greyhound diary
This is a chronicle of the first three months of our adoption. Maybe it will be useful for other new/potential adopters to see how it went for us. In reverse chronological order (newest entries at top).May 27, 2003. There have been a few developments in the last month. Altus has learned to get on the couch (although he hasn't roached yet). He's more vocal, making horsey-sounding snorts and tiger growls from time to time. It's pretty funny.
Almost all of his winter coat is gone; only his neck is still fluffy.
April 28, 2003. Turns out Altus was molting, shedding his incredibly thick winter coat he grew up north where he was racing. We were brushing him indoors but the huge volume of fluffy hairballs was amazing. We started brushing him outdoors in a field and the hairballs float away like cotton candy. We could have stuffed a couple of throw pillows with his castoff fur, and he's only about halfway done molting. Looks a bit funny; back half sleek and black, front half brown and fluffy.
The difference between his normal black hair and the fluffy brown coat is about .75" so he looks a good bit smaller. He has several scars that are exposed with this shorter hair; the racing life wasn't easy.
When his Nutros Lamb and Rice ran out we gave him Iams which he seems to like better. Firmer droppings, too.
April 13, 2003. His hair is still coming out at a quick pace. We'll make an appt for Saturday to get the bloodwork done to check thyroid levels.
April 10, 2003. Altus is 4 yrs old today. He has started dancing and pawing the ground after his potty breaks. It's pretty funny.
March 29, 2003. More dremeling; his toenails look great.
Took Altus to the vet; he had a dark patch of hair on his flank where the hair has since fallen out. Mite scrapings were negative; word is still out on the fungus culture. Might also be an allergy of some kind. More antibiotics.
March 22, 2003. Dremeled Altus' toes for the first time today; went remarkably well. I took off relatively little this time, allowing for my learning process, his acclimation, and for recession of the quick. He doesn't mind the noise (i'd turned on the dremel a few times for him to hear it before) and we popped him a mini-marshmallow for each foot. Mary also ate some marshmallows.
His leg wound is completely healed, and is just a sliver of pink skin left as evidence of his misadventure.
Altus gets to roam the house now when we are away. No mishaps to the dog or house so far.
March 10, 2003. Took altus to the Addison dog park today and he ran around a bit. I didn't work him up into too much of a lather; I'd rather gradually work him up to more cardio instead.
He's been acting responsibly, so I left him alone in the house for about 30mins while I went to the store. No apparent damage to dog or to house.
March 7, 2003. "Healthy dog" check up went fine with Dr. Ellis. His first remark was "Oh, so you got this one." Seems like Altus' temperament and rabbit fur made him memorable. The vet and the techs all remembered Altus from his earlier visits; apparently they called him "fluffy".
Dr E. has excellent dogside manner and seems to be an all-around good guy.
He (Altus, not the vet) snarfed up the Heartgard+ when we got home. I was worried it might be a fight like with the antibiotics, but it's embedded in some treat stuff.
March 5, 2003. My schedule has been very weird the past week or so.
Altus is really feeling at home now; sleeping whereever and even using his dogbed. He walks into the crate from time to time (we keep the door open) but for the most part is to be found zonked out in whatever room the humans are in.
His leg is healed over, just a pink spot in the center of the old damage. The rest of the skin has grown back so well that if you didn't know there was a big missing patch before you'd never guess it. The hair is growning back very slowly. Maybe this slow growth rate is related to the relatively light shedding associated with GHs?
His "well dog" checkup with Dr. Ellis will be on Friday.
February 25, 2003. P.M. Day 12 He doesn't seem to like the icy conditions much. He's weasled his way into the office space here (it's small) and is sacked out on the floor next to my chair.
February 22, 2003. P.M. Day 10 Took the dog to PetsMart where he attracted a great deal of attention. The muzzled seemed to freak some folks out.
Went to the food aisle and was tackled by a really annoying employee who called herself a "nutritionist". I was tempted to ask her what her formal background in nutrition was... She wouldn't leave us alone and was quite pushy. We left and waited for her to get distracted so we could do our shopping in peace.
February 22, 2003. A.M. Day 11 Altus has started sleeping on his dogbed in our bedroom. This means he's out of the crate all night, and has been doing great. Whatta dog!
February 21, 2003. P.M. Day 9 Rained most of the day so we mostly stayed in. There's so much standing water in the field that ducks landed in the puddles and were literally swimming around.
February 20, 2003. P.M. Day 8 Altus has killed the "heavy duty" squeaker embedded in the squeaking octopus. Jaws of Death!
We loaded him up in the car and went to the Addison Dog Park, only it started to rain on the way. He traveled well in the car but we didn't stay at the park long because of the wet and the cold.
His doggie bathroom duties are much more relaxed now. Instead of it taking 20 minutes to get any action, he's going now in about 2 minutes. Makes the 5 walks/day a bit easier to schedule.
He's not relying on the crate nearly so much; maybe we'll let him sleep in room tonite.
February 19, 2003. P.M. Day 7 It's been a week. Altus is really doing great, and I think he's happy here. Napping all over the apt today.
Mary brought home a squeaking octopus which the dog seems to like. We lured him onto the dogbed with it, but he didn't stay.
February 18, 2003. A.M. Day 6 His leg wound is starting to look like it is smaller, so it must be healing. Also Altus has started lying down in places other than the crate. This morning he was leaning up against his dog bed, so maybe he'll like it after all.
February 17, 2003. A.M. Day 5 All is well. Altus is napping in his crate, head hanging out on the floor like a goofball. His tail beats a steady "thunk thunk thunk" on the sides when I walk by. :-)
Frozen grass this morning; he acted like he didn't like walking on it.
February 16, 2003. A.M. Day 4 Cold this morning; little bits of snow.
We left Altus alone for a few minutes yesterday and a bit longer today (about 15 mins). Came back and he was sleeping. We left a tape recorder going and heard nothing that would suggest anxiety.
He's been sleeping alot today; maybe it's his day off! :-)
February 15, 2003. P.M. Day 3 Something gave him the dreaded "greyhound gas" for about two hours. He hadn't eaten anything different that I know of, but I'll keep trying to remember.
February 15, 2003. A.M. Day 3 Another smooth night.
One the 6am walk this morning (my alarm always goes off at 6am anyhow) we were standing in the field in semi-darkness and a white shape came loping across the grass toward us. It was a white plastic grocery bag being blown by the wind. It was coming right at us and Altus was transfixed (plastic bags are used as the "bait" in lure coursing). He stood patiently and as it bumped by he snagged it with his front teeth and then stood on it for a while.
February 14, 2003. P.M. Day 2 Got the collapsible water bowl in from eBay. Should stuff neatly into the backpack. We went for a longer walk (about 25mins) for elimination and to see how his leg is holding up. He doesn't seem to favor it at all.
February 14, 2003. A.M. Day 2 Last night went smoothly. I slept on the floor near the crate in case Altus freaked or urgently needed to relieve himself (he had the runs yesterday). No problems at all. He rearranged himself a few times in the night, and sighed a few times. That was it. We got up at 6am and took a walk; his stool is markedly firmer. I hope the stress-squirts are mostly history.
One of the important developments from last night; he started wagging his tail a little and he also started walking over to us for attention. Looks like we're on the right track.
It's pretty hard to keep the bandage in place; it tends to slip down. I tried letting a little tape stick to his fur (just a little!) but he cried like a chihuahua when the tape pulled on his fur when changing the dressing. I saw an article in CG about making bandage slings, but that seems like overkill. We'll see how it goes.
I am constantly amazed at how well-behaved he is, and how lovely to watch. This is one seriously gorgeous dog. We certainly found the right one.
February 13, 2003. P.M. Day 1 Altus is sleeping in the crate (door open, tail hanging out). He seems to like it in there and we're not going to pressure him to behave otherwise. He doesn't seem interested in the superfantastic monstrous dog bed yet.
We changed his bandages. He was very patient with our first aid clumsiness; vets must love these dogs. The damage on his front right leg is about a quarter-sized chunk of skin missing from the interior section of the elbow region. Doesn't seem to bother him much.
His stool was loose when he finally went, so we'll give him a tiny bit of the immodium in his food this evening to see if it levels out.
He is attentive to abrupt noises/lights/movement, but not scared. When we were walking earlier a loud motorcycle went close by and he didn't seem to care.
February 13, 2003. A.M. Day 1 Altus is sleeping in the living room. All is right with the world.
He has been great so far. He was scared of the open stairs the first time (moved his paws to get him up; took about 2 mins), but went up just fine the second time. Still a little wobbly but went up voluntarily. Third time up he was going faster on the stairs than we were.
He panted and dripped a bit at first, but that's slowing too. He hadn't eaten yet so we gave him a cup of his old kibble, a cup of the Iams lamb/rice, and a dollop of yogurt to ward off the squirts (if he gets them, don't know yet). He eats quickly and powerfully (he really puts the crunching on that kibble - I'd hate to be the rabbit...) but not so fast as to cause choking or vomiting.
He has a bandaged boo-boo on his leg, apparently from an object in the play yard of the halfway-house kennel. It looks ok, and will just take dressing changes, the usual stuff. Plus he's got a 'script for cephalexin for it.
The adoption packet had a great deal of info about his past, which was really great. I'll be able to update the backstory page.
So far he's licked a marinated rawhide bone, and two of those greenie toothbrushes. He holds them gingerly, like he's not sure of whether or not he should be playing with them. We praise him for it, so he should get the idea.
The crate is in the living room where we usually are. We leave the door open and he goes in and out of it and sleeps in there. For the first hour he was bumping around alot when entering/exiting/rearranging, but now he seems to understand where his body is in relation to the crate, and has stopped bumping. There was a thick pad in the crate as well as a thick blanket. We tried both, just the pad, and now just the blanket. The blanket alone seems to be best so far.
He's moving through the house well, although early on he bonked his head on the patio window. We put tape on the window to remind him it's there...
February 12, 2003 Taught this evening. Came home and we finalized the place for Altus' arrival tomorrow at ~9:45am. We can't wait!
February 10, 2003 Looks like the adoption happens Thursday morning; we're pretty danged excited...
Altus is recovering nicely in a kennel in Carrollton. I stopped by
today and visited with him a bit. He seems to socialize well with the
other greys and non-greys, and his housetraining has been working well.
He did stairs easily when lead, but would not go up/down on his own. This
will work out fine for us because we have no internal stairs, only stairs
leading up to the front door.
I think he's ready to come to his adoptive home... Altus carried a small red rubber toy around the yard but dropped it as soon as he saw me looking. I think he's shy and will take a bit of TLC to get him comfortable.
I took about 30 digipics and then couldn't get the images DL'ed into the PC. Since I installed win2k the digicam software doesn't seem to work anymore... As soon as I can get it working I'll put up some fresh images of Altus.
February 6, 2003 Haven't got any word back on Altus' progress, but we went by the kennel and all five dogs (Altus, George, and three new females described before) were still gone. I will assume this means they all got fixed and are recuperating. This would imply that Altus' platelet count was normalized enough to allow surgery. No news is good news, I guess.
Got a stack of Celebrating Greyhounds mags used off eBay, for about $10. Nice!
February 5, 2003 set up the greyhound.mousetrap.net
webserver.
February 4, 2003 Altus goes back to the vet for a platelet count on the 5th, then a neutering if his count looks good. At that rate, he'd go to a halfway kennel for a few days starting on the 6th to acclimate and recover a bit. They have stairs at the halfway kennel so that will be good that he will have seen them before. We may be able to visit him there.
If all goes to plan we'd bring him home the weekend of the 15th-16th, which would make for a great valentine.
I'll see if I can go see him tonite at his current kennel this afternoon when the GALT rep is there.
[added later] went out to visit the kennel and help walk the greys kenneled there. Altus was lovely as before, and maybe a bit friendlier to me. I think it will take some time to get him out of his shell. The females we exercised were wild by comparison. Running, shoving, snapping. Very high spirited.
Altus ran a bit harder tonight, since he had a buddy to pace him. Whatta dog. I've never been near a GH race, and being in the yard with them while they're thundering around in packs is a little scary. Sounds like a cattle stampede or something.
February 2, 2003 
Looks like we found a dog.
Spent about 10hrs today looking at a bunch of dogs, at a private home and at the Dallas Boat Show. At the end of the day we went to see Altus at the kennel.
We were both blown away by this dog. The pictures don't do him any justice at all. He's got a great sweet temperament, great lines, a great walk/run, walks well on the leash, and is simply beautiful in every way. There were other dogs to see at the kennel but we knew we wanted Altus immediately.
We went past the self-storage and pulled out the crate, bed, and other materials. Altus is new to the pack, and hasn't been fixed yet. His platelet count was apparently a bit low, so the cut was postponed for a while. Currently on Doxycycline to help get the platelet numbers back up.
[added later] Altus is medium-sized dog at best, right around the 60# cutoff. His head looks near-black except for browner patches on the muzzle. Tiny white patch on his chest, and white toes (just the toes, not the whole foot) . The rest of him looks like a black/brown mixture, like he's black with a brown undercoat. He feels like a rabbit right now.
February 1, 2003 Both of our birthdays fall on this day, as does our wedding anniversary. We decided to skip the normal presents and pick out a dog instead. :-)
January 30, 2003 House is nearing normalcy, and we've started browsing the available dogs again. I wish groups would post the dog's weight in the descriptions. Since the dogs have had recent vet care (to get fixed, dental) they've got to know how much the animal weighs.
I suggested this before to sites' webmasters last year, even before I know of our own weight limit.
January 26, 2003 Moved into the new apartment; it's still a disaster. We hope to get the chaos under control in a week or two and start the adoption process again.
The new cable feed actually gets Animal Planet's Good Dog U.; in Richardson it was superseded by home shopping.
January 6, 2003 Got approval for a GH up to 60# at Dawn Tree apts in Carrollton. This time we were careful to get a specific approval by breed/weight from the manager: I'm not going through that crap again. We have put in our app and hope to get an apt that is slated to open up this week. If so, we'd start moving in over the weekend. That would put an adoption at early February. I let GALT know (they're who our application is in with).
The 60# limit is probably a good one for us. Mary likes the smaller dogs but I'd been lobbying for one of the monster 85-90# males. The 60# limit will probably get us a medium bitch, which is fine with me.
Man, I hope this slot opens up for us. Should know later today.
January 4, 2003 Looks like we found a GH-friendly apt complex in Carrollton. We are dropping off our app in the morning, and have asked the mgr to specifically clear the gh with the owners. Cross your fingers.
July, 2002 Picked out a dog (Prince from GALT, paid the app fee, and then apt. manager springs a weight limit on us where there was none before. We have not signed a new lease and will move out when we find a GH-friendly apt. in our price range.
We've lived here for six years and have been great tenants. The manager is shooting herself in the foot here. If you know of a GH-friendly apartment in the North Dallas area, please email .
June 9, 2002 Meet/Greets in Plano and Grapevine. Walked a few animals in Grapevine and really, really liked two of them. We're going to try to spend some time with them in another environment, just to make sure....
June 2, 2002
Got back from the California trip and made a GU m/g in Lewisville.
Walked two animals, but neither one really grabbed us (or the other way
around). There were two striking animals there, both owned by fosters.
We've decided that people foster GHs so they can get first pick. :-)
I liked one of the dogs I walked (Jesper) but he had the longer hair
which bothers us.
We rearranged the living area last night to better place the crate and dogbed. Sigh.
May 23, 2002
Ok, so Kong toys bounce
erratically.
Really erratically. As in "bounce on down the
parking lot, down a drain cutout, down a hill, and into a nasty pond"
erratically. Took about an hour of fishing to get it out... shows you
how stubborn we are.
May 22, 2002 AP broke the news about the greyhound executions in Alabama. It's not surprising at all. Maybe it will increase public awareness.
May 18, 2002 Attended GU Open House (pics). Could have stood to see many more adoptables, but then again the event seemed to be aimed at current owners and not new adopters-in-progress.
Very nice fosters Randy and Nan let us walk one of their candidates,
a medium sized female brindle named Mini (or minnie, never saw it in
writing). Nice dog, a little shy. She seemed aloof from us during the
walk, but was quite affectionate to others she encountered on the walk.
This may be a reflection of her anxiety around unknown people (us) or my
lack of experience leash-walking dogs. I let her get the leash tangled
around a lawn chair while walking and she ended up with Bellini spilled
on her; I cleaned her off with fresh water so she wouldn't go back to
the parents smelling like booze. :-)
I liked the animal but M didn't necessarily click.
We also walked Gayla, who was at the kennel. No click; I think we'd like a slightly taller dog.
May 10, 2002 Turned in our app to Greyhounds Unlimited, with a cover letter describing what we're looking for in a dog (zipped WordPad document, ~3k).
April 2002 Went back for meet/greet; attended another group's meet/greet. we're starting to get recognized...
At the GU m/g the dear wife saw the smallest GH I've ever seen and immediately loved it ("trigger"). The dog was shorter than a whippet, and was fully grown. That'd be way too small for me. I like bigger animals.
Got approval from the apt manager and started collecting GH stuff in earnest: food/water bowls, pads and comforters, etc. Found a used crate of the recommended 40x30x27 size. Bleached and rinsed it in the courtyard, dried it off and set it up indoors.
March 2002 Mary attends another meet/greet in Grapevine.
Feb 2002 Attended meet/greets in Grapevine.
2001 Did generalized GH reading.
2000 I had been interested in greyhounds
and saw GU's site announcing a "reunion". Attended GU's
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© 2003 jason carr,
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