Best Friends

> Here are a couple of pics from prior slide show.

Some fantastic...

CeeZee is a typical Greyhound. He sleeps a lot. Loves to play with stuffies. Adores food. Usually in the yard he just goes out to do his business then quickly comes back on the porch to come inside. And every now & then he likes a good romp with his new best friend, Stellaluna (she's the shaggy hound)...

Earning priveleges

In our home, privileges have to be earned. CeeZee showed early on that he could be good inside if allowed some freedom so quickly earned the privilege of not being closed into his xpen except when we were not able to supervise him for long. By being good in those circumstances he earned the privilege of freedom inside also when we were not there. We have now been gone from the house for as long as four hours with CeeZee having free access to the first floor of the house along with our other dogs. He has been very good each time so he will now only be confined to the xpen during meals, canine meals not human, and the crate at night. He gets along beautifully with all three of our dogs.

CeeZee is still curious about the kitties sometimes but if I call him or the cats tell him to bug off, he turns & leaves them alone. If the cats are sleeping or lounging around downstairs he ignores them. If they come running downstairs or start playing, he wants to check them out. He gets rewarded when the cats are in the room with him but he ignores them. We interrupt or otherwise distract him when he shows interest in the cats. I would definitely call him cat tolerant. Of course, careful introductions will be necessary for each new cat in new surroundings but I would expect the results to be similar in another home. Special care would need to be taken with little kittens darting about. He would need extra help to learn that they should be roommates not playmates. It would be the same with any dog, not just a Greyhound.

Does anyone want a gentle, beautiful, loving hunk of hound? If so, we have a handsome, young, fawn boy who would love to meet you. Put your application in today for this extra special guy.

What a love bug!

This boy is so loving. Someone is going to be very lucky to get such a sweet, gentle, affectionate hound.

Stunner

Have I mentioned how handsome this boy is? Normally I only blog about a foster's personality-fabulous, training- quick learner, cute little quirks- tail wags in full circles like a helicopter propeller or true confessions such as 1) leash walking is better but he still needs the front clip harness & 2) CeeZee inhales his food faster than any dog who has ever pasted through our house & then sometimes belches... quite loudly. :)

In addition to all that, CeeZee is gorgeous. Muscles? Oh yeah! He is lean & racey looking but also sturdy. No toothpick legs on this boy. He is poetry in motion when he runs. Standing still he often looks like he is posing for a portrait.

Of course then you call him & he bounces over to you acting silly with his long tail twirling in happy circles. That's part of having Greyhounds. They go from graceful to goofy in a millisecond.

Still, it must be said. This boy is a looker.

Laura

In the Zone

Warning: Graphic nudity, parental discretion advised.

Comfort Zone sure takes his name to heart. Ceezee has really settled in. He is a champion roacher. Stellaluna is totally in love with him. They play very well in the yard. He gets along with all the dogs. Has had no accidents yet. Ceezee is enjoys playing with toys & even tosses some around. He is just a great guy. We love him.

Feelin' comfortable

Well, Comfort Zone seems to be living up to his name. He is fitting in quite well so far. He was very excited to meet my dogs, two Greys & a Deerhound mix, but remained polite. My hounds were all happy to see him... ok, the girls were. Luke, my senior male, was curious then went on his way. The girls really like CZ and he seems to feel the same. Our youngest, Stellaluna, is quite smitten with the new kid in town. I will admit to being a bit smitten with him myself. (We already have our quota of dogs though.) CZ and Luna play quite well in the yard. He is not the bundle of energy our Luna is. While he is active and engaged outside, inside he returns happily to his xpen and settles down easily.

He has not had any interaction with the cats yet. One was laying on the stairs when we came home yesterday and CZ did looked there but did not appear to take notice of the cat. He was not quite sure what to make of the horse, so has stayed a bit away from the fence when PJ is close by. CZ was very curious about Squiggy the goat but seems to have grown bored with him now.

CZ spent the night in his xpen in the living room since he seemed so happy an comfortable in there. (Usually our fosters sleep in the bedroom with the rest of us.) He slept the night through without a peep. Good boy! Around 6:30 AM CZ started a little growling then barking. Then he stopped. I was confused and though he was again quiet I got up to go check on him. Of course, the other dogs got up with me so I put everyone out. After everyone was back in and settled down on their beds again, CZ did a little bit of barking. I noticed he was staring out the window. I called his name and he stopped immediately, looking at me instead of outside. Good boy! Wondering if someone was walking a dog or some such, I went to check. CZ was seeing PJ the horse in the front pasture. There was no barking at all at PJ when CZ was outside. However, he did after catching sight through the window of that large creature out on the front lawn. I strongly suspect this was the source of the barking earlier this morning. With the blinds on that window now closed, silence has resumed.

So far this boy has been nearly perfect. He does pull on leash so we will work on that. Most of this is from excitement. After a little while he settles down. To make things easier, I bought a harness with a ring in the center front of the chest piece to which I clip the leash. This way if he pulls he turns himself sideways. This is much preferable to pulling on a collar. He cannot pull as hard and he does not end up choking. With his front clip harness on he is walking on leash much better. There are more times when he isn't pulling and that gives me a chance to reward him for walking properly. Rewarding for good behavior is more effective than just correcting bad behavior. He gets to learn what I really want and a recent study shows we learn more from our successes than our failures. He learns quickly so I am sure even with my meager training ability he will catch on to loose leash walking. In the meantime, walks are fairly easy using the harness.

Oh, speaking of learning quickly. He was not sure how to get in the car yesterday but willingly allowed me to lift first one, then the other front leg onto the seat then boost his bottom up to. Next time I proceeded in the same fashion but his scrambled his back legs up as I boosted. Third time he lifted his own front legs up but hesitated until I gave him his extra boost. Fourth time he did the whole thing himself. He rides in the car very well and waited calmly in the back seat when I made a stop on the way home to pick someone up at a car repair shop. He is going to be a good traveller.

And how about learning the stairs? Well we have some stairs made of railroad ties set in a small hill behind the house. These are a good intro to stairs and he made easy work of them. We have a ramp from the porch to the front yard. All the dogs use it exclusively except Luna. So last night when Luna decided to go up the stairs instead of the ramp, CZ decided to follow her. After getting his front legs a few steps up, he stopped and looked confused. So I walked over, took him by his harness and tried to help him out. With a little heft on the harness he shifted his weight and moved one back foot onto the bottom step. Now his weight was tipped forward so he moved a front foot up one step. This was all he needed apparently. From there he scrambled up the rest of the way on his own. He has now done those steps unaided quite a few times though he has also used the ramp. He is not yet graceful on the stairs but there is no hesitation.

It is a joy to watch him learn. This is one of the best things about adopting a Greyhound. Besides all the fun and affection, which CZ offers up in bulk, it is a blast to help show your new Grey what this whole wide world has to offer. Like all Greys we have had here, CZ is intensely curious. He is a confident boy and really seems to enjoy learning so he is going to be going to be a blast.

Guess who's coming to dinner

Hey CZ,

We hear you are coming to stay with us for a while. Here's the scoop. It is called fostering. You are the foster dog & we will be your foster sisters & brother. You get your own "room" in our living room. It is called an xpen. Here's the deal. Anytime you leave your xpen, we will go in it & steal the toys our humans gave you. While out you are free to steal our toys & take them back into the pen with you. We don't mind because the next time you leave we will just steal them back. Your job while you are here is to keep the baby, Stellaluna, occupied.

[Luna, 1 yo] Hey, no fair. I'm not a baby anymore.
{Luke, 12 yo} You're still a baby to me.
(Venus, 7 yo) You're not a baby. Just an annoying adolescent but I like ya anyway, kid.

Back to what we were saying. We'll share our toys but don't expect to keep them for long. We'll share the yard with you too but only Luna will run. That's your job, to run outside with Luna so she will leave us alone. In return we'll teach you what life in a house is like. You have to learn stairs. You get to meet the horse & goat. They're funny looking animals that share a fenceline with us. Best of all you get to see how to play will all the toys. You get to find out what cushy beds & comforters are like. You also get to go for walks.

See ya soon,
Venus, Luke & Stellaluna, the hounds of the house