Petrescue and Jetpets - bring dogs to the city!

I am a bit spoiled because we have a Guide Dog in our office. He works for my offsider at work and spends most of the day asleep under her desk, but we are allowed to play with him every now and then. Today I played tug with him, and his toy broke. He was happy because now he had TWO toys!

Anyway, the city isn't that dog friendly and I don't often see dogs that aren't working in town. I think it's because dogs aren't allowed at inner city apartment buildings, or on public transport. It's a hassle to drive into the city, so people don't bring their dogs to the Central Business District for a stroll.



I think that's what made today so interesting, and hopefully successful. My favorite website if you want to get a new pet, Pet Rescue, brought together two of my favorite rescue organisations, Staffy and Bully Breed Rescue (SABBR) & Greyhounds as Pets (GAP). I ran into Sharon, Barbie's foster carer, and also one of my old footy mates who is quite involved with SABBR. It turned into quite a social lunch break.

I also met the mascot for Jet Pets (the famous Sahara), and she is beautiful. I would love a dog just like her, she reminded me a little bit of Lucy, though she knew a lot more tricks!



There was a bit of buzz on Facebook afterwards and I hope that some of the SABBR dogs find new homes, there was certainly a lot of interest in them.

I really enjoyed my lunch break today, I hope that it happens again because I love seeing dogs in the city!

I promised some NZ doggie photos!

In the last blog entry I shared my holiday video, and promised photos from our short stay with Beryl, Frankie and Sue of Greyhounds Can Sit.

Well early in the day, Sue's house became Greyhound Heaven, when Stanley and two lovely foster lady greys joined the party.

There was action in the kitchen, and everyone was standing at attention.



Lovely old Lilly with her gammy back leg was so sweet and cheeky. She is being fostered along with Bettina (I hope I remembered her name right) in handsome Stanley's house.



Poor Beryl lost all of her beds to other dogs, and the Princess was quite put out. Here is Bettina hogging Beryl's lounge room bed.



After a bit of time frollicking in the garden, we all loaded up and went to the beach. Stanley likes the water and will dip his belly in it to keep cool. This photo could just as well be a photo of Barbie cooling herself off!



The dogs were tired quickly because it was hot, relatively. Beryl doesn't like to do much when it's more than 18 degrees Celsius. Beryl is actually an Australian, so we made fun of her for being such a wuss. Barbie doesn't start to wilt until the temperature gets over 30 degrees Celsius!

Anyway, we made a second trip to the beach later in the evening in order for Frankie and Beryl to go tearing through the sand dunes.

Frankie says, "what! relax! of course I can drive this thing"



Beryl enjoys showing us her beach when the temperature has dropped and both her ears went up as soon as we entered the sand dunes.



It was really great being able to visit Greyhounds and Frankie whilst we were on holidays in NZ, and Sue is pretty awesome too. I just hope she finds the inspiration to update her blog again some time!

Back from NZ

The dogs are tired after their exciting two weeks in the kennel, and the kitties are being somewhat demanding, but we are now home from our flying two week visit to the North Island of New Zealand. While we were there we met up with Beryl, Frankie and Sue from Greyhounds Can Sit. We also met a few of their friends.

I met a lot of kitties on our travels as well, N likes to call me 'The Cat Whisperer'. I will do a bigger post with photos of everyone soon, but in the mean time here is the holiday video. You will spot the other blogging doggies at the end, but there is also footage from the Bay of Islands, a lot of stuff around Rotorua, snow at Whakapapa, basically all the great bits!

Wordless Wednesday - Mittens says no to doping

Wordless Wednesday - Lamb Shanks

Greyhounds as Pets Stall - Canning Show, the afternoon shift

Sometimes, when you talk to many, many members of the public something someone says just sticks with you. Today that was a lady who said that Barbie's head looked like a bike seat. Actually she said all the Greyhounds had heads that looked like bike seats, especially with their eyes closed.

I thought it was hilarious, and laughed for ages. I can see the resemblance, can you?

Barbie doesn't think it is such a funny joke, I think she is afraid I will try to sit on her head now. 

When we first arrived at the Canning Show, I met up with another Greyhounds as Pets volunteer at the gate, but it took us a while to find the GAP stall. The band was in full swing and it gave Barbie a bit of a scare. It also started to rain. In her attempt to find somewhere safe and comfortable, Barbie ran up the steps of the 'gym bus'. The guy at the door seemed to find it amusing, though I had to expend a lot of effort to convince Barbie to get down. 

When we finally found the GAP stall Barbie was a bit rattled and ended up sleeping in the back corner of the tent. It took her a good hour to calm down and come out to meet and greet people. 

In the mean time Nancy, Nigel and Oscar were doing all the work. Nigel was the youngest of the Greyhounds there this afternoon, and he definitely put in the most effort. 

Nigel was also popular because he was the only dog there in the afternoon shift who wasn't black. A lot of people liked to compare him to a tiger. He wasn't very tiger-ish, unless that tiger was actually a teddy bear!

Nigel lives with a lovely four year old hound called Nancy who looks a little like Barbie, enough that her mum asked who Barbie's parents were as she thought they might be related.

Once Nancy and Nigel were both tired, they settled down together on the dog beds. Nancy adores being patted and she spent a lot of time sitting on my feet getting scratches, while Barbie slept in the corner!

Oscar is a very toy motivated character, the kind of dog that would be great to train for agility. He has a thing for balloons, which his mum only discovered when they were at the Royal Show. Kids would come to pat him holding one and he would be trying to steal it! He had gotten quite crafty at trying to nab a balloon for himself, when he went around the back of the tent for a walk, he nosed under the tent. He had realised there was a balloon there and was trying to get to it. He is very gentle with them though and has never popped one. I am not sure if it would put him off though. 

After Barbie had her sleep and settled down after the scary encounter with the band, the rain also cleared up a little bit, and we all stepped out of the stall for a little while. Oscar and Nancy decided to have a little rest, while Barbie and Nigel were patted.

All the dogs did really well, often being patted by multiple people at once. I thought I got a picture of Barbie with a bunch of cute kids but I guess I didn't! I spent more time taking pictures of her friends. 

We were asked to stack everything in the middle of the tent at the end of the day, but Nancy didn't like the beds being moved, so she made sure they wouldn't be taken away. 

Barbie and Oscar gave each other a little kiss as we walked back out to the car park to go home. I think Barbie's favourite part of these meet-n-greets is meeting the other Greyhounds. She was more than happy to play a supporting role to the others. 

Ouch - Greyhound teeth

Barbie lost 7 teeth today, with a further 4 that are marginal. The Vet was convinced she ate soft food! She obviously doesn't chew her food anymore and just gulps it down. She is now going to have to eat super-big dental biscuits that force her to chew, and we will have to give her bones when Bender can't steal them from her.

I can't help but feel that we really dropped the ball on this one. I knew that Greyhounds have teeth problems, but I had no idea her teeth could get so bad in the 12 months between check ups. 

The vet has recommended we brush her teeth, or that we get her a clean and scale once a year. I know how ineffective human teeth brushing is (I mean, I still have to get a clean and scale once a year!), so I think we will be switching her to the special dental food and making sure she gets more bones and peace and quiet to chew them in. We shall see what the Vet's opinion is next check up time, and in the mean time I will be a lot more vigilant about what is happening inside her mouth!

The Vet and all the staff seemed to love her, and were impressed with how placid she was. She didn't complain at all. They even sent her home with a spiffy looking bandana, and gave her a nice purple vet wrap which says 'Ouch'. That's my girl, winning fans wherever she goes. 

Barbie tricks the hapless Bender

Like Bender's devil eyes? But he really isn't the devil in the house...

Barbie can be very manipulative. She figured out a new trick yesterday when Bender was occupying her spot on the couch. She got up from her bed, ran to the front window and barked. Bender had a puzzled look on his face, he hadn't heard anything outside, but he couldn't let Barbie upstage him, so he got up and raced to the window as well.

As soon as he left his position on the couch, Barbie left her newly adopted guard post, and jumped straight into his spot on the couch.

Crafty. 

Greyhound Comfort & Toothy Troubles

I moved the dog beds so that I could vacuum the carpet, and Barbie saw this as a perfect opportunity to continue her pursuit of ultimate comfort. 

I had to let her because she had bad news at the V-E-T this week when she went for her annual vaccinations and check up.

Finally her Greyhound tendency to have cruddy teeth has caught up to her at the age of five. The Vet says that she has to have at least one tooth out, maybe three. The problem is with the molars right at the back of her mouth. They were fine less than 12 months ago but I had noticed she was getting tartar build up over the last 6 months or so. My theory is that she can't do a proper 'teeth cleaning' session with a nice bone because she has such a weak jaw. Her teeth kind of skate over anything hard she tries to eat - it's very similar to the sound human teeth make as a gobstopper or Chupachup rattles around in a human mouth. It is nothing like the crunching, chomping sound Bender makes when he is given a part of an animal's skeleton!

Anyway in a couple of weeks she will be going in to have them out, and have the rest of her chompers cleaned and scaled.

So for now I will let her sleep on her mountain of bedding.

Mittens and the Big Bad Greyhound

Doggie stereotypes are alive and well, and one of the stereotypes that irks me the most is the image of the Greyhound as a cold blooded hunter. A vet once told me not to let Barbie near any cats, and was unapologetic when I told him that she lived with two kitties. Then there are all the people who say 'oh yeah Greyhounds need muzzles because they will eat cats on the street'. Recently a Ranger advised a woman who was interested in getting a Greyhound that 'in his experience' it would eat her Maltese! 

Barbie is a great example of a Greyhound who has prey drive but can live quite peacefully with her own cats. She is now always polite with small dogs, even those who bark at her. 

Anyway it brings us to our story for the evening. We were all lazing around on the couch, and Barbie and Mittens were in a very similar position to the one above. Barbie then sat up, and Mittens gave her a playful swat.

Barbie gave Mittens an obliging sniff, and Mittens swatted her again, this time with her claws out. She managed to somehow dig her claw into the back of Barbie's neck. Mittens is not very good at retracting her claws, and so she got stuck. Barbie tried to lie down, and felt the claw tug on her scruff, which elicited the GSOD (Greyhound Scream of Death).

Mittens managed to let go and was duly chastised for assaulting the Princess. I had to examine Barbie's neck but found no blood. The claw was just in Barbie's hair, so no damage done.

My theory has always been that the GSOD is a signal that the dog is not actually hurt, just surprised. The GSOD also illustrates beautifully that Barbie sees the kitties as her equals and not a lowly-ranked being that can be snapped at or growled at. 

Mittens says "No Comment"

Barbie is 5 now, which means we have had 3 years of harmony between her and the cats. Usually any dramas are between the two cats, and everyone else gets along just fine. Take that, anonymous Ranger!