Late October and November – complete house disruption

We are having the master bathroom remodeled. This is a complete disruption to our norm. We had to move to the guest room upstairs, poor Tari was still in the closet in the master bathroom with plastic hung in the master bedroom and not liking it one bit. Dust is everywhere and it is getting harder and harder to get Tari to go into her crate. Until finally one night we decided to let her sleep on her cushion in the living room.



This seemed to be a good solution for now. Guinn is staying up stairs with us and we are able to leave the door open and there have been no incidents, no accidents and no dog/cat encounters that create a problem. So far so good.


Halloween was a non event, Tari came over to the door to see some of the kids and all seem to be fine until we noticed that some of the candy started to disappear. I caught her once and took the candy from her. Thought she understood that this was not for her and then a few minutes later we discovered some candy bar wrappers in the living room partially eaten. Seems she discovered and loves the Butterfingers.
We had a new one today… Tari took a peanut butter bar from the island in the kitchen! We cannot believe that she did this. She has been on her own in the house for hours on end and has never taken anything other than shoes. I think it is the smell of the peanuts that she likes so much. Fred sometimes takes her hollowed out bone and puts peanut butter in it and this keeps her busy for a long time. It has been a while since he has done this so perhaps she is trying to tell us something.

September and early October – play dates

Well, the girls are getting on real well. Lorraine, Belle’s mom is one of Tari’s favorite people because she always has treats in her pocket. Sometimes I think Tari is more interested in being with Lorraine than Belle or even me. Lorraine and I are starting to make play dates for the girls in our yard because we are fenced in. More pixs!

It is so much fun to watch them. I don’t dare give the two dogs a stuffed toy while Belle is over. While they play together well, Belle can destroy a stuffed toy within 2 minutes of receiving it. She is not nasty with it, she just lays down and pulls it a part! Tari on the other hand just runs and tosses the toy around. I must get that on video!

August – having fun

Tari loves visiting her buddy, Belle. She knows right where she lives and they play and share nicely. Belle doesn’t even mind if Tari lies in her bed. Check this out!

July - Another vacation - Kennel and dental care

Another vacation and we know that we need to address her dental issues. Her breath is not good. So we thought we would take advantage of the dental care and boarding at the National Greyhound Adoption Program’s kennel in Philly. We highly recommend that if your dog needs dental care to go to the NGAP. Please visit their website at NGAP.org. Link is below.

This all worked out well. She had to have 8 teeth extracted (not unusual for Greyhounds) and had to be on soft foods for another 10 days. Then back on to the dry food. She did OK with this. It took her another 2 weeks to become her old self again. The trip there is about 60 miles one way. Sounds like a lot and it is however, there are many benefits.
1) Your dog will get the best care,
2) They keep the dogs well socialized and even find them a buddy
3) Their prices are very reasonable
4) Your dog will come home healthy
5) The people who take care of the Greys are wonderful, they truly love them
6) The facility has everything right there, vets and all. They even have a senior section for the older greys who do not want to be out and about with the youngsters.

Check out this link! http://www.ngap.org/ Be sure to Click on the "Photo Album" in the lower Left hand corner of this site

June - Still training on the stairs

Tari is still not doing well with the stairs, inside or outside. My mission is to get this solved. One way to do this is to have another dog come over and go up and down the stairs with her. We tried this at Easter to no avail. So I started with having her walk with me down the steps in the garden. She would try to walk down the hill instead of staying on the steps. We continued to do this at least two times each night, up and down. We did this every night for a week and then I took her over to the steps to the deck. She walked up carefully and would not go down. Well, at least made some head way… A couple of days later I was able to get her to go down the steps from the deck as long as I was by her side and touching her collar.

It took another two weeks before she would go down with out my being there. To get her to go down, I took her favorite stuffed pig with us and would throw it for her. This was the ticket! She takes it and runs tossing it in the air and catches it while she is running. Haven’t had much luck catching her doing this it happens so fast. Maybe I’ll get it on video some time. It took her to the end of June to handle the stairs with ease.

May 2010 – The crate became an issue while we were on vacation

It has been some time since I last updated this blog, and for this I apologize. Once the spring came I had many outdoor chores to do and was exhausted in the evenings, so did not get a chance to write.

Ok, so where did I leave off?

In the beginning of May we went on vacation and hired a house sitter. Our friend Rob stayed at our house for the week, which meant that Tari was going to have to stay in her crate all day. The week went well except for the fact that she really didn’t like staying in her crate. Each day she let Rob know that she was trying to get out. She pushed the tray under the crate out, ripped the throw rug that we had place on top of a tarp which was on top of our bedroom rug. She ruined the throw rug and thank goodness she did not rip through the tarp. Rob tells us toward the end of the week when he came home just about all of the pins that hold the crate together were bent and if he had been gone another hour she surely would have met him at the door. Tari was good for Rob but was so glad to see us return. With this issue we had to do something. Our last grey, Isis did not like the wired crate either, so we tried the closed-in travel crate. This worked for Isis so we thought maybe the same would work for Tari.

Hence, we brought up Isis’s old crate. Tari did not care for it but after a few nights she reluctantly went in but was not a happy pup. For one thing, the crate was too small for her. This is when we realized that Tari was really quite a bit larger than Isis and this crate was just not go to do…back to the original wire crate. We decided that maybe if we put the crate in our closet perhaps it will seem more secure and comforting to her. Our closet is quite large and again this is where Isis slept at night as well. This turned out well. We have our solution.

April 30, 2010

This past week we had a set back. First we noticed that she started coughing when I would come home and after she ate. So we took her to the vet. They did some blood work to see if perhaps it could be heart worm, thank goodness it was not. So we are treating her as if she got a touch of kennel cough. The coughing seems to have subsided. While at the vet they weigh her and she is now 67 lbs. That is a gain of 4 pounds since we got her and is the perfect weight for her. Now we will just need to maintain it. She Looks great.

Now, for some reason she is afraid of the floors again. We are back to placing area rugs throughout the first floor to help her get over this once again. On top of this we are planning to go away and have a house sitter come in and stay with the animals. I’m not worried about Guinn, the cat and I think Tari will do ok as well. She hopefully will be comfortable with all of the rugs around and will not give Rob a rough time.

When we get back I will have some news to write of how she did.

Took a few photographs this evening. Tari loves the out doors!

April

I am so sorry that I have not kept the blog up to date. All seemed to have been going well. Easter came, we had 21 people for dinner and my brother brought his dog Oliver along. The two dogs greeted one another and basically didn’t bother with one another for the balance of the day. The weather was beautiful and Tari stayed outside chewing on a bully stick, which is probably why she paid no mind to Oliver. We are trying to encourage her to chew to get some of the tartar off her teeth. It seems to be working along with brushing her teeth.

We continue to work on the going up and down the stairs. She is mastering coming up the steps in the garden and to the deck more comfortably than the steps in the house. Going down is still really tough for her. She just does not know what to do with her legs.

Gail from the greyhound adoption agency told us that we would continue to see changes in our grey, and we are.

As the weather has been improving, Tari gets to play out side more, and we can see how happy she is. When we bring out her stuffed cow it’s fun to watch her throw it in the air, catch it and run with it. You can see her smiling as she does this. We had friends over and they actually said that they can see that Tari is really happy.

March 20, 2010 - It's final!

We have officially adopted Tari. Gail and Bob from the Greyhounds Pets of America, Delaware came over to go over the paper work and to toast Tari’s new life with a glass of wine and cheese. The process is not lengthy. Just going over one paper and signing it. Plus a packet of info, some treats, and a surprise toy for Tari, which she took immediately and started playing. Fred and I each received a really nice light weight sweatshirt with the “Greyhounds Pets of America - Delaware” on them. Fred’s jersey is a little different than mine. Here he is wearing his jersey for the first official family portrait with our girl Tari. This is not, however, the end of this journal. I will continue to post messages on this blog as Tari is still growing and getting settled into her retirement life.

Meanwhile I am trying to convince Fred to foster a grey in May. But we really cannot do this until we have Tari doing the steps both up and down. I mentioned this to Gail and she had a great suggestion…she owns two Greys that do steps quite well and could bring them over and let Tari follow then up and down the stairs and thereby training her.
This sounds like a plan and I think it might work. I’ll be sure to take pictures of the three of them. We are aiming for the end of next week or early the following week. Stay tuned.

Progress report - the stairs

We are still working on the stairs. Tari is starting to come up the stairs but in such a clumsy way. She is tripping over her feet as she tries to rush moving from the bottom of the stairs to the top. We have done this three more times and is seems to be getting easier each time but not by much. We need to find a way to make this easier for her. Does any one have any suggestions?

This weekend was beautiful, temperatures in the 70s and sunny, sunny, sunny! I worked in the yard and once my chores moved to the back fenced in part of the yard, I brought Tari out and she loved it. She ran around the yard maybe twice and like a true Grey, that was enough. She found a nice cool spot and lay down, being sure I was near by. After a few minutes she started to wander around the yard and started exploring. When I was ready to come in, a simple calling of her name brought her right to me and in we came through the basement and that means we had to do the stairs… again.

Giving us her paw - March 14, 2010

Finally she has caught on to giving us her paw. Check out the video. While we are using treats as a motivator. She will also do this with out a treat.

We are still working on the stairs. She is coming up a little faster, but rushes up them and has not gone down the steps in the house yet.

Also, we are offically going to adopt her. Will have to get all of the paper work in order this week.

Cars and steps

We are still trying to get the hang of getting into the car and climbing stairs. The car is a real challange. Here I am helping her one step at a time. I am trying to take her places that she will enjoy, so that she associates a ride with good things, and with hopes that she will want to go for a ride in the future. Yesterday it was to Concod Pets. I thought she might enjoy that seeing other dogs and people and being around dog things and food. In the store she just stayed by my side. Didn't look left or right. I can't complain, she didn't jump on anyone and she didn't try to take any food. I'll bet it won't always be this way. So it was as I suspected, when she is in a new place she is very quiet. This is a good thing. But I do wish she would show some enthusisam.

The steps are proving to be even more of a challenge. Trying to bribe her with food is not doing the trick. But interestingly, when I walk her up and down the steps in the gardens outside, and they are steep, she handles them just fine ... up and down. And we did this several times. But once we come in the house. She seems to think she can not do them. So we need to continue to work on this.

One paw at a time

Sunday a week ago I tried to teach Tari how to do the stairs. The best way to start this is to go up the stairs not down. Greys have a tendency to jump all of the steps and could get hurt. This effort was literally one paw at a time. What a chore. I was sweating bullets by the time I got her to the top step. The poor baby was shaking like a leaf. It should get a little better each time we do this excerise.

Most things are progressing nicely. Tari seems to be coming to us to let us know she needs to go out. Fred tested her to see how long she would go before she wanted to go out. 6 1/2 hours before she came to him. A couple of days later we left her in her crate for 8 1/2 hours. TOO LONG! Poor thing had an accident while we were away. We’ll keep watching and testing.

The worming pill seems to have done the trick in firming up her stools. Another pill this Thursday and that should be that.

This past Sunday was her first time riding in a car since she arrived here in January. It’s a sports car that has back seats that fold down for a large space that will allow her to lay down confortably. Another effort of having to place one paw in the car at a time and a little goose at the end. Then a short ride to a park, she stumbled a little when she tried to get out. At least this was easier than gettng her in. We went for a nice walk and met a really large 134 pound Golden Lab, Riley and his owners Bob and Lisa. The dogs got along just fine. Getting back into the car was again a chore but a little better than the first time. I have a feeling she is going to get better at this faster than she is taking to the stairs.

Second and third time taking the steps. We have a walk-out basement, so I took her in that way. The stairs to the main floor are carpeted... so again, one paw at a time, with lots of coaxing and help, she finally made it. The next night, we tried the same thing, but this time, we figured that we need to motivate her and food seems to be the best motivator for her, so Fred got her food ready. Just stirring her food perked her up. She practically leaped to the half-way landing, then froze, and once again one paw at a time finally made it to the top. We are getting there. I have a feeling that this will take at least three more trys before she is comfortable.

Every day it’s still something new...and all are positive!

Promised Photo of Tari's friends - Belle and Button

Here is Belle and her live in kitty, Button. Tari met Button on her very first day with us. Button walked right up to Tari as bold as can be and Tari was ok with it. Button is certianly her own cat. She really lets any new animal in the area know that she is not a kitty to mess with. Looks like she and Tari will get along just fine, as long as Tari doesn't bother her. Belle and Button get on well too... you ought to see how Button teases Belle and I don't think Belle cares, she thinks it a game. That is a puppy for you.

Introducing Tari's friend Belle

Here is Tari with her friend Belle. Looks like Belle is not sure of Tari, but don’t let this picture fool you, they get along great. Belle is a cute brindled mutt… her owner’s words, not mine and is such a puppy, so rambunctious and playful… what fun and they grow out of that stage so quickly. This week she lost the last of her puppy teeth and was spayed. We are keeping the dogs apart for a couple of weeks for two reasons, one so Belle can heal from her sutures and the other, well… You’ll have to read the week of February 15th for those details.

Lorraine, Belle’s mom sent me other pictures for posting but I seem to have miss placed them in my computer. I will post the new pictures when I get or find them. Or maybe I’ll just have to ask Lorraine to resend them. Darn!

Look who has a new collar! Doesn't she look regal in her new gold Egyptian collar? Fred started calling her Queen Nefertari!

Week of Februray 15 through 22

This week we had a new development. We thought Tari was on the mends from her diarrhea. This was not the case. We have tried so many things and have concluded that she may have a parasite. So we are going to have to worm her. Greys are usually wormed before they are released to new homes, however this sometime this needs to be done a second time, which is the case for Tari. . This is the second reason that we are not allowing her to visit with her friend Belle. Worms can be contagious, do not want to take any chances. The Greyhound adoption agency supplied the pills for Tari since we are still in the process of fostering and have not officially adopted her yet. We are going to worm her two more times over the next two weeks, hopefully it will take care of the situation. This is not a pleasant thing to talk about but it needs to be addressed, because the purpose of this blog is to let others who may consider adopting or fostering a grey know what could arise when you take on this responsibility. With the good comes some of the messy stuff, but this will pass. (pardon the pun) Just a minor inconvenience - - We saw a noticeable difference in her stool within a day. Let’s hope that this continues.

On Monday Fred heard her bark for the first time. And now here it is, a week later and we haven’t heard another bark out of her.

We have a new habit, she now wanders off into other rooms and picks up anything that is not nailed down and brings it out to her quilt in the living room. Plays with it for a bit and then lays on it…shoes, the cat’s feeding mat, my stockings, you name it. It is almost comical. So I decided to move some of her toys into the bedroom and with in an hour she brought all of them out to her quilt. Did I mention Greys love stuffed toys? Tari tosses hers around and then lays on them. Greys tend not to be destructive when it comes to the soft toys. Isis, our last Greyhound was the same way.

February 14, 2010

Well, our little girl had her first accident. We do not know how we missed the signs for her needing to go out. She soiled her quilt in the living room. We wondered why she was not laying on it and why she kept moving it around. When I took her out for a walk, Fred went to straighten out the quilt and noticed that it was wet, poor baby…Too late to do anything about it. Can’t get mad at her or try to correct the situation after the fact. She would not know why we were upset. It is not uncommon for a grey not to know how to tell you that they need to go out. She seems to think she is telling us something by getting up and walking around. I wish we could figure out a way to get her to bark to tell us she wants to go out. I have a feeling she is going to have to train us on what to look for.

Week of February 8 - Part III and IV

Part III – working on getting her into the crate
We are working on the going to the crate on command. We are using the words “In your Box” as the command. The shorter the phrase the better they can relate to what it means. It has been a struggle. We can get her into the room and then she freezes right in front of the box. I then would have to move one foot at a time to get her to go in. Patience is necessary and you cannot get angry or she’ll think its punishment. Once in, she gets a treat, a biscuit. Food is a good motivator for just about any dog, but especially greys. She is no exception here. It took about 4 nights and she is now going into her box without me having to move her feet. In fact, one afternoon Fred and I were in the bedroom and we watched her walk in to the crate and out. This is a good thing. She has done this a couple of times over the past two days. There is no punishment associated with this. We are so glad. As of this Thursday she is going into the crate even when we do not have a treat in hand. But we do go and get one just to be sure to reward her. We soon will not even have to do this. One of the things that we do with Guinn, our cat, is when we say “bedtime” she runs down the hall to the bedroom. We are hoping that this will create the same reaction with Tari. Still do not have a picture of the two of them together. I think this is going to take time. Guinn has found a little nook upstairs to nap in.


Part IV - Cleaning her teeth
I started working on this almost as soon as we got her. You do this by examining the teeth, opening her month and touching her teeth. She was fine with this. Then I started to carfully pull the lips back. Not a problem in the front but she is resisting when I try to check her back teeth. I just might be better off waiting until she is lying down and try it then. It is important to keep after a grey’s dental hygiene. They have such long jaws that when they eat they do not get all of the food off their teeth in the very back and this causes bad breath. It also helps to stay on top of the teeth because dental work on dogs can be expensive. I started to use the rubber finger brush with beef flavored toothpaste. Yes, they make doggie tooth paste and I also have a doggie toothbrush, which I haven’t started to use yet - - I’ll need to build up to this. I’m also thinking of picking up one of those greenies which are supposed to be good for dog’s teeth. Maybe I can get out tomorrow and get this.

I did missed a milestone yesterday. Fred said he heard her bark for the first time. Fred believes that she did this to get his attention. Oh well, maybe the next time I'll hear it. There is always something to look forward to with a grey. We are having lots of fun with her.

Week of Feb 8 - Part II - Something new

Part II – Something New
We got 25 inches of snow over the weekend and they forecast another 12 to 15 for Tuesday and Wednesday. Fred was cleaning up the ice on the driveway from the weekend snow to get ready for the next onslaught.. He did not bother to put Tari in her “box”, this is what we call the crate. And once again she got to the toilet paper. This time we got a picture of it. Fred said that this was not as bad as the first time. I thought this was a cat thing? How can we get mad at her?

Our first Greyhounds - Isis

By the way, several people have asked that we post a picture of Isis. She is the dark brindled and white lady above. She was just as easy going as Tari…well actually even more so. Once Fred was waiting for me outside the mall and a man walked by having to step over her, Isis never moved, the guy came back to my husband and said “Sir, I think your dog is dead”, at this Isis lifted her head. They had a laugh. Yes, she was that trusting. We loved her. She lived to be 14. That’s good living for a grey.

In our heart forever ~

Isis December 1990 - January 2005

I apologize for the picture. This is taken from a scan.

She is still beautiful!

Week of February 8, - Getting use to the Dremel

Part I – Getting use to the Dremel
We have a couple of goals for Tari this week. One is to actually be able to trim her nails with the Dremel, train her to go in her crate on command, brush her teeth, and of course, stop her from getting on the kitchen counter.
But first check out this snow! This is not normal for Delaware. We usually get ice not the real white stuff. As far as I am concerned this is enough for the next 10 years.
Ok, back to Tari. How are we doing with her training? I did try to use the Dermel on her nails. Not a problem. Only did a little bit and I did this while she was lying on her side. She didn’t even so much as lift her head. I will continue to do this over the next couple of weeks until we have her nails are short enough. Doing this a little at a time will help the quick to recede so not to cause any injury. These dogs will tolerate just about anything. Our first Grey was the same way.

Sunday February, 7, 2010 - Super Bowl Sunday…

GO SAINTS! It has been a while since I have written anything, so I need to catch up. First of all, my Saints came marching in with a win of 31 to 17! Whooho!

We had a storm that started Friday night through Saturday evening. This storm dumped 25 inches of snow. This is a bit much. We had to have someone plow us out. Tari is not real happy with the white stuff, after all she was in Florida only three short weeks ago.
We bought a Dremel to trim Tari’s nails. I started with turning on the device, at low speed, near her to get her familiar with the noise. Let her sniff it while it was running being careful not to let the sander get too close to her nose. It did not seem to bother her at all. A little curious, that was all. I have a feeling that I will be able to use it sooner than I thought. I did mention that she is getting more comfortable didn’t I… well she is very comfortable in our home, so much so that we caught her twice with both paws on the kitchen counter trying to get to her food bowl. We do have to put a stop to this! Luckily we caught her both times. A firm “no” stopped her in both cases and she has not done it since. This dog is a fast learner. In case you didn’t know, Greyhounds tend to eat very quickly. They practically inhale their food. What we do is prep her food about 10 to 15 minutes before serving her by adding water to her dried kibbles (we feed her ProPlan) to soften the food, this helps her to avoid choking on dry bits of the kibble. Not that she has had any problem. Another trick we were told is to place an upside down glass in the middle of the bowl. This makes them slow down a bit. All greys love to eat. It is important that their food is measured and that you feed them twice a day. The last thing you want is a fat uncomfortable greyhound. Their body structure is supposed to be lean, not skinny.

Saturday February 6, 2010

OH MY GOODNESS! We have at least 20” of snow…and still coming down! I went out and shoveled a path, and opened a patch of ground for Tari to use for her business. Came back in to get her and wouldn’t you know… she wouldn’t use it. Things you do for your dog. So we plowed through the snow Tari leaping over the snow the best she could. The roads have been plowed so there was only about 2 inches of snow there and Tari did what she needed to do. We walked down the street and back. She started to pull me because she wanted to get back to the house. Once we got to the driveway she started to leap and got tangled up in the leash… this is not going to work. I took her off the leash and she just hopped down the drive to the back door where Fred was waiting for her. Tried to go back out again around 11:30AM because she still had not done #2. Took her out and she hated it. Would not even go in the snow, she really was fighting me, so in we went back in. The picture above was taken at 11:00AM. My guess is that we have about 22” of snow at this point and still snowing and blowing in all directions. We are standing on the path that I shoveled earlier.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Looks like we are now moving into a new phase. Tari is starting to show more personality as a pet, and is now more comfortable exploring the house. This past Tuesday Fred said that she was walking around the house quite a bit, into rooms that she normally did not go into such as the dining room. She really was not out of his sight much during the day… so Fred thought. But when he returned from taking her for a walk, and passed by the master bathroom… low and behold, toilet paper was all over the bathroom torn into bits! All Fred did was chuckle and cleaned up the mess. I kind of wish he had taken a picture so I could post it to the blog for you to see.
She is becoming more playful with her toys and greets people with great gusto. She is a bit of a jumper, so we’ll have to work on training her not to jump on people. This is going to take some work. She is really strong…and loves to greet everyone.
Today is Fred’s birthday and we were planning to go out for dinner but a pretty big storm has been forecast, so we decided to stay in. The snow started at 4:00PM, I took Tari out for a walk before the big snow started. Then again took her out around 7:30PM and we had about at least 4”already. She seems to like the snow but is always anxious to get home. I think because of the cold weather. Of course, we ran into our friends, Lorraine and Belle, she recognized them and wanted to go over. The two dogs get along well. We did and it is very clear that she favors people over dogs… or is it Lorraine… rather Lorraine’s pocket which has treats in it. Both Lorraine and I looked like abominable snow men we were so bundled up. Have a feeling that tomorrow is going to bring in much of the same.

February 2 - Knows her name

Here is Tari, keeping me company in the kitchen.

We wanted to see if she really knows her name. When I came home from work on Monday I called her and she only lifted her head and with some encouragement from Fred, she came to greet me. On Tuesday night, when I came home, Fred tells me that when I opened the back door, she lifted her head and when I called her she jumped up immediately and came to me. By golly, I think she has it!

Now we have to work on getting her to go in to the crate on command. When we take her to her crate there is a hesitation, but can you blame her? She is really enjoying her freedom. The biggest thing we are careful about is, this is not a place of punishment. We will continue to work with her on this. Eventually we are going to have to wean her from this open crate to a closed crate that we had for our last greyhound. That crate is a little smaller but sometime that gives a dog a more secured feeling. Afterall dogs are den animals. Hopefully will take to the closed crate the way Isis, our last greyhound did.

Febraury 2 - Tari week two

As of Saturday it seems like she is starting to respond to her name. We had snow today, not much but enough for Tari to run through. She was careful and only stayed on the top of the hill of the backyard. It was a bit slippery. Tari is now learning that when we say "are you hungry?" that we are going to feed her. So she is catching on pretty fast.

We are finding that she is so people friendly and pretty much ignores dogs that bark at her, almost as if she is above all of that noise. Would you believe we have not heard her bark yet!

I went out to brunch with the DeDiningDivas this afternoon, check out our blog, dediningdivas.blogspot.com. We went to the Blue Parrot in Wilmington. The review should be posted in a few days. After the brunch, when I got home, I took Tari out for a walk, hoping that I would run into one of the other Divas, Lorraine and her puppy Belle. She had to walk her dog also, so we took the two dogs around the block. Belle is so full of energy, and Tari is such a lady and more mature just walked along with Belle jumping on her every so often. At one point,Tari had had enough and just gave Belle a little warning to stop. No nastiness just a soft snap. Belle understood the warning and kept up the energy and was not bothered by the slight reprimand. Interesting how dogs have their own ways of dealing with one another. Lorraine and I just stayed out of it.

Introducing Guinn, our cat and Day 3 through 8

Day 3 – Monday, January 25, 2010

I have to go to work. Fred is retired and gets to stay home with Tari. I consider him very lucky. I want to stay home too. I get up a 5:15 am and take Tari out for her first walk of the morning and fed her for the first time outside of her crate. She would only come down the hallway and stopped at the end of the rug, so that is where I fed her.

Working on the wood floor issue
We decided to try placing small area rugs spaced about two feet apart to see if she would use them. She did, but hesitated. Our plan is to slowly move them farther and farther apart. Let’s see what happens. One thing that we have come to realize is that you have to let your Grey come around on his or her terms. Trying to rush the process is not the best practice, it will only frighten the dog and may even traumatize them to the point that they will never get over their issue(s).

My husband took her out for a walk this afternoon; they ran into the neighbor she met when she first arrived. Seems like she remembered him and showed a lot of enthusiasm. Another surprise was while on their walk, the UPS man stopped, got out of his truck and gave Tari a biscuit. I think they will be friends for life!

Training not to beg while we eat
At dinner tonight we are going to start to work on teaching her not to beg or go after our food while we are eating. We figured that this was going to be quite a challenge. So we ate in the great room in front of the TV on TV trays… Pizza. This was going to be a real test. She would approach the table and try to reach for the plate with the pizza. We would gently move her nose away and say "NO”. Not harshly, but with definite firmness. She did keep coming back. Finally I held her back by the collar with one hand and ate my pizza using the other hand. When I felt her not pushing toward me, I let go of her and she walked over to her quilt and lie down. She stayed here throughout our entire meal. We were shocked. This was way too easy. It will be interesting to see what happens the next time we eat off the TV trays. It would be hard to believe that she trained this easily. Let’s see what happens tomorrow.

Day 4 – Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Wood Floor progress
Well, this morning the rug strategy appears to be working. She came out on her own but will not step on the floor. She is also only going one way. We have to get the leash and lead her back the other way. By the time I got home from work, she was stepping on the wood part of the floor and not realizing it.
There have been some additional encounters with the Guinn the cat, nose to nose and actually touching. Guinn did not run and Tari was not chasing. This is good.

Training not to beg
We decided to eat off the TV trays again tonight. Tari showed interest and Fred only had to say “NO” once and she went over to her bed and lie down. She is trained! (I hope) This is one smart dog. She is surely a keeper.

Tari discovered the cat’s toys! Oh boy! She pulled out each fuzzy or fluffy toy and started tossing them around. It was so fun to watch her. Is that a smile that I am seeing on her face? Sure seems like it…and Guinn, did not seem to mind her playing with her toys… just leave her yellow ribbons alone. Guinn loves her ribbons and drapes them around the house when we are gone as if she believes that they are magic ribbons that will bring us home. Yes, we love our cat too.

Day 5 – Wednesday, January 27, 2010
It is 5:30 in the morning and I take for the first walk of the morning… We come home and she gets fed. I eat my breakfast while she is eating, I just do not eat as fast as she does. And the hardwood floor issue is slowly becoming a non issue. She is now going back and forth from one room to the other with no mind to how often her feet are hitting the wood floor she even at her breakfast with her back paws on the wood floor… but I am not telling her this. I think we can start to move the rugs a little further apart tomorrow.
Tonight, she surprised us by getting up from her quilt in the great room…going to the other end of the house to her crate in the bedroom…getting a favorite stuffed toy, and coming back to her quilt in the great room. Greyhounds are sooo smart!

Day 6 – Thursday, January 28, 2010
Overall a good day. We removed a couple of the throw-rugs, and she had no problem. Looks like the wood floor issue may be resolved. Had to use “NO” a few times, when she decided the baseball cap and a napkin on a coffee table might be fun to adopt. So far, when we say “NO”, she stops what she’s doing and lays down on her quilt. Her stools were still runny, even with us feeding her boiled rice with her food…so we’re switching to a tablespoon of canned pumpkin with each meal. ( just pumpkin…with nothing added.)

Day 7- Friday, January 29, 2010
Would you believe it? Today we took up all of the throw rugs…and Tari acted as if they were never there…after less than a week in her very first house. After her walks, she has a little ritual…First she wants you to sit down so that she can put her head on your lap while you scratch behind her ears. Then she goes to her quilt and plays with her stuffed toys…throwing them up in the air, and generally rough-housing with them, before settling down for a nap. We think she’s starting to react to her new name, and is coming when we call her to go out…most of the time. Guinn is still quite tentative around Tari, but we think she is getting a little closer each day.

Day 8- January 30, 2010
The pumpkin is starting to do the trick helping to firm up her stools. She tried out the back yard by just exploring…She stayed out of the gardens on her own, and got all excited when the neighbor came to the fence. That dog can really wag her tail. Later, friends came by to meet her, and that tail got going like crazy…AND SHE SMILED!!! Really…some Greyhounds do smile. All the time they were here, she was very calm and polite. Of course all the petting didn’t hurt.

She is a Keeper and Her New Name is "Tari"

Day 2 – Sunday, January 24, 2010
Well, we have fallen in love with her, this was evident by the fact that my husband started calling her Tari. This is short for Nefertari the name that we picked for our next Grey. It is after the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertari, and the name means “beautiful companion”… So Tari it is.
OK, now she is finally coming out of the bedroom on her own, but she has decided that she does not like to walk on the hardwood floors. Challenge number one. Most of our house has wood floors. I want a Grey that will be with us where ever we are in the house. One step at a time. We are also still feeding her in the crate. Again, this is what she is use to at the track.

Several more walks outside and guess what, she is not shivering and her shedding has slowed down considerably. We now realize that the shivering was not because she was cold, but because she was scared. Duh. We are new dog parents. How quickly we forget… Did this happen with our first Grey? Probably, but we just did not remember, which is one of the reasons why I decided to write this daily diary. Perhaps another first- time Grey owner might want to compare, or at least have an idea of what they could expect for a dog that has no idea what retirement is all about.

Tari met some of the neighborhood canines, Belle, a 5 month old mixed breed that looks like a bit of Shephard, full of energy, didn’t bother Tari a bit. Lorraine, Belle’s “Mom” was on her way over to another neighbor’s for play time for Belle with a Rotweiller named Mocha, who I believe is 1 ½ years old. There Mocha and Belle played and Tari showed some interest for all of maybe 3 minutes, and then lost interest. She wanted to continue explore. She was checking everything out.

Another peaceful night and one close encounter between Guinn and Tari. They went nose to nose, Guinn showed her teeth but did not hiss or swat at Tari. This is a good thing. The two then just causally walked away from one another.
Oh what are we going to do about the wood floors? How are we going to get over this?

Foster Number One - Tenna

This is a diary of our newly fostered Greyhound. Her track name is Ann Tenna. Our intention is to foster to eventually adopt. This is our second Grey. Our first one, Isis, passed away five years ago and we still miss her, but the experiences with helping her grow was wonderful and we decided to this time foster until we find the Grey that will live well with our cat, Guinn. Well, actually we want Guinn to like the Grey as much as we do. This will be an interesting journey.

Day 1 - Saturday, January 23, 2010 10:30 am – Ann Tenna arrives
A beautiful Fawn Red colored, female Greyhound was delivered to us by Gail and Robert from the Greyhound Adoption Program of Delaware. She was a quiet, very gentle lady, and was shedding like crazy, but we know that this is due to the stress of the past 24 hours of traveling from Florida to West Virginia, and then to Delaware. You touched her and her hair was just falling off. Oh my!

Our neighbor was out in his garden and we decided to introduce her to him. She was friendly, but was shaking like a leaf. We assumed that it was because she was cold, after all is was January and she just came up from Florida where she had been for the first five years of her life. Everything is so new for her. Having never been a pet and has lived in a crate 23 hours a day just about everyday of her life. She has no idea what it means to be a pet or just how great the next half of her life is going to be.

She spent a good part of the day in her crate, which we keep in our bedroom. Remember Greys are use to being around other dogs and are pack animals, so we wanted to be sure she would bond with us. Guinn went into hiding under our bed. We took Tenna for several walks and were stopped by many neighbors who want to meet the potential new member of our household. For each person she was friendly but always shivering.

Well, we got Guinn out from under the bed and blocked is so she would not continue to hide. The first night went well. Even Guinn stayed in the bedroom but kept a watchful eye on that big animal in the crate. I don’t think Guinn slept all night. Tenna on the other hand slept soundly.