Foster Dogs - Introducing Zelda

Zelda is a four year old female who ran a lot of races and has had one litter of pups. She is a big girl who raced at 30 kilograms, and a tad overweight. She makes Barbie look tiny and on the weekend I might be able to get some pictures of her and Mouse together.

Her trainer had kept her as a pet for a while, so the house wasn't totally foreign to her. She does like to watch the TV sometimes, and she has a bit of a thing with her reflection in glass doors and mirrors. She also refuses to do stairs. 

She is quite good on the lead so we decided to take all three dogs to the Botanic Garden Cafe in King's Park last weekend. She did really well for her first time though she didn't lie down. 

She bosses Bender and Barbie around a little bit, she is a bit protective of food and couch space but I think she will get over it with some correction. She is definitely capable of sharing, she just does it when it suits her.

Can you tell who is who? (you can see in the photo that Zelda is bigger). Sometimes when I see a black greyhound out of the corner of my eye I am not quite sure which one it is!

Zelda is a total snuggler and she much prefers sleeping on my bed rather than in her crate. She will lean on you and last night she stood between my legs because she wanted my attention.

She doesn't mind being outside when I go out, she makes good use of the wooden kennel my neighbours gave us. She is good in the yard and I have been putting her out at least a few hours every day when I run errands and other things.

Zelda has been helping with house-guarding duties but she doesn't try to copy Bender like Mouse did. She takes more of her barking cues from Barbie, which is good because when she barks there is usually a good reason for it. 

Now, she's been here a week and a half, and usually I would have taught a new dog to sit by now, but we have been working on the only real problem - her interaction with Froufrou and Mittens. Zelda was OK with her trainer's cat, but Frou and Mittens were different and exciting. She was quite fixated and made a couple of pounces for the cats when she first met them. 

I couldn't get her attention at all at first, and Mittens did try to give her a scratch but didn't manage to. Not sure if Zelda was too quick to pull her head away or the muzzle was protecting her. I thought she needed more negative consequences for pouncing on the cats, so I bought a water pistol.

She is starting to find the cats less interesting though it has been a slow process, we are getting there. I expect that she will be able to stay until she finds her forever home. She is a robust kind of Greyhound and I think she'd be great in a family with kids.