Munchkin

The Munchkin (Reagan) is doing well and settling in nicely. I am back to working full days and she has had no problem crating up to 10 hours. She had one other housetraining accident (my fault), but to her credit she did make into a bathroom and peed on the bath mat. I did catch her doing it and was able to scoop her up and take her outside. She is doing very well eating chicken backs and hasn't had any trouble with any of the veggie mixes, training treats, or extras. I love a sturdy gut on a dog. She is getting along with the other dogs and enjoys meeting new ones. She is calm and friendly in her interactions. She appears to have let go of protecting her crate from the other housemates and is not as touchy about sharing dog beds or mattresses.




My only complaint is that she does cry more than I would like for her too. It is not horrible, but she squeaks when is is excited or tired of waiting. She does make me appreciate Travis, Katie, and even the stepdogs. The step dogs don't have a lot of training, but they know their names, they can do down stays in the house, come when called, and don't do a lot of running through the house. Working with Reagan really puts into perspective how much Katie and Travis have learned over the years. I look at her and wonder if it will ever all come together. I have to remember that Katie and Travis knew nothing 6-7 years ago.



Reagan still scares me all of the time because she's running from room to room with toys across slippery floors. I usually cut the house in half with a baby gate to minimize her running to half of the house and runners strategically placed at stopping and turning points have helped also. Her coordination skills have improved quite a bit from those days running in straight lines on sand. It is fun to see her play. I have started teaching her to retrieve since it is such a good way to tire out an active dog. Indoors, I click and treat when she picks up the toy and I'm working towards clicking & treating when I put my hand on the toy that is in her mouth. She seems to be catching on that I want her to pick up the toy. The hard part is keeping her from bounding off with it. Outdoors, I toss the toy and then see where she takes it. I move to that section of the yard and trade her a treat for the toy. I throw the toy and generally she will tend to return to that particular section of the yard. This works on a lot of greyhounds that like toys and food.


She has tinkled 3 times in the front yard now. Yes, I do think its exciting since we spend a lot of time away from the house. Next weekend we will be going to a 3-day agility trial at Wills Park, so I am hoping she will get some off-the-premises-pee-practice since we will be there all day.



She had her first experience in PetsMart yesterday. It was nice and quiet. I took Katie along as the model greyhound. I am happy to see that Reagan appears to be born brave. Since greyhounds are pretty much raised the same and are not exposed to life outside of the farm, kennel, and track, I feel that they are either born cautious or born brave. Cautious greyhounds were not abused, but they tend to approach new things with caution. They play it safe and tend to avoid. Brave greyhounds approach things with curiousity. They want to check out all of the new stuff and ask questions later. There are lots of variations in the middle, of course. Travis is definitely an example of the extremely brave type. He is 100% fearless. Katie was pretty much the same way up until a year ago. I'm glad to see that Reagan seems to be the same way.



Reagan is an expert at jumping in the van now. Now I need to teach her to wait to jump in the van.



Reagan's sits and downs are pretty good. It appears that she is comfortable sitting which is a big plus for showing in obedience. The Open level requires 3 minute sit stays which is a very long time for a greyhound not comfortable sitting. Reagan is learning to wait until I release her which is usually a big leap out of position that makes you laugh. She is learning that it is worth it to respond to food-less hand signals. The trick is that when you start training without food in your hands, you have to give them a bigger reward for responding. If I use a food lure, she gets 1 piece of kibble. If she responds to just a hand signal, she gets 3 higher value treats. I don't do much training at home, so she is learning to deal with distractions already. She still does not know her name and recalls still need a lot of work.......... but heck, its not even 2 weeks yet.

Travis Loves to Run

OK, I'm trying to figure out how to use You Tube to show videos instead of downloading them actually onto the blog. This video is just a little too long, but Travis LOVES to run as you can see. This is him running around with his bumper after tracking 80 yards. I'm sure it is something I will treasure watching one day when he is long gone, but for the rest of you..... it might be boring :-).

Yeah! It works...... at least when I tried it. I'm in the background running around collecting flags and pretending to try and catch him, so that is why I look like a dork.

Tracking at Old Mill

Today, Stephen and I took Travis and Allie tracking at Old Mill Farm. We met Kate Crawford with her Jack Russell, Indy. We take turns laying tracks for each other. Travis did awesome. He did 3 tracks - 20, 40, and 80 yards long. On his last track, I always use his favorite toy, a bumper, as the last article to find and his reward is to run around with it.

Katie fetches her toy for fun and exercise at Old Mill.

Reagan practiced her sits, downs, and targets. She did really well. We also did some van loading practice. It was fairly good today. I also finally got her to pee somewhere other than the backyard. She peed at 7 AM in the backyard this morning. She ate and drank. Had lots of training treats. Never peed at Old Mill Farm. Got home and she wouldn't pee in the front yard, so I put her in the crate and went to the gym. I took her out front again, but no luck. I put her back in her crate and I waited another hour and again no luck, so back in the crate she went. Finally at 4 PM, she decided to pee on leash in the front yard. Yeah!

Katie and Travis are........

Several people have asked how the other dogs are doing and the simple answer is that they are fine. They are used to having an occasional guest. They are probably thinking she will be leaving soon. Overall, they are a nicely balanced group and we expect them to be accepting of any changes. Katie has been asked about the most since she is the alpha female when you are only counting dogs (cause I'm the one really in charge). Katie is a beautiful example of alpha. She is benevolent, calm, confident, and thoughtful. Alphas shouldn't be bullies or aggressive. They aren't threatened by new comers and they aren't constantly asserting themselves. In fact, they might be somewhat aloof. Katie doesn't posture around other dogs, she simply ignores them. Some dogs demonstrate dominance, but aren't exactly the best dog for the job....... this is when you have problems with stress, excitement, and/or aggression. All in all, dogs aren't equipped to run a household, therefore, a person still must be in charge regardless.

Katie exhibits most of her dominance outside. She flags her tail high, she sasses the neighborhood, she starts play sessions, she ends play sessions, and she repremends those who get out of control with an earful and a paw (or 2 on the back). In the end though, Katie takes directions very well and is an excellent follower. Since the spinal stroke, I pretty much supervise all outdoor activities now. Travis plays rough and I don't want to see Katie lose. I think he could overwhelm her fairly easily now that she has some weakenss and coordination problems. I pretty much control the play sessions now and don't allow much roughhousing. I would also say that in the last year, Katie has lost some of her fearlessness. She seems to have some noise sensitivity. There is a slight bit of caution that was never there before. It sucks getting old.

The only other issue is that Reagan is working on very basic training, so she gets clicks and treats for hardly nothing. Travis and Katie would love to participate, but the have long since moved out of the beginner stage. It does not make sense to clicker train them in the house anymore. So while I do want to be fair, it is not a concept you can explain to a dog. If I tried to be fair, I would reinforce being under foot, following me around, and begging for treats.......... all behaviors I do not want. So I do what I have always done, I reward good behaviors. Dogs who are out of sight and minding their own business while I train Reagan are sought out and given a treat. Those hanging heads over the baby gates do not. Katie gets it about 90% of the time. Travis is about 50/50.

Decorating for Puppies

We have made some decorating changes to our home. We have added blue runners to strategic stopping and turning areas to reduce slipping.

And we have added decorative counter surfing booby traps. This one comes complete with a smelly bait bag attached to an empty diet coke can. So far I can't get anyone to take the bait. There is a Pupperoni sticking out of it, but I haven't been able to entice anyone yet.

I taught two greyhound obedience classes today. We got to the training building an hour early to do some training ourselves. Reagan was awesome. I was not sure whether or not to have her in the building. I did not want her to make a lot of noise. She was great. She quietly cried a little, but I think she slept in her crate during both classes most of the time. She also worked really well. She is luring into a down position and maintaining it for a period of time. She is making some good eye contact with me. She understands touching the cup, but she is not very intense about it. I do have to remind myself that she is only 10 months old. There is no rush. Katie and Travis were well over 2 and 3 years, respectively, when I adopted them. I think right now, it is important that nothing bad happens. Everything should be fun. I want to encourage her to be high drive, condident, and fearless. Noises, people, dogs, and everything in the enviroment are all good.

My biggest problem has been loading Reagan in the van. She is very resistant about it. Yesterday she loved peanut butter and eventually was convinced to get in the van. Today she had no interest in peanut butter. It was very strange. When it was time to go home, I used Tyson roasted chicken to get her to move towards the van, put her front feet in, and so on. Finally she got in, I gave her some chicken and had her get out again. We repeated this several times. Each time she got better and better and was easily hopping into her crate in the van after several repetitions. I think I will continue this protocal for awhile. The most important things is to give myself plenty of time. You just can't be in a hurry. You've got to take your time.

Lastly, I am happy to report that Reagan is now flea-free. The sticktight fleas have fallen off. I am not going to give her the final dose of Capstar and I do not plan to bath her again. I am sure she is happy to report that she is much less itchy now.

Everything is Fun

A youngster is a lot of work, but it is fun. Reagan needs constant supervision. Thank goodness for crates. She snarks everything with her nose. "Snark" is a fancy word for rubbing your nose on everything and leaving nose prints. I never understand why dogs with a highly developed sense of smell have to actually shove their nose into or on something to smell it. Reagan seems to use her nose more than the other greyhounds...........especially poor Katie :-). Maybe I will have to try tracking with her.

Reagan is crying much less now. I think the anxiety of being in a new place, with new people, and new greyhounds is wearing off and she is starting to have some fun. In fact, she finds everything to be fun. If I am cleaning the house, fixing dog bedding, dressing/undressing the dogs in collars and muzzles, wiping feet, etc. she is in the middle of it trying to have some fun. It just makes you smile. Its been a lot of fun to see her youthful approach to everything. Even though she is pretty much full grown, she still looks like such a soft baby to me...... immature. She has the best greyhound coat coverage.... furry neck, furry buns, and furry belly. Only one scar. I always thought that Travis looked so young and he does at 9 years old. But Reagan really shows how mature and masculine he is. She is cute, but he is still the gorgeous one, in my opinion. Katie is, of course, just the plain favorite............ once you earn a utility dog obedience title, you can do no wrong.

Yesterday, in the pouring rain we went to a dog training facility, so we could play indoors. The facility is also a day care and we were there as it was closing up for the day. It is amazing how much noise Katie, Travis, and I tune out. We do not hear the vacuums, the dogs barking, the gates clanging, and doors slamming. But Reagan does....... which makes sense when you are coming from fairly quiet, country living. At one point she was definitely concerned about all the noises coming from the other side of the wall, so I took Reagan and Travis (brave model greyhound) to investigate the noises. She immediately relaxed when she saw that it was just a person, some funny looking dogs, and nothing scary to be found. We returned to the training side and I rotated working with Katie, Travis, and Reagan. Reagan did lots of cup touching with her nose and worked on downs. Eventually, some other people came in and she earned treats while they brought in chairs and cleaned. Then she got to meet a Ridgeback and 2 border collies. It was exactly the kind of meeting I wanted. All three dogs were polite, not overly interested, and were fairly calm. Initially, she didn't have any interest in playing with toys, so I kept her on leash while Katie fetched a stuffy toy. That perked Reagan's interest and I got a stuffy out for her to play with and she had a great time. It was nice to finally let her run around with a toy for a few minutes. I don't really have a great yard for that sort of thing and I've come to realize that I do a whole lot with Travis and Katie in unsecured areas. I will be seeking out the old haunts and training grounds that I used to train at when Katie and Travis were unreliable and needed fences. Overall, I was really pleased that she went from being a little bit scared of all the strange noises to being happy and playful. She also maintained her food motivation the entire time.

Name That Red Dog

Can you tell my red heads apart? They really are all very similar in color.

Well, my parasitic puppy is doing better. All the flea samples I have picked off are dead and it appears that many fell off during the night. I was thinking about sedating her with some ace given orally and just pick them all off with tweezers, but I don't think its necessary. She's still pretty itchy. I will probably do the oatmeal conditioner again in a few days.

Reagan went on her first hike today. She is walking very well on leash and also with a hand on her collar. She is yielding very nicely to the pressure. The hike was a very good leash walking test with all the smells and having to cross creeks. She was a trooper.

Reagan is also a sassy BEOTCH. Katie or Travis must have touched her while lying on the mattress and she gave a big toothful warning and then the alpha beotch (ME) came down on her about her ugliness. She is protective of her space and the crate. I won't tolerate it outside of her crate especially since she practically sits on everyone's head, lies down on their legs, and sniffs their heads while everyone else is very polite. I'm not really sure how to handle the crate. I think I'll need to set up some challenges regarding that.

She is crate training and housetraing great. No accidents (except that totally unavoidable one during the storm on day 1) and she has crated for up to 8 hours. I couldn't be more pleased. She wears a muzzle like she's worn it all her life. She actually seems to like having it put on which is kind of funny. She cried much less today. I finally got her to take my counter surfing booby trap. On the first day or 2, she was all over the counters with me catching her immediately. I have been trying to get her to take the bait for 2 days now. I finally placed it on top of the garbage can since that was attracting the most attention. It worked and she set off the can alarm and it scared her a little. Clicker training is going well. She touches the cup (and the paperweight now :-). We worked on downs which she's very easy to lure into a down and then she was pretty good about maintaining the down position for a little while. She's having a hard time catching onto eye contact, but she'll get it soon.

I actually kept her around while I made dinner and ate. I had to disagree with her numerous times, but all in all she did fairly well.

The one thing scary about having a puppy is that they run in the house and I have slippery hardwood floors. I am so afraid she is going to hurt herself because she has already fallen a couple of times.

Other than that, all is well.

Here is my first attempt at putting a little movie on the blogger.

Ooouuuu..... Gross :-(

Well, my puppy is a parasite palace :-(. She has tape worms and hook worms. I expected that, so no biggie. But those mysterious "clogged pores" are actually sticktight fleas and yes they "stick on very tight". I asked the vet about them and she has never seen anything like it so she put one under the microscope and it was a flea. After some internet research I found out that they are fleas found on poultry generally. I have since learned that the greyhound farm is next door to a emu farm. So now Reagan is being Capstared for 5 days. I bathed her again tonight and applied Frontline to all of the dogs. Once they die, they will probably continue to stick and I'll have to pick them off :-(.

And to top it off, I tried a new vet clinic. I love my vet, the techs, and the facility, but there are no weekend hours and its just so far away. The clinic is in Canton and as Canton adds traffic lights, neighborhoods, and more cars.... the drive just keeps getting longer and longer. At times I feel that I neglect going simply because its a good 45 minute drive now. Well, I was at this appointment at the new clinic for 2 whole hours! And that doesn't include my drive time. I could have gone to my regular vet in the same time amount of time. Its just 2 hours I can never get back.

Its Scary Being a Puppy

Reagan has been pretty brave about seeing and trying new things. She even went up and down our front steps and got in and out of a crate in the van. BUT tonight she discovered an offending paperweight on a bookshelf. It was lurking in the shadows..... no doubt about to pounce on her. Travis touched it with his nose, but she still wasn't sure if it was friend or foe. I guess we'll be incorporating it into some clicker training soon. That's the nice thing about teaching them to touch an object using the clicker. Generally, the hounds love learning how to make you "click" and "treat". Its a fun game and it makes them feel good about themselves. You can use it to your advantage later when you are investigating new things.

Time to be Quiet

Reagan's first night in a crate went smoothly. No accidents and she was very quiet. Even Travis was fairly quiet in the morning which was a rare treat. Maybe he's trying to make a good impression or at least keep himself #2 on the dog list (Katie is #1). She did her potty duties quickly and enjoyed her turkey neck and chicken backs this morning.

I worked the first few hours at home, so I could shorten my 10 hour work day to about 7 hours. She did fine in the crate again. Although she cried and howled a lot when I came in the door. I changed clothes, washed my face, and waited....... for her to stop. She finally quieted down, but started up again as soon as I move. The other dogs were being good and they needed to go out, so I just ignored her and let everyone out of their crates and just kept my back to her until she was quiet and lying down. I finally did win and everyone got to go outside.

I can see why greyhound puppies can turn into little monsters. She is so much more affectionate and cuddly than many of the adults initially. I have to admit that even I think its cute, but I think its important to resist her especially when she's being demanding. I don't want to create a needy, helpless creature. So she earns my attention when she is calm, quiet, and independent. Also, puppies (or at least mine) is so into everything. I am sure that mine is worse since I picked the confident, food motivated one.

Travis and Katie are being very good, of course. They'll earn lots of treats for being patient and staying out of the way. Today I started clicker training Reagan to touch a cup with her nose and she did really well. She was very food motivated and very free with her movement. Its easier to clicker train a dog that moves. The other dogs in the house earned treats if they remained laying on beds and didn't hang their heads over the baby gate........ kudos to Allie and Katie for 100% success. Everyone else received an honorable mention for a 50% success rate. All except for Blondie (babysitter dog, Ali..... we renamed her at our house since we already have an Allie). She never did figure out the out-of-sight-on-my-mind-here's-a-treat-for-you game.... maybe next time.

On closer inspection I found out that the "flea dirt" wasn't flea dirt. They were tiny black bumps between her toes, on her legs, and on the edges of her ears. Pam said that they were basically clogged pores from being out in the dirt and sand. I had seen black heads on their chests before, but these things kind of looked like eggs

Introducing Reagan

Stephen and I left for Cairo, GA at 5 AM this morning. We thought it would take 5 hours, but we got there in a little over 4 hours. Reagan and Jessie looked good and had behaved themselves. The farm had wormed them and applied Frontline to them a few days ago. They also were placed in the kennels and started getting used to being crated. Glen and Pam brought Jessie and Reagan to their house on Friday and bathed them both yesterday. Even so, I think she could use another bath. Luckily, she did not have any fleas due to the recent Frontline treatment, but she has tons of flea dirt in between her toes and and on her legs.




She walks a little better on leash now and she was perfect for the 4 hour car ride. She laid down immediately and I don't think ever got up. She eventually started to relax and fall asleep. I was glad to see that she did not get car sick. I know its a few and far between, but I would just hate to have to work on car sickness. My guys literally ride in the van almost daily.... its just something I want a dog to be able to do happily right off the bat.





Introductions went fine. She has only ever socialized with her littermates of which she was in charge. She was a little overwhelmed with 6 adults (we are babysitting Ali Boyd). Stephen let out one dog at a time..... Katie, Allie, Julie, Ali, Travis, and then Stacker. She tucked her little tail and was a bit nervous, but she took it all in stride and started to relax. She did great wearing the muzzle. I thought she would fight it more, but she really didn't. We use muzzles on our greyhounds when we turn out and she will be no exception.




I would have liked to have stayed outside for awhile, but a huge thunderstorm blew in and we had to all go inside....... of course, without Reagan going to the bathroom first. She passed test #2 of the day.... storms. I also do not like storm phobics either. I have had 3..... Sandy (childhood mutt), Teresa, and currently Stacker. Teresa was the worst and I think she had to endure some of Georgia's worse thunderstorm seasons. I just want to avoid it if I can help it and Reagan was obviously not bothered by it.








I would say that test #3 is slippery floors. I have known a few dogs (several being greyhounds) that really freaked out on slippery floors. Our entire house is hardwoods and tile. I don't particularly want to have to work on overcoming a fear of slippery floors. Reagan did great! We have a really easy house for greyhounds because it is a ranch style with only 2 steps. She followed one of the greyhounds up those 2 steps and back down again with no issues. She also laid down on the hardwood floor...... good future practice for downs on the agility table :-).




She investigated the house and seemed pretty brave about all the new stuff. The hardest part is that if you try to lead her by the collar, she still freezes. This makes it difficult to move her from room to room, but we'll get there. She checked out her crate and she also wedged herself between and behind the crates and back out again. She does not appear to be claustaphobic and she seemed bright enough to figure out how to get herself out of the situation.


She did finally pee on the tile floor in the kitchen which I simply scooped her up with my arm around her waist to stop her. It was still storming and she wasn't particularly interested in doing her business. It just is not a very win win day for housetraining. It eventually stopped raining and I took her and Katie outside and she peed twice for a very loooonnnggg time.

Right now I am taking a break. I put her in her crate along with everyone else. I gave her a turkey neck since she hasn't eaten much today and the others got rawhide chips. I hear her crying down there occasionally, but I expected that and plan to just ignore it for now.

Last Day of Peace and Quiet

Well, I hope its not the last.......... but today is the last day without Reagan and with dogs only over the age of 7 years. Pam has reported that Reagan and Jessie look good. After being confined to a dog trailer for a few hours, they went crazy out in the yard running around and jumping up on Pam and Glen. I was told that Reagan was definitely more confident and followed Glen back to her kennel run with no problem. That's my girl.

I think Jessie's home has fallen through. The people just have too much on their plate and just adopted another greyhound just last weekend. I'm not sure if that means they have 3 or 4 greyhounds now. It just sounds like a busy situation already and to add a 10 month old greyhound who isn't crate trained, housetrained, leash trained, etc. sounds even more insane. She wanted to see if someone could hold Jessie for a month, but I would rather see her get to a new home as soon as possible and not pass her around. Pam is still working on that situation.

Unfortunately, I have a terrible sore throat. I sure wish I felt better this weekend.

Weirdo

Katie is a little weirdo. She will curl up, tuck her nose under a front leg, and lick her arm pit area.

It is very strange. She will go into this little trance and licks for a period of time unless we stop her. I usually will stop her because I hate the sound of dogs licking and she leaves a huge wet spot on the dog bed. She has never licked for so long that she has left a hot spot or damaged the skin in anyway.

I guess if she was living a couch potato life she might tend to do it more frequently out of sheer bordom and create hot spots. Has anyone ever seen this?

I have given up on the idea that Katie will every learn to track. Its

just too frustrating. There aren't enough years in my life (and certainly not hers) to give us enough time to explain the concept. Maybe some dogs are just better at distinguishing smells than others even amongst individuals of the same breed. For now, we just walk around in the fields after the other dogs have tracked.

Seegold Spooky

Seegold Spooky - November 9, 1996 to February 1, 2008

Recently, my sister's beloved greyhound, Seegold Spooky, passed away at the age of 11. She put together a really nice slide show of pictures to music. She has so many wonderful pictures of Spooky. I thought it was a really beautiful tribute if you would like to check it out.
http://lessismore17.blogspot.com/ - Just click on the green arrow below "Spooky's Life". You can never take too many pictures and Denise is truly the best at capturing all of those special moments forever. Don't put off what you can being doing today.... take those pictures!

Preparations

I am naming the "I" dog Reagan aka Never Swing Left. Yes, I am feeling a little political these days with the elections in full swing. People either love the name or.... no comment. :-)

The farm owner is doing a haul for Pam on Friday the 15th, so he will bring Reagan and Jessie to Pam. Then Stephen and I will be driving to Pam's house in Cairo, GA on Sunday the 17th to pick up Reagan and Jessie. Through passing the word around, I was able to find a home for one of the puppies in Cleveland, TN. Her adopters will pick her up when we arrive home.

Today, I cleaned and organized the house so I won't feel as compelled to when Reagan arrives. I've decided on which crate, found and washed an old collar to use until I purchase one, and have shopped for turkey necks (the first step to switching to feeding chicken backs). I also brought work home. I want to lighten my employee duties as much as possible for the first week or 2, so I am putting in some extra hours now.

I have no idea what to expect.... how long will it take to learn leash walking? If she does not even leash walk, how much harder is it to teach stairs? Luckily, we don't have very many and can avoid all except for 2 steps for the most part. My dogs all wear muzzles in the yard and Reagan will be no exception. How long does it take to get used to wearing a muzzle? How will she take to crating? Will she adjust to our 10 hour work schedule quickly? What about housetraining? With no crate or indoor experience, she doesn't really have any concept of "holding it". When she has to go, I'm sure she just goes. It all should be interesting. My understanding of moving into the racing kennels is pretty much "here's your crate" and "get used to wearing the muzzle". They don't baby them, so I think I will just give myself extra time and not baby her either.

So I'm eager and looking forward to it, but I'm glad I had this week to catch up on life in general.

And The Winner Is............

The hotel was nice and I actually was able to sleep. The puppies had worn me out the day before. I got to sleep past 6 AM which is always a treat for me (I get up at 4:40 AM on weekdays). I headed to the farm and arrived just before 8 AM. The owner of the farm has heart problems (which is why he is retiring and getting out of the greyhound farm business) and pays Julio and Olivia to feed the puppies and take care of a few adult dogs. I met the farm owner the day before as I was leaving and he asked that I not take any of the puppies out till after the adults had been fed, turned out, and brought back in. He was concerned that the older dogs would fight or jump the fence if they saw another greyhound outside of the fence. I did not understand this concern since these were adult dogs who had seen plenty of leashed dogs before. I could see fights breaking out if there were loose dogs, but............ regardless, I didn't want to break any rules.

No one was at the farm when I arrived and I was not sure if feeding was completed already or not. Since I had to leave at 11:30 AM, I did not want to waste anytime. I pulled out Brook the "B" dog. She was easy to catch and slightly easier to walk this time. I thought she did good considering that I was walking her by herself. I was able to lure her into a sit on a hill side. She rolled a hip and quickly laid down. That concerned me a little since you really want a good sit for competiting in obedience.

After 20 minutes or so, Julio and Olivia arrived. Brook and I met them at the kennel building. They assured me that it was fine to have Brook out while they fed and they brought her a big bowl of kibble and raw meat. She ate almost the whole bowl. They brought out food for the other puppies in large square pans and literally tossed them over the fence. They are allowed to eat as much as they want to at this point in their lives. I decided to put Brook up, but unfortunately I had to walk her away from littermates and food to get to the gate at the other end of the run. She was quite resistant and flailed like a fish caught on a hook. I had to push her much of the way and finally resorted to just carrying her. Through it all, none of the adult dogs cared.

Again the baby gate worked like a charm and allowed me to get in and out with a puppy with ease. Next, I caught the red, "I", alpha female and brought her out of the run. She was huge! She had gorged herself on breakfast and I think ate more than any of the other puppies. She was round as a basket ball. I learned later that they are fasted on Sundays to keep them food motivated when it is hot. If they are fed everyday, they can turn into picky eaters. Fasting them one day per week keeps them sharp and eager to eat. It probably explains why the whole litter was fairly food motivated. I took the "I" dog for a walk and we explored a different part of the farm this time. At one point she resisted and flailed like a fish because she wanted to return to the littermates, but I persisted and eventually she gave in and continued our walk. There wasn't much more I could do with her since she was visiably gorged. I decided to give her 45 minutes to nap and would take her out one more time. Pre-gorge picture on left. Post-gorge picture on right.

I sat on the screened porch with the farm owner. We chatted about greyhound farm life, his retirement, the puppies, and I thought about my choices. Monday morning's evaluation was not much help since there was not much I could do with the "I" dog. Based on Sunday's look, I decided on the "I" dog. I felt they were both equally fantastic and tested very well. Both were friendly and affectionate. In fact, both had poked their heads through my legs to look up at me which was cute. The main difference between the 2 was that the "I" dog was a little more confident and independent which is exactly what I wanted.

I took the "I" dog out one last time to take pictures of identifying marks..... a funky left ear and a scar on her left side. I also wrote "I" on one thigh and "JEN" on the other :-). I hated to put her back, but I was in a rental car and was headed for a seminar in Tampa. We would have to make plans for her later. I wish I had brought at least some Frontline, but I guess another week of fleas will only make her stronger. So with that, I put her away, took a few more pictures and left.

If anyone is interested in a ten month old puppy, there are still 5 or 6 that need homes. I would especially love to find Brook a home that would enjoy training her since I think she would be a lot of fun for that.

Puppies

A few months ago, Pam Davis alerted me to a litter of puppies that would probably be available for adoption. The dogs' owner was not paying the board bill and the greyhound farm had been sold and was going out of business. At the time, they were 8 months old and were kind of at the age where I was not sure if I wanted to go that young or not.... did I want the responsibility? Plus Katie was still working on rehab. I did not hear anything more until last week when Pam called to say that the litter (now 10 months old) was now available. The National Greyhound Association gave the greyhound farm permission to place the puppies up for adoption since the board bill probably exceeds their value at this point and the farm owner simply wanted to do the right thing and place the pups as pets. As luck would have it, I was already headed for Tampa, Florida for an agility seminar on February 4th and 5th (a Monday and a Tuesday) and it was no problem to head down a day early to Orlando to visit with the puppies. I already had my car rental and just needed to make a hotel reservation for Sunday night near the greyhound farm.

I left the house at about 5:30 AM Sunday morning. My birthday was the following day, so I was surprised to see a gift that Stephen had left for me in the rental car :-). The drive was uneventful and I arrived shortly after 1 PM. Kate Conroy (I think is her last name, Cindy the high jump record greyhound's mom) was kind enough to meet me there and to help me deal with the limitations of the situation. See, these full grown puppies were not wearing collars, had no manners, never been leash trained, and had never been out of the dog run.......... and here I am wanting to test for trainability. To top it off, they were all about the same color making it difficult to tell them apart. Pam and I talked on the phone several times. I knew there were some serious limitations to what I could do at the farm and just planned on being flexible, open minded, and plan for the problems ahead of time. Pam was probably more cautious than she needed to be. She explained that I would probably have to do much of my evaluating from outside of the fence and use a permanent marker to mark the dogs that I was interested in and then maybe I could see it outside of the run on Monday morning. She and the farm owner were afraid I would be knocked over or puppies would get out if I went inside of the run by myself since the gates are in bad shape. I decided to stop asking questions and examine the situation for myself.

With that information, I emailed everyone I knew in Florida and asked if anyone was available and could help me out in Orlando. I was so happy when Kate responded and was willing to go.

The pups ranged from creme to red. Kate and I looked at them from outside the fence and noted that there were 3 boys and 5 girls. The pups were in 3 runs because they had dug under the fence. There was a tall, creme colored male with a very curly tail in the third run. There was a red female and a fawn male in the first run. The remaining 5 were in the second run. I had originally thought that I would walk along the fence line for awhile to burn off some excess energy and to let the excitement wear off, but it was 80 degrees and the pups have very limited shelter and pretty much no shade, so I didn't want to get them over heated. So Kate and I decided to go on in and slip collars on since we were only able to put a couple of collars on from outside the gate. I had brought a baby gate (one of those problems I worked out ahead of time :-) and 5 or 6 different colored collars. I wedged myself through the gate and used the baby gate to keep the babies at bay. They had never seen a baby gate before so they all backed off and stayed out of the way while Kate came in and closed the gate. We started putting collars on the dogs that would allow us to and offering food to those that would take it since my "#1 must have" is food motivation. We leashed up the 2 that were most interested in our food and pushed and pulled them through the gate.

We checked tattoos and found that we had the "A" dog and the "B" dog. The "A" dog (later named Atlas) was a beautiful red male that looked a lot like Travis. The "B" dog (later named Brook) was a creme colored fawn. We struggled with leash walking. Sometimes we had to just push them along and other times they would get moving and seem to enjoy the walk. Having Kate there allowed us each to have a dog out, so they would feel more comfortable having a littermate near by. We walked them around the house and under the carport. We misted them off which surprisingly they were ok with. I clipped their nails, touched mouths, tails, toes, and ears. Both were very easy to work with. We dropped some loud dog bowls and neither seemed too concerned. I also played a thunderstorm CD from my car since I do not want a storm phobic. We were so lucky because we had the entire farm to ourselves and did not have to explain the crazy things we were doing. We offered them toys which Atlas and Brook were interested in, but they were not sure what to do...... plus it was hot and they were panting. Through it all they both ate the variety of treats we offered and lured along on leash by following a treat. Brook was especially food motivated and would climb on us for treats. We then took them for a quick ride in Kate's van. I don't want a dog that gets car sick either. They both laid down and held on for dear life (no offense, Kate, but you drive that mini van like its a Mazda Miata :-).

Kate had a limited amount of time, so we decided that we were finished with Brook and Atlas. I decided that if it came down to these 2 dogs, I would definitely consider Brook. We put them away and went back into the second run. We were able to get a leash on the female with the red collar ("J" dog, Jessie, see left), but the rest of the pups were more hesitant. I then remembered that the red female in the first run was the first dog I was able to put a collar on. We originally had passed on her because she was a little snarky to the dog in the same run, but I decided that being the easiest to put a collar on said something about her. Well, sure enough it did.... she was the most adventerous and curious about her surroundings. She led me the furthest aroud the farm and was very food motivated. Jessie was less brave, but still very food motivated. We put them both through the plethora of tests and they both did fairly well. Jessie was more cautious. The snarky, red female (the "I" dog) started to grow on me though. I really appreciated the curiousity she showed on the walk around the farm. When it was time for Kate to leave, I had narrowed it down to the "B" dog and the "I" dog.

Since I did not have to be anywhere and I still had daylight, I decided to practice putting collars on everyone and to write their ID letter on the inside of a thigh for each dog. I was starting to be able to tell them apart, but the only way I could relay the information about their personalities to Pam was to ID them with the letter. So I went back into run #2. Practiced putting on and taking off collars. I watched them interact. I touched them all and was able to determine and write the letter of each except for one. Zelda (couldn't determine her letter, see right) is a red female with a black mask. Cute as a button, but very submissive and excitable. She would explode with excitement which would attract the attention of the higher ups and she would be blocked and scolded. Kayla ("K") was the other submissive sibling. She was quick to roll over on her back for just about everything. She was a pretty, fawn who was very food motivated also. She searched the sand for crumbs longer than anyone. Curly ("C") was the tall, creme colored male with a very curly tail. I don't think I have ever seen a greyhound tail curl that much. Jessie was the most unique of the reds. She had some collie-type markings on her face that were pretty. Lastly, was Eddie ("E"). I totally overlooked Eddie in the first run. I thought he was shy, but then figured out that he was simply a gentle, quiet fellow. He was so unassuming. He demanded nothing, but when you stopped to give him a belly rub or an ear scritch he just had the warmest expression on his face. He would half close his eyes and just look so sweet. I definitely think he is the pick of the litter when it comes down to the best "pet". Just a doll.

I observed my 2 picks and discovered that "I" dog was clearly the alpha female. She was in everyone's business and was especially keen on Zelda for being too excited. I left that evening leaning towards the "I" dog since I like attitude and strong personalities.

You might be wondering where the "D", "F", and "G" dogs are. Unfortunately, they were sold as coyote dogs.

I went to my hotel.... excited that I actually liked 2 of the pups very much. I am very picky, so I was worried that I may not like any of them. I needed a shower badly. I have never been so filthy or had so much dirt under my nails. "I" dog is above. "B" dog is below.