Sunday, January 28

First MnG of the Year, Fosters Jassy and Roady

        We had our first Meet ‘n Greet of the Year. It was held at a brand new PetSmart in Fredericksburg. We had quite the turnout with about 20+ greyhounds. I love the fact that we always have a great turnout. I think it’s because it’s as much a meet ‘n greet for the furkids as it is for the humans. Of course I forgot to take my camera with me. Trina brought hers, so she has a couple of pics on her blog, Fastgreyz. Here is one of those pics of my Stella and Lucas. Some people think we are being cruel by putting a hat on Stella. Unlike Lucas and Parker who actively try to remove any headpiece we put on them, Stella will actually seek you out if you are holding one of her hats.
        We went from zero to two fosters in one weekend. We got Jassy Gal on Saturday. She’s a sweet girl. Kinda built like our Lucas. Stocky body with a big head.
She’s just come around to using the dog beds. Not quite to the stage of squeaky toys. She has a serious case of happy tail. Both Stella and Lucas have broken their tail and sprayed blood everywhere from too much happy tail. She was just spayed this past week, so I’m sure her personality will change as she starts to feel better.
        Our second foster, KB’s Road Test was a surprise. He had also come up over the weekend, but his foster home decided they couldn’t foster more than a day. So off he comes to ‘Hotel Park’. He is quite a handsome fella. Also very rambunctious. He always seems hungry. He’s either countersurfing for food or sticking his head in other kids bowls after he’s done woofing down his food. He will be going on a home visit this week, so he may have a new home by the time I get back from my week-long meeting in Orlando.
        I will be in Orlando all week. Just minutes from the Sanford-Orland track and GPA rescue kennel where we get our dogs. But I hear that they have after-hours activities planned for us every day. So probably won’t be able to sneak out to watch the doggies run. Oh well.

Sunday, January 21

Whip Cream & Snow Zoomies, Both Fluffy & White

        We’ve been fosterless for a couple of weeks now. You can see it in Stella’s face as she relaxes on the couch. No new greys to boss around, ahem, I mean, show the ropes. This has given our kids a chance to bond with each other again.
I removed the blanket off Stella and Parker to find this. Parker had been snuggling with the dangerous end of Stella. Stella is known for her ETS and being gassy. Parker was definitely taking his chances on this one.
        We tried an experiment with whip cream and the kids. Sometimes we stick peanut butter to the roofs of their mouths just to watch them walk around trying to lick it off. How would they do with whip cream? We first tried to shoot it on their noses, but that didn’t quite work out a planned. So we shot some out in our hands, then smothered their noses with it.
Lucas’ tongue had a mind of its own in search of the elusive whip cream.
Stella is going cross-eyed in her attempt to focus on the white stuff on the end of her nose.
Without any fosters, Noah has come upstairs to see what is going on. Whip cream is what is going on. Taking a nap nowadays includes Stella, Lucas, Parker and Noah. He likes to lay on my chest and purr while I nap. Sometimes I wake up to see his cute little face. Sometimes I wake up to his other end.
        Some greys don’t like snow. Our kids love it. They were getting frisky a good hour before the snow actually fell. They knew it was coming and couldn’t wait to get somma that action. They know that it would be all melted in a day or two.
Lucas was running around the yard with his usual big stick in his mouth, or with the hedgehog stuffie which is still his all-time favorite. He always has a crazed look in eyes when he’s ripping around the yard. With such focus and determination, you would think he would’ve been a good racer.
Stella loves the snow. She’s not one to just race around the yard, but when it snows, she doesn’t bark as usual, she actually runs.
They were racing around the yard together. Stella wasn’t going to let her brother win the zoomie race. Stella and Lucas were picking on Parker, so we put them inside so Parker could have a bit of time to himself.
He loves running in snow. Especially without Stella and Lucas stalking him.
        Let’s play a game of chicken. Lucas is usually oblivious to his surrounding when he’s running. Lucas was zooming around, and Stella thought she would cut him off. Let’s play Chicken.
Game On.
        Here he comes.
        I can see the fear in his eyes.
        Oh jeez. He’s not gonna stop.

        Not gonna flinch? Well get a whiff of this?

Tuesday, January 9

Alexi Goes, Bella Comes Back


        We had Alexi as a foster for a few days from our last haul. She is a small black girl, and an absolute sweetie. No accidents in the house, learned how to use the doggie door by watching others, ravenous eater. I wish all foster were this easy. I had to attend a meeting in San Antonio for most of the time she was here. Hard to get back into work after being off for a week and a half. She fit in really nicely into our family. She was the foster that went.

        Alexi went, and Bella (RJ’s November) came back. She was adopted out in mid-August. She was returned to us because the family is in the military, and they were being transferred to a housing facility in California that didn’t allow dogs. At first, they were told that dog’s were allowed, but were supposedly told at the last minute that they were not. She was left with a friend who called and let us know what was going on. She was a bit on the skinny side, and a trip to the vet showed hookworm and roundworm. Panacur and a few extra cups of food a day should take care of that. She’s going on a home visit on Thursday, so she may already have found a new home.

        I managed to take a few shots of the kids sleeping during my vacation. Not hard to do since they don’t do much else. Stella is well known for her ETS. This usually involves roaching and having her tongue hang out over the couch so she looks like road kill. In this shot, she is imitating how Lucas usually sleeps; mouth open with a little bit of tongue hanging out the front.
This pic of Lucas shows one of his many goofy sleeping positions - this time it’s ears up and mouth open.
The couch shot shows everyone sleeping comfortably taking a break in between fosters coming and going. Just another afternoon napping on the couch.
The last shot answers the question of whether greyhounds can actually sleep standing up. I heard cows and horses do it. Why not greyhounds?