Some website maintenance during this holiday shutdown lead me to a revelation. I hadn’t posted to the Greytbros page in over a year. How could that be?
I guess that a part of it is that there was remarkably little drama, dog wise, this year. Lizzie and Cerberus have been in remarkably good health, and with the exception of an exuberant play session where Lizzie’s ear got slashed, needing a lot of glue and time spent in a soft elizabethan collar, it has been quiet.
Cerberus still has a problem with his anal sacs getting full, so about every 3 months, we take him in to have them expressed. Last time we also had Lizzie’s expressed, they were full too.
They still play rough with each other. Our greyhound years make us sensitive to the risk of a stray tooth, and the skin. Alas, the Kauai hounds are far more hearty. They chew/gnaw/battle each other daily, or more often without any adverse effects. Clash of the titans is what we call it.
Zoomies happen
Lizzie gets running jags practically daily. It is a lot like this:
Lizzie in the AM from Geoffrey Anderson on Vimeo.
Cerberus gets in on it in his own way, he will either wait at one end or the other of her turnaround spots, but lately, he has been getting himself near the couch, and forces Lizzie to leap over him. She doesn’t seem to mind.
Food
We started the year using high end food, Merrick grain free, a roughly $90 for a 30# sack. Since we had greyhounds, we are well aware of the sensitivity of the greyhound stomachs to food from their time on the track.
Alas, we switched to green bag Iams kibble, 40# sacks for about $30. It is almost a laugher how cheap this is. Not that the cost of food was an issue, but it is a nice bonus.
The Park
At the recommendation of a local trainer, we started taking them to a local park a few afternoons a week. Lizzie practically LUNGES out of the car to get to her laps. There are often other dogs on the other side of a fence, and Lizzie rushes over to say hi.
As we get closer to the park, she starts going InSaNe. I will need to buy a second crate for the car to prevent her crazy.
Daily Walks
Lizzie mills around out front, not really ready for a longer walk, but Cerberus loves his daily walk. When I am home, I take him or 3ish mile walks, that he absolutely loves. He also loves two stretches of the usual routes that we call “squirrel alley”. Since he came from Kauai, a place without squirrels, his infatuation with bushy tailed rats is understandable.
He does mostly well, but when he spies his favorite chewtoys, he goes nuts. And he is as strong as a mastiff, even though he is only one quarter the weight.
Dog Sitting
We found a great dog sitter. We met Kira at the local “Unleashed by Petco” where she was the in house trainer. Turn out that she also does dog sitting with a friend. We did a 1 week trial and both Lizzie and Cerbie love Kira and Jessica.
We can take a vacation again without worrying about the hounds. Yay!
Summary
While I didn’t post much this year, it wasn’t a conscious thing to limit the time spent typing. This blog originally was started to track the trials and tribulations of life with a seizure dog. Now that we have switched from greyhounds to other rescues, I find it enjoyable to keep this alive.
Thanks for the year end post. I really appreciate being able to keep up with how Cerbie is doing. However another dog has come into our lives and hearts. She arrived about a month ago and hasn’t left our yard, home or beds since. after posting every where we surrendered her to the Humane Society with her blanket and favorite toy. We pick her up again on Tuesday. She’s an older pup and loves everyone – mail person, FedX delivery guys and anyone else who comes to the house.
I look forward to more posts and videos of Lizzie and Cerbie. Aloha from Kaua’i