Sunday, April 2, 2017

meet the hound.

This post will probably shock some of you and appall a few others but it is what it is and we are thrilled to bits.

For quite some time I have seriously been contemplating getting a dog. No one is more surprised by this than me, myself and I. I blame a lot of it on my clients and their wonderful dogs and of course the fact that growing up we ALWAYS had a dog and I loved it. But as with all good stories there is a but and this but was I was never sure if I could be the strong alpha type due to being bitten and that underlying fear.

I researched and researched and I knew we needed something small as we don't have a big garden....but I don't like little dogs. More people are bitten by small dogs than big ones. So on and on we went. I kept being sent to greyhound pages in my research. You can fill out, the perfect pet for you, questionnaires and they guide you through some choices.

Greyhounds are the least aggressive dog...hmmm. Retired racers don't like a lot of exercise as they are done with that nonsense and if you can find a hound that is being retired the chances are it will be put to sleep because frankly it's not worth anything anymore to it's owner. Greys are people pleasers and very very sensitive. You never raise your voice to a grey hound you lower you tone and use the hand signal for stop. And finally they are perfect apartment pets, well I don't live in an apartment but if they are fine there they will be fine here. Here we have every kind of rescue known to man, in fact I didn't even know there were so many breeds of dog so I looked for a greyhound rescue, and found a lot of them. We have more dog racing in Florida than in any other state. sad sad sad.

A few weeks ago I joined the Friends of Greyhound newsletter and when they had an event we attended. There must have been 30 hounds in a huge run and I wasn't even nervous, it was weird. We talked to people and dogs kept coming up to us for a lean and again I was fine with it. The more we talked to owners the more I realised this dog was for us. There were some available dogs for adoption there, all rescued racers. We met a dog called LuLu and she sealed the deal. We filled out an application. We had to read a a manual and pass a test. she was delivered to the house and the fun began.

In her 4 years of life LuLu had never seen a house EVER. She walked in quite happily, with Michelle from the rescue and promptly smacked in to a sliding glass door. Michelle whipped from her pocket some post-it notes and placed them at greyhound eye level. Then we toured the house and tweaked some more things. If you have never seen a mirror it is terrifying as there is a dog and you can't get to it and it's confusing. Never had toys or love or anything..sad sad sad. And now she has a name forever and it is Luna.

We have gone online and matched her tattoos with her racing history and know so much about her. She was raced heavily. She must have been good as she seems to have raced more than most although her stats didn't prove so impressive.

Things went well the first night, she slept in her crate with us close by but then, then there was a horrid evil bad storm and she freaked. And it was horrid but we have all recovered but as I am typing this another one is rolling in and she is terrified. A client gave her a thundershirt so I put it on her but possibly not fast enough. She is upstairs and has no plans on coming down again....EVER. I have learnt since that first night that it is best to ignore her when she gets like this but to offer her a safe space.

One step forward, 2 steps back.

This is Lunas impression of a statue. What she is doing is actually called freezing or statueing. It's a greyhound thing. We can be out for a walk and all of a sudden she hits the brakes and nothing, NOTHING can get her going again. You can't pull on their necks but you can push from behind but Luna just goes in circles when we do this to her. The other day I was stuck in one spot for 45 minutes. It will get better with time but right now she scares easily. Yesterday was a huge improvement in the statue arena. 

Shortly after arriving hence the panting, trying out her bed.
her nose is a little crooked, apparently her racing muzzle was too small. grrrr
greyhounds are typically very large, not Luna
This is called roaching, it's how greyhounds like to sleep. Hah they look like dead cockroaches.
I can't put in to words the joy she has brought to the girls



Greyhounds are complicated and it's funny. They get scared easily and look for love all the time. They cannot sit but they can lie. They don't typically lie on their chests. their thyroids are different than other dogs as are their temperatures. Their skin is super thin and they lack oil. They do not smell doggy and barely shed. She can get injured very easily. She is a 60lb toddler.

 So before you say, she is a tie and we won't be able to travel, YEP, you are right and we are OK with this. I didn't know how much we needed her.

We are still waiting for her tail to wag but she is starting to greet us as we walk in to the room. Her life on the track has been void of many things but I can look at her and tell her from the depths of my soul, that it's only good stuff from her on out.

Welcome Lunabellabunababoonbutt~ we think you are all that and a cup of tea.


8 comments:

  1. I am sitting here sniffling as I read this & am thinking Luna girl "you have found your forever home"❤❤. She has long legs just like your girls😜😜. Is Rosie over the moon?? I am so happy for you all especially Luna
    BTW that's what Jessie named her rescue & she is the sweetest dog❤

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  2. That's terrific, so very thrilled for you. Waiting now for eagerly for more updates.xx

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  3. That's marvellous but is she house trained ? My niece got a dog that used to be a breeding bitch (Welsh Terrier) and she had never lived in a house, she was scared of mirrors etc. But she couldn't keep her because she could not house train her and it was too much.

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    1. Tomorrow marks 2 weeks and she hasn't had one accident. Racers live in their crates and will not dirty them, they are extremely clean animals. We gave her a crate to be her house but never closed the door on it. She went straight to our front door and stood so we took her out and that was that.

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    2. Thats amazing. Such a sweet girl. How old is she? I would love another dog, but sadly it isn't fair on any animal as we are out all day long.

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    3. She was 4 in February. The wonderful thing about g-hounds is if the are racers they are tattooed and you can follow their entire history. we even know she was one of nine and all about her parents etc etc.

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  4. Can you do that in the UK too? That is very interesting. Where are the tattoos? It is nice that she is fully trained and sleeps so much. So she was already used to the crate before you got her? If so then thats half the battle. As I said I would love another dog but not until I retire. The kids always had a dog growing up though and I do think it is so good for them. Imme is terrified of dogs, just because Ky and Dean don't have one and she hasn't a clue what the hell they are!

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  5. What a great life Luna will now have with you and the girls. Thank you for rescuing her. Seems like a perfect fit for all.

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