Thursday, October 25, 2012

15 Weeks - The Whole Week

I am just so busy this week so I am doing one long post on Maddie's 15th week.  Having a puppy makes the rest of my life really unproductive.  I really appreciate all of the nice comments that have been left here and on Facebook especially when I have made few rounds to other blogs.  Maddie is just so funny at times and I love to hear that she is making others laugh too.  This week I am cramming it all into one post... sorry it is a long one.
At the beginning of week 15, Maddie weighed 26.9 pounds.  That is double what she weighed when I brought her home 6 weeks ago.  I want to have a contest to guess Maddie's weight on her first birthday, July 2nd.  Post a weight guess here or on Facebook before the end of this month.  The guess closest to her actual weight will win a prize.  I am not sure what that will be yet.  I will pick something based on who the winner is and where he or she lives.
Maddie is starting to get her badonkadonk.  I love meaty greyhound butts and hers is finally squeezable!  She gets so many compliments on her shiny black coat.  She really is gorgeous and so well balanced.
I really have no idea what I would do without daycare.  Such a brilliant idea.  Here is Maddie with Kyla, an American Eskimo.  Kyla is Maddie's favorite playmate in daycare.  Her owner and I try to coordinate so they are there on the same days.  One of these days, I need to bribe one of the daycare workers into videoing the girls playing.
Early in the week, Maddie had another play session with Raya the tiny whippet.  This time, Maddie had a little size on her side.
They played in my parents' backyard and their three small dogs joined in the fun.
Except Poly kept giving Raya the stink eye.  I am not sure why she was being that way.
Guess which dog is Poly.
The funny thing is that my parents have an Italian greyhound.  The Italian greyhound should be the smallest.  The whippet is medium sized and then adult greyhounds are the largest cousin.  Well, Raya is a super tiny whippet and Luke, the Italian greyhound, is very tall.  So Luke (below, bottom right) is bigger than Raya (below, top) and was quite obsessed with her.
Just a taste.

My friend, Anne, made the comment that Maddie is at the stage where it appears she is running with slippers on.... and she totally does.  Swiftly moving those big feet and knobby joints is tiring.  She can only get more and more graceful.
Is this seat taken?
Maddie wore a coat for the first time one morning last week.  Thank you for loaning it to me, Kathy.  I am trying hard not to buy things that Maddie will only grow out of quickly.
 Maddie left it alone as long as we kept moving.
Maddie had her first overnight trip last weekend.  We went to a three day agility trial and camped at the facility.  Maddie did really well in our tent.  She slept just fine in a crate.
The hard part to camping is keeping the greyhounds warm when temperatures are chilly.  Riley and Seven would have you believe it is freezing as the huddle under comforters on top of electric blankets.
I would tuck Maddie in each night and would cover her back up several times throughout the night.  Most of the time she had feet in the air and was sleeping on her back... obviously not cold.
During the day, Maddie handled herself perfectly.  I crated she and Riley in my van together and then crated Seven at another location ringside.  Seven is just much quieter and relaxed if she does not see me with the other hounds.  Riley is just so quiet, content, and wonderful that I hate for Seven to disturb her peace.  And I especially do not want the puppy adopting Seven's behavior so we limit her exposure to it.  When Maddie had to be alone in the van while I ran Riley, she was content to chew on a bully stick.  Perfect!
If looks could kill...

Of course, Maddie's border collie friend, Fire was at the trial so they had a couple of opportunities to play.
Most of the week, I trained without much of an agenda and Maddie did great!  I have started to manipulate her meals so she is more food motivated on days we are likely to train.  I feed her extra on days she might just be going to daycare or has a play date.  And feed less on days she is doing some training.  It seems to be working.  I also finally found something that she is really over the top about.... canned dog food.  So I put some into a tiny container and would use it for recalls since a good recall is just so important.  I would use it especially when I recalled her from playing or greeting another dog and it worked!  I was very happy about that.
The one frustration that continues is that Maddie pees in her crate far too often and it is because she simply drinks too much.  For example, one morning she ate her food (soaked in water) and then drank her fill of water.  She peed outside before I left for work.  One to two hours later, husband gets up to let her out again and to take her to daycare.  Well, she had already peed in her crate at that time.  Went outside and peed again.  And then peed in my husband's SUV as he drove her to daycare 10 minutes away.  So I am finally having to portion out her water because this is just ridiculous.  At least she can drink and pee the day away on daycare days.  I also had some nice bedding in the crate (that wicked away the pee) so I have scaled her back to just a crate pad for now so she is uncomfortable if she pees in the crate.  We will get it figured out.... hopefully sooner than later.
DON'T FORGET YOUR WEIGHT GUESS AT MADDIE'S FIRST BIRTHDAY!