Kids Get A New Treat

Stanley has been wearing a boot everytime he goes out now. While his mommy was in Denver the other week, he managed to slice his toe webbing in the yard.Eek!That didn’t stop us from taking the kids to Barrel Oak Winery. A recent adopter was singing there on Saturday and bringing her grey, so we took the kids to go check it out. After the tasting, we took a bottle out to the patio to enjoy the fire.The kids were laying on a blanket and enjoyed the warmth from the fire.Parker was being his usual busy self. By this point, Tristan had had enough of all the commotion, and was happier to go rest in the car.I made another trip to North Carolina for work, and was able to stop by and pick up some bully stix. That’s six bags or 72 feet of bully stix. That’s a lot of chewing.Also picked up a new bed for Parker. That Stella quickly claimed.Stanley showed how to squeeze into it.Murphy said it’s not too big, not too small, just perfect.Stella thought it was much more comfortable after the removable pillow insert was taken out.I also picked up some beef trachea. Thanks Aunt Susan. The kids are always looking to expand their treat menu.Everyone goes to their treat-eating beds.Tristan and Parker thought the lighting was better in the dining room.Finally, Alex’s painting of Stanley and Stella made it to my house. We will find a frame for it, and proudly hang it on the wall. Thanks so much Alex. And to Angela and Debbie for the ‘GUR’ to my house.

New Bed & It Takes a Village

The kids got a new bed from their Aunt Susan. A super cushy bed, but neither of her English Cockers felt comfortable as they sank in the middle of it. So I brought it home to test on my kids. I think it passed with flying colors.
As always, Stella is the first to claim a new bed.Stanley takes his turn.Jaime enjoys the bed and another treat from the visit. The bed is now in the bedroom, and Tristan and Jaime rush upstairs every night to claim it first.I picked up foot-long bully sticks at the Costco by Susan, as our local Costco only has chicken jerky. The kids thought it was Christmas.A couple of weeks ago, we heard from one of our volunteers that a greyhound was at a local shelter. After getting the tattoo numbers, we asked all the local groups if they knew anything about this dog.
We picked him up from the shelter, and he stayed with us for a couple of days. Kris called him Kip. He was quite dirty, so Kris gave him a bath. The brindle stripes help cover up the fact that he is skinny with a rough coat.Standing next to Sunny, who is a big girl, you can see the difference.He is a happy-go-lucky kinda guy. Got along with everyone, and fit right in. He’s a rooer too. I wasn’t able to get a shot of his smiling.He does his best meerkat impression. What a sweet face.Even though he was eating upwards of 8-10 cups of food plus treats a day, he’ll need a bit of time to fatten up.GPA-NoVA was kind enough to open up one of their foster homes to Kip. He still has his doodads, so he will be making a trip to the vet to get snipped along with an overall checkup. Usually greyhound groups are pretty independent, but it’s nice when they can come together to help out. In the end, it’s all about the dogs.

Jackie The Galgo

On a lighter note, we went to a luncheon last weekend to meet Jackie the Galgo puppy. She's only 4 months old, and just flew in from Paris. What a jetsetter.
She is a kissy little girl. Kris enjoying puppy kisses.Kathy is next in line for the kissing booth.She is just about Parker size right now.Run Jackie Run!Be Free!Her sister thinks that playing keepaway is a great way to introduce Jackie into the family.So that’s how it’s gonna be? Jackie squares off in a game of chicken.Posing with her sister.That didn’t last long.Jackie finally got the ball all to herself.That didn’t last long.After all that, she was pooped and retired to the master bedroom.She’ll need her rest to grow into those long legs.We did have an accident at the party. No, Jackie didn’t piddle inside. But Ted did get bumped while holding a glass of wine.

Goodbye Tamale

It’s seems so long ago that I started blogging about my furkids. I almost gave up on it until I found out that there were other crazies out there like me. I especially followed Katy’s Needle Nose blog. That allowed us into the everyday life of a greyhound in Australia. We loved following the antics of Tamale and the foster dogs. That is until Omo came along and decided he’d hit the jackpot. So like many others, we got to know and love Tamale. To get the news that she died so suddenly. That really hurts. I know when my Lucas died so suddenly, I really appreciated the support from the greyhound blogosphere. So we’ll be thinking of Katy and Omo. And Tamale knows that she was loved and will be missed around the world. This is a pic of Tamale I snagged from Katy’s blog from Jan 2008.
Read Katy’s tribute to Tamale.

Dog Mart & Fredericksburg Dog Festival

We had a very busy couple of days last weekend. Both a niece and nephew both turned two, and we attended parties for both. We managed to stick in a couple of doggie activities too.
Saturday was the Fredericksburg Dog Mart. It is America’s oldest continuous dog event at 311 years old. They start off with a reenactment of the settlers trading hunting dogs with the Native Americans.We set up the VAGA booth at the cow barn. This is right next to where we were at the Fredericksburg Fair. We did the initial setup, and Doreen and her kids came for the second shift. We had volunteers coming and going throughout the day.It may have started out as an actual dog mart (someone actually did show up with some coonhounds in the back of their pickup looking to trade), but now it is more of a rescue and adoption-oriented event. Many doggie rescue groups were out to spread the word.Everyone should have their dog license and rabies tags.Meeting up with a distant cousin. I think an Irish Wolfhound would fit nicely into our lazy pack.On Sunday, we attended the doggie parade at the Fredericksburg Dog Festival. This is the best shot I could get while walking with three dogs. Hero won for best costume in his division. Check out the article in our local paper.

Another Touchy Feely Week

It was another touchy-feely week in the Park household. Stanley and Jaime are always ‘butting’ heads.To think that when we first got Stella, she didn’t even like anyone else on the her couch.The elusive two-headed greyhound.Laying on Stella’s rump is a dangerous place to be.Stella returning the favor.Stella enjoying a little couch time by herself.We watched Jack, Savannah, and Buster over the weekend. Buster doing his impression of the ‘Welcome’ greyhound on the shelf.We still have Tristan as a foster. He’s been a very good boy. He likes to keep an eye on things from the top of the deck.He also likes catching the morning rays while laying on the cool grass.

Celebrating Greyhounds Calendar 2010

I was happy to find out that a few of my pictures had made it into the Celebrating Greyhounds 2010 calendar. What proud greyhound owner wouldn’t love to see their kids in the calendar.
Stella in the January desk calendar.Wolluf in the August desk calendar.Pippi in the November desk calendar. You can keep up with her antics at Life’s Little Moments.Stanley in the January wall calendar (inset).Ella in the February wall calendar (inset).Stanley and Stella on the Back Cover of the wall calendar.Other local dogs in the calendar are Trina’s Cali in the June desk calendar, Blue in the October desk calendar (taken by Trina), brother and sister Roadie (Sept) and Sallie (Oct) in the wall calendar.

Yard Lounging & Picking Corn

After being in the air-condition for a while, the kids enjoyed laying out in the sun to warm up. Stanley, Jaime, and Tristan.Stella, being Stella, decided to sun herself in a different part of the yard.Daddy, look how cute I am.Oh man, this feels great.Shake it off Parker, shake it off.We watched Murphy this weekend. Sabrina and her foster sister, Ginger, also joined us. Parker decided that he had enough with the pictures and boycotted.Ginger is very sweet girl. Look at the sweet face. Tristan was trying to impress her with his overbite.Jaime in stealth mode watching everyone like an alligator floating in the water.Sabrina has corns on three of her feet.She was very tolerant of being picked at.Three for three.Ahh, temporary relief.Talking of tender feet, I got some Vibram Five Fingers. They have no cushioning and separate toe pockets. I’ve run about 15 miles since I got them earlier this week. Nothing like feeling every pebble on the trail. I’m sure my soles will toughen up over time.

Parker's New Bed

The hummingbirds are busy storing energy before heading South. Competition is fierce.Our biannual Culpeper Wal-Mart carwash almost didn’t happen. Wal-Mart’s new policy does not allow such activity, but no one had bothered to tell us. So we got grand-fathered in. Wow, this van is actually white under all that dirt.The advertising crew at the entrance to the parking lot.The crew manning the main entrance.Billy Talent was our foster for a week while his new mommy was on vacation. He was a good boy while he was with us.Now to Parker’s new dog bed we got from Costco. Since everyone was stealing his fleecy bed, we got him another one. You can see how this is going to turn out. Stella had to christen it.Jaime found it quite comfortable.It put a smile on Tristan’s face.Stanley got his rump into it.Even Sunny had her turn. The only one not in Parker’s bed was poor ol’ Parker.Last weekend we had an Adoption Fair at the local Tractor Supply. We were watching Sunny, Fernie, Dusty, and still had Tristan. We couldn’t decide who to leave, so we took all 8 dogs with us in two cars.We were between the horse rescue and the Pit Bulls.That afternoon, we headed down to Trina’s for her housewarming party. My job was to make guacamole.Stella was in a very touch-feely mood. Trina has a pic of the following morning.Stella was still in her lovey mood when she got back home.

The Dirty Dozen

How do I top my last staycation babysitting adventure. With even more greyhounds of course. Dinner time was always a bit chaotic. We fed them all at once instead of shifts. It took a few days before everyone got used to their new eating spots.The original dirty dozen included Sunny who overlapped with Maggie being dropped off, so we actually had 13 dogs in the house for a few hours. But I wasn’t able to get a picture before she left. Clockwise from Parker on the couch is Jaime, Stella, Stanley, Joe, Tristan, Maggie, Soozie, Billy, with Sara (Blue), and Abby, and Blue in the middle.Our muzzle rack was barely big enough.Soozie and Sara decide to share a dog bed.Maggie looks just like her mother, Ally.Soozie: Eek! I think Jaime just tooted on me!Jaime wants some attention. Just vicious I tell ya.The sun was beating down on the deck. So the the black greyhound tanning club came out to catch some rays.Billy just came up from Florida, but is staying with us for a week while his new mommy is on vacation.Just a very sweet boy.