ECRose
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by ECRose on Aug 26, 2021 10:39:35 GMT -7
Ralph and I go way back. We're buds. But that doesn't mean there aren't some moody days and misadventures.
I had him out to play with Grissi and Solarfall the other day, and perhaps I should have handled the whole matter differently. Grissi, bless her, isn't exactly the friendliest dog in general, and she started barking angrily at Ralph. Now Ralph, being the drama llama that he is, decided to cry and frantically scamper around like the building was on fire.
I gave him a pat and told him he was alright. I figured he and Grissi would calm down and get some socializing in. I even put Solarfall away to reduce the stimulation levels. Unfortunately, Ralph was now in a very bad mood. Rather than continue to be terrorized, he decided that the thing to do would be to constantly knock Grissi down. He repeatedly pounced on her, bowled her over, and then walked away or started fighting with her.
Things escalated quickly from there, so I separated them and decided to work on Ralph's trick training instead. He has never been one for doing tricks, and when he does actually perform one he doesn't seem to remember it the next day, so it is a bit of a struggle. Anyhoo, I got out the treats and removed distractions.
Ralph did nothing but jump at my hand and try to steal treats. I've gotten very good at keeping him from latching on to or actually taking the treat away from the cursor, and today my skills were especially aggravating to him. Soon he was giving me the ol' angry eyes and some sass.
That was when Jesse's new kitten, Daydream, decided to run into the room unannounced. This was not a wise choice on her part. Ralph immediately begins to chase and horrify her with some pretty high level ferocity by petz standards.
So I got out some pillows, put Daydream away, and put the treats away. Figured maybe he could sleep it off.
Then he was angry at the pillow (which you can see behind him if you look closely).
He just didn't have a good day.
But we all have those days, don't we? And maybe that's why I love Ralph so much. He is as flawed as anyone, and even in the calm and safe world of petz, he gets depressed and grumpy. My little world is pretty calm and safe too, but sometimes I find myself mad at everything from other people to pillows as well.
~ECRose
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Bard
Junior Member
Posts: 57
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Post by Bard on Aug 26, 2021 10:56:03 GMT -7
Oh, Ralph. Some days are just like that!
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Post by Anthracite on Aug 27, 2021 18:28:43 GMT -7
This is funnier than it probably should be.
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ECRose
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by ECRose on Sept 1, 2021 11:52:33 GMT -7
Ralph is having a better day today.
He's made a friend named Rupert - a newcomer from Ratqueen.
Now now now - don't get too excited, this is still Ralph we are talking about. Therefore, when Rupert brought me the ball and was petted, Ralph started to whimper and moan and howl because he didn't feel loved enough. I swear, sometimes he knows his place in my heart and just tries to get me to reiterate it to everyone and every pet.
Anyway, I decided we'd better go to the backyard while things were still on a fairly high note. If Ralph gets angry brows for more than like 3 seconds - he's done with playtime.
When we got outside, Ralph kept bringing Rupert the bone as a gift, which I thought was very nice since he usually likes to bury it. Unfortunately, Rupert wasn't really getting the idea and kept playing with a stick instead. Poor Ralph.
Then I realized it was time for lunch, so we went to the kitchen to find something tasty. Well, I didn't have any food in there so we went back to the toy closet. That's where I captured this photo. Wow. How about that? They happily went to opposite bowls right away. This good fortune was surely brought on by the fact that Rupert went for the silver bowl, as Ralph prefers the blue one. Ralph is usually in the best mood when he gets his way.
After a full meal I was hoping they would settle in for a nap. That didn't happen. Ralph was tired, but Rupert wasn't, thus there was some crabby biting and scuffling. Thankfully, this was very short lived, as Ralph seems to like Rupert a lot. He even humored him with some more playful interactions.
Rupert doesn't seem to understand personal needs or boundaries or "tired" though, so I laid out some pillows, hoping that it would calm him down enough to sleep. Ralph has more than 2 decades on this dog, so I guess it makes sense that he tires out a bit faster. Ralph was a good sport though, as you can see. I think he wished he had more energy.
Rupert got into trouble for scooting his butt on the carpet soon after this, and that put a bit of a damper on his high spirited antics.
I think Ralph was grateful.
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Post by lobb on Sept 1, 2021 12:07:54 GMT -7
I love Ralph's grumpiness! It's definitely super relatable.
Poor Rupert, he's so enthusiastic with 0 boundaries xD
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ECRose
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by ECRose on Sept 1, 2021 12:21:16 GMT -7
Ralph is a fusspot, so it's rare to see him this enthused with another pet. He's been an old man basically his whole life.
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ECRose
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by ECRose on Sept 13, 2021 21:30:14 GMT -7
As many of you know, Ralph was born in my game back in 1999. His mother was a dog that my sister adopted from Anso. Earlier today I visited the archived version of Anso's site, and much to my surprise and delight, the downloadable adoption for Ralph's mother was still working! I downloaded her and reunited Ralph with his mother right away.
Now this file for Ralph's mother predates his birth, so obviously she has no memory of him, but I suppose it's possible that he remembers her. The game put her photo back in the family tree and everything. Thankfully, even if there isn't a "memory" there, Ralph was still so happy and loved her so much, it certainly *felt* like a joyous reunion. Ralph was jumping for joy, doing backflips, and was about as ecstatic as he ever gets. Considering how grouchy he is around many of my petz, I considered it to be a pretty special moment. 22 years apart, and now they are finally together again!
But wait - there's more!
I returned to Anso's site to do more scouting around and discovered that Anso had posted almost all of Ralph's family members! Only one dog, Henrietta, and the original 4 AC petz were not available to download. That being said, those 4 AC petz do have photos up on the site - and here is the screenshot I took of them. (I haven't quite given up on Henrietta being tucked away somewhere, but I digress)
Ross and Norpan are Ralph's great grandparents. And now they are in my game! (Ralph inherited his love for plaid from Norpan, obviously). As soon as I brought Ross and Norpan out, they expressed their joy for being out of stasis by immediately um, doing some things, out in the backyard. And they did so with such immediacy I was unable to intervene. Well, that's awkward.
I let them have some quiet time with their new puppy, and then I brought Ralph in to meet them. Amazingly enough, Ralph liked them too. They all just kind of lounged together and chatted a bit. It was a little awkward, like most family gatherings, but all in all, no one seemed offended or perturbed by the experience.
Then Ralph met Grandpa Benny and Grandma Lollipop. I think he thought Benny was a little weird, but he had a lot in common with his grandma. Once again, I was proud of Ralph for being more amiable than usual.
But it couldn't all be sunshine and sausages. He didn't care for great grandpa Zack very much. He seems to prefer the more "sheepie" side of the family over the bubbly dachie side. Understandable. Ralph is a bit deliberate and plodding. Zack may have a sheepie face, but he has that zippy dachshund thing going on. To be fair, Zack pounced on him first.
It's getting late here so that's all for now! I downloaded a few other random adoptions from Anso, and I'm pretty sure they are related to some of Ralph's kin, so when I pop them into the game I'll have to see how it all shakes out. Maybe I'll get lucky and stumble upon Henrietta tucked away in some corner of Anso's site. She's a scottie and sheepdog mix, which is basically my favorite thing ever, so I'd really love to see her!
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ECRose
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by ECRose on Sept 14, 2021 10:45:00 GMT -7
Ralph is having some emotional adventures right now. The saga of his family reunion continued this morning, and it is a bit of a daytime drama.
I discovered that Jerry and Buster are two of Norpan and Ross's other children. (Benny is their child and he is Ralph's grandpa). Nothing too wild and crazy there, I just downloaded them for fun to take a look at them. But the whole situation heats up pretty quickly after that. Dramas are complicated, so as a breakdown:
Ross and Norpan's children: Jerry Buster Benny - Annie's Father, Ralph's grandfather Bing - Annie's lover/uncle
As you can see, Bing is also a son of Ross and Norpan. As is often the case with petz, a little bit of interfamily mingling becomes a part of the equation. Evidently Annie, Ralph's mom, was very close to Bing. Anso has Annie and Bing listed as a couple, and their profiles both indicate the two puppies that they had together. (Polly and Nina)
Uh oh. Annie's excursion to my computer and visit with Midnight led to Ralph's birth. Needless to say, Ralph's meeting with his "stepfather" of sorts was a bit stormy. Tensions were high, but I felt like there was hope.
I gave them some time to talk.
And I think they're doing a good job of hugging it out.
Ralph misses him when he leaves now.
As for Midnight, Ralph's father, I don't have much hope of recovering him. I fired up my Windows 98 native laptop to check a few floppies, but I didn't have any luck. He could be a few states away on a disk at my folks' house, but that doesn't help right now.
Anyhoo, with the discovery of Bing and Annie's other children, I returned to Anso's to search for Nina and Polly - Ralph's half siblings. The only Nina that was available was no relation to Bing or Annie, but Polly was there.
Ralph has a dachshund tail, but he doesn't show the rest of his dachshund lineage. Polly shows it a little more. And yet, I really do think they look very, very much like siblings. They have the same eye color and that warms my soul. I decided to have her reunite with her parents before meeting Ralph.
This meeting didn't last long. Words were said, feelings were expressed... Annie and Bing certainly still have the spark though. I think there is a lot of jealousy in regards to who is giving attention to who. I separated Annie and Bing before another surprise puppy could happen, and decided to let Polly recover before bringing Ralph into the room. You know how he is. I was prepared for more hostility.
They were both pretty quiet at first.
But they tolerated my desire for family photos. Mostly. Come on, Ralph.
They played together after this, but I do think Ralph felt insecure. He kept pawing for my attention, and when Polly would bring me a toy to throw, he would pick it up and set it down for me again. He's been a really good boy for this and it has been a lot to take in, so I decided we should spend some quiet time together, just the two of us, for the afternoon. That being said, he was pretty bummed out when I put Polly away. He really did seem to like almost every relative he met!
Thanks for reading! I'm going to have that quiet time with my old buddy now.
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Post by Anthracite on Sept 14, 2021 13:47:27 GMT -7
This entire saga is so adorable
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ECRose
Junior Member
Posts: 87
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Post by ECRose on Sept 19, 2021 15:17:10 GMT -7
(Now that I have a subforum, would it be possible for this thread to migrate over there? Thank you! =D)
Ralph has had his paws full over here for the last week or so. He may be a bit of a grump around other adult petz, but he is incredibly good around the little ones. As you may recall, Ross and Norpan decided to immediately um, express their sentiments, when I let them out into the backyard. Ralph has been a presence ever since the birth of their puppy, "Family."
Norpan didn't strike me as much of a motherly sort (to be completely honest I found her terribly annoying), so I was glad to have Ralph around during those first few days.
Now that Family is out and about by himself, I make sure to let Ralph spend time with him. Family likes to mimic the things that Ralph does. (Just what we need, more angry eyes and bopping things out of the supply case)
Shortly after Family's birth, Ralph celebrated the birth of his own son, Cody, with Nami, one of his most beloved friends. Both he and Nami are very nurturing (96 and 100 values), so it was nice to watch them toddle about together.
(It's hard to see Cody in that last picture with Nami because he blends in with Ralph, but he's there and Ralph is being all cuddly and sentimental with him)
Ralph and Cody were able to hang out together without Nami for the first time today.
Once again I'm impressed by how Ralph behaves around puppies. Normally he is all about toys, but if there are puppies around, they get his full attention all the time, even once they aren't with their mom anymore. He even makes "awww" sounds at them (like when a pet is sad that their friend gets put away and they mope).
I like seeing Ralph in good spirits, and the new puppies are adorable. I've got kind of a full house already in my main "play" profile though, so I'm not sure if they will be migrating to another profile or if I will adopt them out. It might depend on whether or not Ralph and the others stay friendly with them once they grow up.
As for Ralph's family, it has been very fun to meet them and have them around, but I've placed most of them safely into a "Ralph's family" profile so that things stay manageable with my usual playgroup. I don't think Ralph minds too much. He seems to appreciate the time we spend one on one more than anything. He likes a quiet environment and to play fetch and watch me write stories.
That's all for now!
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