July Pet of the Month: Rylee

Name: Rylee Sparkle

Parents: Carol, Hank, and Rick

Breed: I usually gallantly state, ‘she’s a rescue so I don’t know.’ That’s always met with great admiration and then people guess Spitz, English Sheepdog, Rottweiler (most popular guess when she was a pup).

Age:  One year birthday party coming up on August 17

Size:  She’s like a teenager with long legs and slim body. A 20 pound bundle of cuddle.

Diet: Crunchy food with an occasional can of food.

Funny Habit: Chasing birds. She thinks she is a pointer hunting dog. She’ll stop, listen and eventually spot the bird and then after a moment’s hesitation, she’ll take off…scaring the bird into the air and out of site. Rylee leaps and prances til she looses sight of her new friend.

Favorite Toy:  The cat! She jumps around the cat, circles and dives until the kitty lunges and Rylee jumps away. Then it all starts again!

Adorable Eccentricity: She likes a ‘messy’ bed. When given a blanket, neatly folded – she’ll scratch and rummage until it is in one big heap. Given a cute little dog bed, she’ll flip it over, try to dislodge the cover and then pull out some of the stuffing. She can unravel a rug in minutes and then cocoons into the resulting scraps of yarn and bindings.

Dislikes: Thunder and lightning sends her into my lap where she shivers and shakes. Also, a neat garden with mulch and flowers…she digs deep holes and rearranges the newly planted flowers. Then she lays in the new hole and smiles!

Things that make her tail wag:  Well, funny thing about wagging her tail! Since she doesn’t really have a tail, she wags her whole back end. ‘My lil sweetie’, said in a very high  voice always gets a wiggle.

Funny story:  My son puts a positive twist on this by saying, ‘She’s so smart and crafty!’ That’s in response to when she comes to visit and he leaves her blockaded into a crate or section of the kitchen when he leaves in the morning and finds her (smiling, proud and comfy) on the plush living room sofa upon his return from work.  When visiting my daughter and her husband, Rylee desperately wanted to play with their dog, London. But she couldn’t get his attention away from the two rabbit holes on opposite sides of the yard. After 24 hours we found Rylee bent over and starring into the hole on the right and London hunkered down at the hole on the left. After a few minutes, with some unheard signal, they would swagger past each other as they switched holes! If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.