Scout's Gotcha Day!

Today is my greyhound, Scout's, first "Gotcha Day". What's a "Gotcha Day"? It's the day that we adopted her. She came to us from http://www.halfwayhomegreyhounds.com

Scout traveled from Tulsa to St. Louis. I believe she was driven to Springfield, MO and then a driver picked her up along with a few other dogs up to complete the lag to St. Louis. Jeff and I met her at the drop off in St. Louis. We had only seen her photo before that day. I spoke with her foster Mom a few times before Scout arrived to learn more about her.

It's exciting bringing a new dog into the home, but it's also stressful, too. I didn't know if Jack would like Scout and vice versa. Jack had been an only dog for 15 months before Scout moved in. He was a little jealous at first and still is at times, but they like each other. We brought Scout into our house as a foster with intent. It meant that we were really the foster parents, but we intended to adopt her. If Jack and Scout did not get along, then we would keep her until new parents were found.

I am actually glad that we are out of the newness stage. We had a few issues with house breaking. Basically, I was stressing the poor dog out I think. I thought she should have to go out more than she needs to. We figured out a routine after about two months and things have been running smooth since that time.

We celebrated Scout's big day with homemade frozen treats topped with whipped cream. The pups seemed to enjoy them.

Little Things

Today was our greyhound reunion. My pups knew something was up. This morning, they had their nails done, teeth brushed and bath wipes were used to make them smell nice. If I would have just done one thing then they would not have been suspicious, but when you do all three...it means "WE ARE GOING SOMEWHERE!" My pups get very excited when they get to leave their rural home. Jack gets almost out of control. He is bouncing around on 2 legs. He is constantly told "four on the floor, Jack". Scout gets excited, too, but she remains very calm. Her teeth chatter to show her excitement.

The pups enjoyed the reunion. Jack saw his foster mom. He lived with her for about three months before we adopted her. The lady who rescued Scout was even there. She is from Oklahoma. They had a lot of fun greeting other pups and getting love from other attendees.

I purchased a sweatshirt, magnet, Celebrating Greyhounds wall calendar and desk calendar. (My Scout is in the desk calendar this year.) The purchase that got me the most excited probably wouldn't matter to most people, but it made my day. It's a clasp that you place the dog's tags on and it can easily be moved from collar to collar. I don't know the official name for it. I have looked all over for one of these. My pups have several collars and moving their tags has always been a problem for me. The problem is now solved. It's a little thing, but it is so exciting to me.

My Girl Needs Mudflaps!

Jack is my first greyhound and my first male dog. I’ve tried to be careful with his collar color choices to make sure they are manly enough. My husband, Jeff, was not thrilled when I started crocheting scarves for Jack. I don’t think either of them thought they were manly enough, even though I chose blue as the color. When we decided to adopt a second greyhound there wasn’t a doubt that it would be a girl. I wanted a girl that would wear pink collars, hats and my crocheted scarves. I dreamed of a petite, red fawn with dark eyebrows as the red fawns make my heart flutter. Finally, we were ready to find my little diva. I was surprised that I fell for a red brindle named Scout. Her 74 pounds did not make her petite, but the same size as Jack. I already decided that my girl would be named Katie, so the Scout name had to go. It wasn’t long after Scout’s arrival that I learned that Scout was not a Katie. She didn’t look like a Katie and she responded to the name Scout. So, with a heavy heart, I changed her name back to Scout. I soon learned that Scout was not going to be my diva, my girly girl. I placed a hat on her and it seemed to take all the life out of her. I put a velvet jester collar on her at Christmas and again, she deflated until the collar came off. The girl has “ETS” (Escaped Tongue Syndrome) for gosh sakes! I’m sure you’ve seen it. She lets about a ¼” of her tongue hang out the side of her mouth. It’s just not a diva thing to do, but it definitely makes me laugh. One day Jeff and I were watching her run in the yard. She was running in the mud and having the time of her life. Mud was flying everywhere. Jeff said that she needed mud flaps. It was about that time that she stopped running and rolled in the mud. :::sigh::: She is definitely not the dog of my dreams, but she’s my Scout and I wouldn’t trade her for all the “Katie’s” in the world.

Scout will celebrate her first "Gotcha Day" with us on September 29th.