Dear Reader,
Of course, I should have taken a photo, but Pony doesn't belong to me; he belongs to LandLady and when he jumped the baby gate, I panicked and didn't think to reach for my camera.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
As previously mentioned, before I moved in with LandLady, she had agreed to let me adopt a dog. But not just any dog - specifically, a retired racing greyhound. Because they are quiet and gentle and sleep about 18 hours a day. Kind of like cats, but you can teach them to do useful stuff, like "come".*
Over the course of my first two weeks here, as we discussed arrangements for the dog - Where to poop? Where to eat? Where to sleep? How to train? - LandLady got more and more interested in the breed and increasingly excited about having something to pet. I suggested that she could get her own dog, but she demurred, claiming she preferred to use my dog as a test of her own emotional and physical preparedness for dog ownership. Personally, I thought that two clueless** animals introduced to the same house at the same time was probably going to be a bit "interesting", so I let the question drop.
And then last weekend we went to the adoption kennel.
I liked a 4 year old red female, but she couldn't come home with us because she hadn't been spayed yet. And LandLady met Pony, a large "galumphy" (in LandLady's words) 2 year old male. It was mutual love the first time he leaned on her. And we all need a giant adoring cold-nosed reason to get out of bed in the morning, so it was, at last, agreed there would be two dogs in the house. But Pony was too big to fit in the crate we had at home so there was no chance of bringing him home immediately either. After a 4 1/2 hour visit, we left without a dog.
But this weekend, a week wiser and better prepared, we brought home two greyhounds, who will hereafter be referred to as Dog and Pony.
Last night, I was in the TV room with Dog when Pony came to visit. Dog was well contained in the room with a closed door at one end and a wooden baby gate*** at the other. But both dogs were very wound up and eager to explore their new surroundings and have shown a willingness to jump onto or over whatever stands in their way. Very rarely does this go well for them, however, as illustrated below. Before I could get a hand on his collar, Pony "stepped over" the gate and got himself stuck and couldn't work out how to get himself unstuck. Greyhounds do not "jump back".
Which puts a whole new spin on the term "greyhound rescue".
Wish us luck as we let sleeping dogs lie,
~~ LeAn
______
* It's a big house. So, "deliver to LandLady" is also on my list of desirable tricks.
** Retired racers only know the track and the kennel. They don't know what cars or windows or stairs or children or vacuum cleaners are.
*** Baby gate vs. dog gate. WalMart price difference: 12 cents.
Of course, I should have taken a photo, but Pony doesn't belong to me; he belongs to LandLady and when he jumped the baby gate, I panicked and didn't think to reach for my camera.
But I'm getting ahead of myself.
As previously mentioned, before I moved in with LandLady, she had agreed to let me adopt a dog. But not just any dog - specifically, a retired racing greyhound. Because they are quiet and gentle and sleep about 18 hours a day. Kind of like cats, but you can teach them to do useful stuff, like "come".*
Over the course of my first two weeks here, as we discussed arrangements for the dog - Where to poop? Where to eat? Where to sleep? How to train? - LandLady got more and more interested in the breed and increasingly excited about having something to pet. I suggested that she could get her own dog, but she demurred, claiming she preferred to use my dog as a test of her own emotional and physical preparedness for dog ownership. Personally, I thought that two clueless** animals introduced to the same house at the same time was probably going to be a bit "interesting", so I let the question drop.
And then last weekend we went to the adoption kennel.
I liked a 4 year old red female, but she couldn't come home with us because she hadn't been spayed yet. And LandLady met Pony, a large "galumphy" (in LandLady's words) 2 year old male. It was mutual love the first time he leaned on her. And we all need a giant adoring cold-nosed reason to get out of bed in the morning, so it was, at last, agreed there would be two dogs in the house. But Pony was too big to fit in the crate we had at home so there was no chance of bringing him home immediately either. After a 4 1/2 hour visit, we left without a dog.
But this weekend, a week wiser and better prepared, we brought home two greyhounds, who will hereafter be referred to as Dog and Pony.
Last night, I was in the TV room with Dog when Pony came to visit. Dog was well contained in the room with a closed door at one end and a wooden baby gate*** at the other. But both dogs were very wound up and eager to explore their new surroundings and have shown a willingness to jump onto or over whatever stands in their way. Very rarely does this go well for them, however, as illustrated below. Before I could get a hand on his collar, Pony "stepped over" the gate and got himself stuck and couldn't work out how to get himself unstuck. Greyhounds do not "jump back".
Which puts a whole new spin on the term "greyhound rescue".
Wish us luck as we let sleeping dogs lie,
~~ LeAn
______
* It's a big house. So, "deliver to LandLady" is also on my list of desirable tricks.
** Retired racers only know the track and the kennel. They don't know what cars or windows or stairs or children or vacuum cleaners are.
*** Baby gate vs. dog gate. WalMart price difference: 12 cents.
ha ha - looking forward to hearing more antics
ReplyDeletemy daughter, a dog owner????? will wonders never cease...
ReplyDelete