to come on that front.