Old Age

Riley is settling into being an old dog......... okay, not really! I just love how funny and silly she is. She makes 9 years old look really good. I saw a couple of hounds recently that were younger than Riley, but I thought she looked younger and fitter than they did.

Spinning Greyhound

Riley loves to spin! It is one of the many things that makes her so freakin adorable! She loves to dig and spin on the lake beach of one of our hikes.

First, the digging warm up. Next, comes the spinning.

Zoom zoom!

And this is the face she makes when I am trying to pick up her poop.

Sandyhounds - Riley

Riley looks sweet and innocent, but she is not. Around New Years, she clocked me in the face and gave me a huge black eye.

Pretty huh?

We were at our little beach spot and Riley went nuts digging in the sand while I was leaning over her and BAAM!  It took over 3 weeks to disappear. So I'm a little head shy now, but here is a video of how silly Riley can be in the sand............. and pretty ferocious sounding too:

Snowmaggedon - Riley

Riley had some fun in the snow too!

Riley is still such a kid at heart!

And the one token photo of Seven in the snow.  Seven does not do snow. No fun!

"Get me in the house!"

Girls Gone Wild

On one of our favorite hikes that we try to do once or twice a week, there is a little beach spot on the lake. Especially in the hot summer, the beach spot is about 2.5 miles into a nice long loop and gives the girls a chance to cool off.  Maddie especially enjoys it, but she even got Riley and Seven to be a bit silly also.

28 - Weeks - So Loud

Riley has started trying to engage Maddie in play.  Both of them like to stalk each other.  But Riley is so loud and intense!  The others rarely play with her.  I keep Maddie on leash because if she takes off running, Riley will chase her into the ground.  The on leash play is funny except when they do it at 4:30 AM and I am sure Riley is making enough noise to wake the neighbors.

24 Weeks - Christmas Week

Christmas week was busy like it is for everyone.  I think I kept Maddie exercised and entertained, but we did not work on anything specifically.

We visited my in-laws for two days which she has done before and Maddie was great and well behaved like last time.

There is a nice fenced soccer field nearby so we took advantage of letting Maddie and Riley play.

I am trying not to torque Seven's wrist for several weeks so I am not letting her run wild like the other two.

Riley had a turn with the furry scarf.  I think it looks like a coyote pelt.

Such a weird accessory... I would not wear it... sorry if you would. I am fashionably challenged so what do I know. Ha!

 Riley loves the scarf though!

Zoom Zoom

Riley also had her fun at the Perry, Georgia fairgrounds.  Look for the huge leap at the end of the video.  Riley, just don't get hurt!

Goofing Off

I thought this was so cute.  The girls rarely play indoors, but for some reason Riley and Seven started to goof off with each other and I just happened to have my camera handy! 

Pee Brains

Yes, I want to talk about urine... specifically Riley and Seven's internal conflicts about where to deposit said pee pee. Luckily, this has nothing to do with housetraining. They are both housetraining.

Seven is easier to deal with. At home, you can count on her to deposit urine into the yard. She knows the yard is the toilet. She knows that going to the backyard = time to pee. The only annoying habit Seven has is that she has to go to the toilet first thing in the morning. I know that sounds normal to normal dog owners, but when you have six, it is much easier to feed breakfast first and then turn everyone out. I do not wish to turn six dogs out before and after breakfast.  But Seven has to go before breakfast.  One dog is not a big deal, but I do like to remind her each morning that the 11 and 12 year olds are able to hang in there.

The big problem I have is that if Seven thinks we are on a walk (i.e. hunt), she forgets to potty or does not want to miss out on a squirrel.  So when we travel, we will sometimes walk and walk and walk before bedtime while Seven hunts and I ponder Seven's need to pee first thing in the morning (If her last pee was at 5 PM, what time will she need to pee in the morning?).  Of course, all the while, Riley has peed ten times cause she loves to mark new territory.  Riley is very easy to potty when we travel.

But at home, the tomboy turns into a diva.  Riley finds our yard disgusting especially when it is wet.  She will tip toe around like a princess and rush back to the patio if she encounters something offensive.  She will often refuse to urinate before work or before bed.  During her hock fracture recovery period, we had to take her to the front yard to pee, but after awhile she started to find it over soiled and wanted to pee in the neighbor's yards.  Property lines got a little fuzzy and Riley was claiming new land.  Luckily, the neighbor's chihuahua across the street sometimes potties in our yard so I felt free to use their yard.

Let Loose

Riley has been working hard for the last four weeks on regaining her fitness and flexibility.  She was laid up for a total of eleven weeks for the hock fracture and surgery.  I am really pleased that she has bounced back like I was hoping she would.

Along with the rehab exercises I showed you in an earlier post, we have been hiking several times a week for 60 - 90 minutes with lots of hills to climb.  She has been jogging up to two miles.  And we have even started back on some of the agility equipment and low jumps.

The one thing I have not allowed her to do is run freely, play, and spin like a crazy greyhound.  I have tried to minimize the bursts of speed and sharp turns.  Well, I figured it was finally time for her to be reunited with her Zanie Flyer and allowed to do what she does. I thought indoors on rubber mats would be the best way to start back.

I was very happy that Riley was not the least bit sore afterwards.

Hide and Seek

Riley loves her Zanie Flyer, but of course, is not allowed to play with one until her hock fracture has healed and she has done a significant amount of rehab.  When Riley was still in the splint, I happened upon a new game with her.  We keep a Zanie Flyer on the outside of one of our basement windows and we use it to play fetch with Reagan on most days.  Riley led me to the gate of that yard and we went inside.  Using her nose, she led me straight to that Zanie Flyer sitting on the window.  So I started to hide the toy in different places around the yard and it was really interesting to see Riley use her nose to find it.

Riley has not been immune to pressure sores.  She has one on each side of her of her foot and then a weird blister looking thing just below her stifle.  Despite changing the bandage everyday (or a couple of times a day) and giving the wounds a chance to air out, they keep getting worse. 

So I am done with bandaging.  Dr. G had told me not to bandage since greyhounds are so difficult with bony limbs and thin skin, but I offered that I could do it myself and frequently.  We were going to try to soft bandage for 2 weeks, but it is just not working.  I give up!  So I am adhering to the prescription of restricted activity more than ever since the hock is completely unsupported.  Unfortunately, Riley is having to wear her muzzle when she is unsupervised because she is a notorious wound licker.  Hopefully, she will be willing to leave them alone in a couple of days.

Riley is slightly gimpy and the leg fatigues quickly.  I hear that the stabilizer muscles are the first to go.  I cannot wait until we can start working on exercises to regain strength.  I am not suppose to work on range of motion, but just watching Riley I can see how it differs from the other leg, but I am also seeing that it is getting more flexible as she uses it on potty walks and gets up and down.

Keep the healing thoughts coming this way!  Pray for a happy reunion!

Useless Tricks

As the hock fracture continues to heal, Riley has been working very hard on some tricks for her fans.  Please hold your applause until the end.

Okay, you can clap now. Ha! 

This is one of those times when clicker training is so helpful.  Although I am not using a clicker (to avoid exciting the other dogs in the house), Riley is still very used to offering behaviors that are marked and rewarded when correct.  While I had some ideas of my own, it is also fun to see what the dog comes up with as well.  "Pig nose" was something Riley dreamed up and I simply marked it so she would repeat it.

Brindle Birthday Bash

I am not usually the type of dog owner to celebrate dog birthdays, but we could not pass up the opportunity to have a birthday party for our brindles.  Interestingly, we have THREE, non-littermate, brindle greyhounds with a June 28th birthday!  We think that is way cool as we did not find out about the birthdays until after we adopted each hound (like that would really be one of my criteria anyway, its hard enough to find my type of greyhound let alone one with the "right" birthday, Ha!).

Stacker turned 12 years old.

Riley turned 5 years old.

Seven turned 3 years old.

Remember these hounds are professionally trained.  Don't try this at home (regarding lit candles). Ha!

For this party, we went with party hats and "Hello Kitty" party plates.  We thought "Hello Kitty" was very fitting since cats are these hounds' favorite animal only second to a squirrel.  Meow!

Generally, we try to allow the hounds to live dignified lives, but sometimes you just have to earn your cupcakes amusing the humans with party hats.  And as we have discussed before, its just something an ex-racer rescued in America just has to put up sometimes.  Its certainly better than the alternative (click here if you have no idea what I'm referencing).

So for their pain and undignified suffering under party hats, I baked them carrot cupcakes with creme cheese icing.  They all approved and gobbled them up.  Here is the recipe (click here).

Of course, we invited their siblings.  Here are the happy guests.

Happy Birthday, Stacker, Riley, and Seven!