nervous greyhound

[lindsay]

bit of a set back last night when we were out we met an elderly couple the gent was walking with a stick and they stopped to admire poppy and to ask about her she got really nervy , so didnt enjoy her walk but at least shes experienced something else new to her and found they didnt hurt her

[tanya1]

i think the liver cake recipe should be pinned somewhere , i use a slightly different ingredient list , liver eggs bread crumbled (stale bread is ok) olive or veg oil, garlic and some grated cheese , i bake mine but after seeing you use micro i think ill be doing the same !!!

[lindsay]

poppy and i have just got back from our walk we changed our time i take her when i get in from work about 2 0 clock its lovely and quiet. and we almost have the field to ourselves and she seems much more relaxed she seems very happy in the car and sits down looking out of the window as we go,alongshes fast asleep as i write this and she looks so content

[lindsay]

great idea i will be adding grated cheese to my next lot i also added a drop of sherry to one lot i made poppy seemed to like it i tried it because years ago i remember hearing some one say that greyhounds at the track were given a raw egg and sherry every day as it was good for the coat poppys not getting a tipple everyday but i dont mind putting a dash in her treats

[lindsay]

took poppy a walk earlier today and met another grey who was also name poppy and also three years old they seemed to recognise each other as being the same and my poppy seemed very relaxed with her i was chatting with the other poppys human and she was telling me the things she had had to get through to get where she is today with her grey and we have said we will meet up andwalk them together at some time as she thought it would help poppy gain confidence arnt dog people nice?

[lindsay]

well suprisingly we got through bonfire night very well, i whent around early closing curtains , shutting doors and windows put the telly on all the normal things to cut out the noise and poppy was very happy snoozing on the setee about 8 0 clock she wanted a wee so i took her out the back and she trotted of up the garden to do her ablutions and didnt bat an eyelid at the fire works (must say they wernt overly loud) she never fails to suprise me i expect amother night of fireworks on saterday night so will see if she repeats her performance

[lindsay]

poppy got through the saterday night fireworks very well my ten year old grandaughter stayed the night and poppy was taking treats from her hand she usually wont go anywhere near anybody my grandaughter lost a shoe and my partner lost his glasses i found them behind the shed its the first place i look know when anything goes missing its her fave hiding place

[bunnycat]

Nov 9, 2008 16:48:50 GMT lindsay said:

my grandaughter lost a shoe and my partner lost his glasses i found them behind the shed its the first place i look know when anything goes missing its her fave hiding place

This did make me chuckle.. Ive had my second addition for two weeks now and my experience has been very similar. I nicknamed her mouse because she can seem so timid but now shes starting to bounce into life.
Juno is a little spooked by heavy traffic at the moment and living in the city it somewhat dictates which routes we can take. I joke with my friend about how we like to go out for a stand!! So having two dogs and one being quite energetic and the other being a bit slack on the athletic front I find myself walking two dogs separately up to three times a day. I think by Christmas I shall be as slender and twig like as my dogs

[lindsay]

nice to find im not the only one with a dog that wont go .We have a field near where we live that goes around a castle nice and quiet with no traffic perfect you would think .Poppy was doing really well the other day trotting along with me looking around seemingly enjoying it but then disaster the wind blew and rustled the leaves in the trees hence back to being a jelly and couldnt get back in the car quick enough,this is the same dog that wasnt fazed by the fireworks

[bunnycat]

funny arnt they. I suppose coming from kennels into a home environment must be a bit like being blasted on to another planet. Ours wernt bothered by the fireworks either.. (Im guessing kennels can be quite noisy) but a leaf blowing across the road needed some thorough examination before it was considered safe.. and her reflection in the television.. that kept her busy for five minutes.. wheres that dog? where is she? come on out you come I want to play with you! Why wont she come out?? Oh and shaking out the washing.. terrifying.. mind you any excuse to give that a miss gratefully accepted ;D

[Johnny]

Nov 11, 2008 16:14:28 GMT bunnycat said:

funny arnt they. I suppose coming from kennels into a home environment must be a bit like being blasted on to another planet. Ours wernt bothered by the fireworks either.. (Im guessing kennels can be quite noisy) but a leaf blowing across the road needed some thorough examination before it was considered safe.. ;D

Ours seem to "home-in" on fast moving leaves. I suppose it's in their instinct. Star used to love to chase them around the garden when he was a pup. He looked daft!

[lindsay]

i would be interested to know from bunnycot if taking a second grey has a n influence on her other dog ie bringing him out of his shell .helping to give him confidence as i did toy with the idea of getting a second to help poppy build her confidence, trouble is i dont think she would be willing to share me or her liver cake

[lindsay]

late getting home from work yesterday as i had a fall at work and had to go to a and e came home with my hand and wrist strapped up poppy wouldnt leave me alone she kept coming and looking at my hand investigating with that long needle nose she wouldnt leave me alone all evening im sure if she could she would have fluffed my cushions she is so stuffed full of love i cant believe how lucky i am to have her

[bunnycat]

RE second dog this has turned into quite a challenge for us.. (or me rather) Although we did everthing as we should.. the dogs met twice before we decided.. they got to run together it was all looking promising.. the second day Lexy took a chunk out of Juno.. which I found hugely distressing and although I knew Lexy was quite a dominant dog I wasnt expecting that. Lexy is currently muzzled all the time she is with Juno and they are always supervised. If I go out they are always crated (next to each other now) Things are improving. infact they even lay on the sofa together yesterday. Juno was licking Lexys privates in some sort of bonding experiment which I thought was quite decent of her considering!!! But Lexy still spends alot of time eying up Juno like some sort of kentucky bucket. Lexy is a cross she looks like a small greyhound but is prob a whippet collie cross we got her at about 11 months and she has a few issues a lot of these we had sorted some had got worse. She is a smart dog and picks things up quickly when I manage to learn how to approach them. Juno and Lexy are polar opposites as far as follower and leader are concerned but much as I wanted a dog for Lexy to bound around with I think this is better. I have to work on Lexy to reign her in a little to give up her role of defender and Juno I can see is coming out of herself but enjoying her position of subordinate pack member. As far as getting another dog.. I would say Im sure you will.. dogs so enjoy each others company even if they do spar like angry siblings! (that said I m sure this isnt considered the norm for greyhounds who I always see curled up so peacefully together in photos/kennels etc )

now Im off to the vets for the third time in three weeks, once in the last year now three times in as many weeks. Lexy has cut her leg this time.. havent the dogs heard there is a credit crunch!!

[bunnycat]

just got back from vets Lexy ended up with stitches and is now zonked out on the rug downstairs whilst I was waiting for her I copied this down and wanted to share it with you all. The second line made me think of Lindsey and her strapped up arm.

DOGS ARE MIRACLES WITH PAWS - A dogs nose in the palm of your hand can cure almost anything - dogs are made of love and fur - let your dog take you for a walk - dogs are a sure thing - some little known dog secrets : dogs have no secrets - dogs are like vanilla ice-cream : reliably delicious - dogs are wise agents directly from heaven - if you had a tail, wouldnt you wag it? - there are no bad dogs - be your dogs best friend - dogs like dancing, drive in movies and dreaming - god made dogs and spelled his name backwards! - dogs make great therapists - kiss your dog all the time - some dogs are nap dogs - dogs invented unconditional love - dogs are party animals - apply dog logic to life - eat well, be loved, get petted sleep alot and dream of a leash free world - LIVE YOUR DOGS LIFE!

(it made my eyes a bit wet, I want to make it into a card

[bunnycat]

Ive just been thinking about this again and I do think having lexy here has made a difference. We would joke about how in the earlyest days Juno would forget she was supposed to be a nervous nellie and get cought up in the moment.. On example is when lexy was charging through the house she flew out of the crate and chase after her before remembering and skulking back....

[lindsay]

hope lexies leg is okay and good luck with them both ,im sure they will be okay its early days yet . but it sounds promising, think i will be working on my other half after xmas wont hold my breath though he seems to think we have enough pets

[bunnycat]

thanks they both seem fine its me that worries!! You could tell him you want to foster?? Till he warms to the idea Juno surprised me again today I put a t towel over her head not sure how shed take it but she bounced about all be it gently but its really sweet to see them starting to play

[lindsay]

because it goes so cold at night iv started to put poppys coat on for her to sleep in when its time for bed i say come and have your pjs on and she stands for me to put it on her then she jumps on her bed and lies down to be coered with her blanket and stays there all night i dont know whos the daftest but have a sneaky feeling its not poppy

[lindsay]

oh my goodness poppys learnt to bark she does it when the post man comes and barked like crazy the other night when my partner came home from work she gets as far away from the door when she does it , but she sounds so threatning , i think i will be safe from intruders , i didnt think greys did bark but she looks so pleased with her self once she sees the postman going away from the door

[bunnycat]

shes found her voice!! I know our dogs are all different, here is my experience with Lexy. She started barking at the door progress to the point she wouldnt let people in the house also spent all night running round the house barking at windows would also bark at anyone passing the garden! Now when we first went to see her they said what a lovely dog she was but they did say she would make a good guard dog so my guess is this is part of the reason she found herself as a rescue dog. I think for Lexy it must be increadably stressful to be on constant alert and to be fair it was doing my head in a little bit too.. but things are improving. Firstly we started crating her at night. Never had another peep out of her. If she barks outside I thank her for alerting me and bring her in if she continues a firm no and hand signal (this has improved no end) the same if she alerts us to someone at the door. I really need more visitors who can ignore her to really get this sorted but its all going the right way. Id left Juno in the garden the otherday and to be honest I had forgotten about her and she started barking I gave her a no and hand signal from an upstairs window then let her in when she was quiet. Im not sure yet how Juno will respond to hand signals but Lexy is very good

[lindsay]

yes its the front door with poppy thats the only time she barks , like you i thank her for letting me know that there s someone there , and tell her shes a clever girl and she goes back to whatever it was she was doing before she was interupted. i feel sorry for the postman hes been coming for years and suddenly theres something that sounds like a devil dog on the other side of the letter box

[bunnycat]

Its lovely isnt it, watching their progress. I was out with my two today.. together.. round the roads.. Lexy wasnt pulling.. Juno was trotting along beside me.. I was so very proud of them.

Im going to try your liver cake recipe later in the week, im sure it will be a huge success ;D

[lindsay]

yes the last lot i made i added grated cheese poppy can hardly wait for it to defrost i got my partner to try some [ i would have tried it myself but i cant stand liver] he said it was very tasty. oh dear that looks like i only feed my dogs things that have been tested on humans.

[bunnycat]

.. do you think your partner has some gery envy? poor man has had to resort to stealing the dogs treats

Amongst Lexys repertoire of undesirable behavior is climbing onto the dining table. now to be fair to her its barely recognizable as a dining table its more of a dumping ground for half finished art projects various school bags and an increasing collection of my coats. To which she is met by the family choruses of "OFF THE STAGE RUSSELL" (how do these things start?? Its because of the gangly legs and smudgy eye make up of Russell Brand and Chris swears she was wearing a cravat the first time.. Which I suppose is entirely possible)
Last night whilst I was at work I got a msg from Chris which simply said "Junos asleep on the table" I think shes feeling a bit more at home now dont you

RE PJs Ive just found an old 60s cot cover with bunnies all over I think it would make a great house coat for Juno.. some thing else to add to my table of jobs to do