Cave Bed

So I bought one of those cave beds this winter.  Maddie is my only greyhound that will tuck herself in by pulling blankets over her body or burrowing under them.

So I thought she would be able to figure out the cave bed.  We had to help her for a few days, but then Maddie figured it out and now she sleeps in it all night.

Sometimes Maddie brings friends into the cave bed.

This is Maddie as a pup (below).  Obviously, she was already trying to invent the cave bed.  She was onto something.

Seven likes it too!  Although she has not figured out  how to get into it, but I have seen her try.  She often lays on the she fleece area.... I think she is hoping the bed will miraculously swallow her up.

But once she does get in it, Seven is quite at home.  I will buy her one if she ever is able to get in it without assistance.

Riley has tried it a couple of times, but generally gets too warm, but on this day she stayed in it for a couple of hours. 

Hooligans

Maddie and Seven are such hooligans!  I love that they play together, but I do wish they would tone it down a little. Especially Seven. She gets so intense and I don't like when she runs Maddie into the ground. But Maddie asks for it and then asks for seconds. So here is the one time I let Maddie and Seven play outdoors for five minutes naked and native.... otherwise they do wear kennel muzzles when they are in the backyard.

It all starts when Mad Panther selects and stalks her prey.

When the prey notices the ambush, she reacts!

They posture and size each other up.

The panther attempts an early take down by taking a leg.

But the prey says "No!" and gets away.

The teeth and ugly faces come out.

And then the all out brawl begins.

Until Mom says "Enough!" Then they hug and make up.

Dance a little.

Sing and laugh a lot.

Okay, back to playing in muzzles so no one gets hurt.

Bitey Face

Two days after procedure

Maddie's face is healing up great!  I could not be happier with how it looks.  The staples should be able to come out Friday or Saturday.  We will be at an out of town agility trial so I am trying to find someone that can remove them while we are there and save us a trip to the vet on Monday.

Why can't I dive under this dog bed like I always do?

My biggest task has been to keep Maddie from playing underneath dog beds, tugging too hard, and playing bitey face with Seven.  It is funny because Seven has never been that playful, but Maddie brings it out of her.  I always supervise them carefully because Seven is just so intense about it.  Here is what they do when no one has staples in her face.  

Definitely a good way for Seven to play without torquing her "trick" wrist.

Splish Splash

Seven could not escape my new camera either.  She is just so photogenic.  She discovered last summer that water is not the enemy and can be quite a relief on a hot day.

In fact, she learned this by watching my friend's border collie, Trust.  Outside of agility class, there is a large tub that is often filled with water so the dogs can step in and cool off.  I forced Seven to get in which she did not appear to appreciate and quickly vacated.  Trust, the border collie, leaped in and lied down in the tub to get in a good soak.  Seven watched all of this.  

When Trust jumped out, Seven got back in immediately and lied down in the tub. I have never noticed any of my hounds imitating other dogs before so I thought this was very smart of her.

Seven is definitely not a swimmer, but she enjoyed doing recalls in the water and causing a lot of splash.

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.

Sorry, Daddy!

Hurry up, Mom...

Seven has been a bad girl and ruined a pair of Stephen's socks.  She seems very attracted to a certain type of stretchy fabric that is often used to make socks, underwear, and vetwrap.

Recently, I was out hiking with Riley and Seven when Seven found a sock.  She was quite proud of herself and carried it all the way back to the car for her Daddy... sorry for the low budget camera phone video.

So very thoughtful of Seven.

This is for you, Daddy!

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!