Something is up... I have been given this toy that has kept me busy for ages, it is so engrossing that I did not even notice that my family had left the house today, not that them going is much of an issue, it is just that this toy, called a kong is great!
Over the last few weeks I have been introduced to all sorts of stuff, but peanut butter is a firm favourite! It gets stuck to the roof of my mouth and it takes ages for me to get it off. Today my Kong toy had peanut butter smeared on the inside of it and I loved licking out the contents, then later on I had the same toy but with biscuit treats and peanut butter smeared on the inside, it was while I was engrossed with that particular combination that my family left me and I did not even know! As I say something is up, school holidays end this week and term starts, I think things might be a little different around here from now on.
These humans! My family were clipping my toe nails today, I did not think that they needed doing and kept pulling my paw away. They have done it before and it was not an issue, but today they caught my quick and it bled, ouch! It bled for ages. Once the flow slowed down and they made me a little plaster...
After that we went into town, to Remuera, to buy dancing stuff for one of the family members, while they were doing that some of us, including me went for a wander. We ended up in Remuera Vets. There were several very posh pets in there. We went in for that powder that can be used to stop blood flow. I caused a bit of a stir, the vet came out to see me, and whisked me off to the treatment room ahead of a cat that was already waiting! I did not need treatment, but she just wanted to have a look at a Greyhound, after that I then saw the receptionist, she made a fuss as did the owner of the cat and finally the owner of the pet accessories place. I walked in, got seen first, was given some product and not charged! All because I am a Greyhound! Result!
Later, in St Heliers, I made a load of new friends, big and small all came up to me to find out all about me, I really like being popular. Finally I met my new best friend, my butcher and he cut up some brisket for me. I am now making very short work of that and my teeth are benefiting too.
My family have been saying to me all week that they had a surprise organised for me for Saturday morning. Well after I got them up at 6:00 asking where it was, I kind of moped around looking for it. The surprise was not evident, everything seemed normal, although I was a bit peeved that I was not taken for my normal walk after breakfast. These humans are so mercurial!
Anyway at 9:30 they piled me into the car and took me out to Meola Road Reserve at Western Springs and there I met loads of my fellow retired racers, we had a great time. What a surprise! I really perked up after that. We ambled around the reserve, getting to know each other and then once we had got through the gate into the fenced area, we were let off of the leash and allowed to roam and run. It was great.
Now that I am home, I have spent the entire day recovering, I am exhausted! I loved meeting my fellow ex-racers and can not wait for the next meet. You can see from the video and slide show below that we all had a great time.
I have been to my first obedience class... Not that I think that I am particularly disobedient. It was an interesting class! Most of the class were puppies, who kept on yapping and yowling. I was the biggest dog there. There was one other dog there, a Bulldog who was as old as me. I spent a lot of my time just standing and watching as all the pups were quietened down and then taught how to sit. I sit by accident, when I back into something, the trainer regards me as a challenge and has already said that she has not yet had a dog that can not sit by the end of her lessons. We'll see! I lie down really well and by the end of the session this is exactly what I did.
It has been another interesting week for me. I am starting to recognise the ebb and flow of my new family and am relaxing into it, I am getting very used to them coming and going in ones and twos or indeed all of them at one time and it is not really phasing me, although I do get very excited when I hear the garage door open when they return.
I have been going out on regular walks again and am loving exploring the local streets and parks, I am getting to know the local dogs, I met my neighbour the other day and went to his house. In fact I had escaped and took off up the drive, long story. Anyway after a short sprint down the street, over all the gardens, I galloped back to my family, who were talking to the neighbours. I started talking to Louie who invited me in, so we went into his house for a run around! Then I met their cat at that point I was removed and the cat was rescued! Red faces all round really. I am a sucker for a moggie! Love them! Trouble is no one else is too happy about my focused attention upon their fur ball!
My family have been in touch with my old trainer and have really enjoyed speaking to him. He told them about all the treats that I love, like a bit of marmite on toast, how I like little bit of tea, that I like milk with my dinner and the dog biscuits that I love. Silly really all they had to do was ask me, but I guess it is knowing the right questions to ask. He told them all about me and how when I was a pup in Australia I was initially sold for a huge amount of money, based on my parents. But there was a snag, like horses, there are particular conditions that I am suited to. I love to run on grass tracks and do not perform well on cinder tracks, apparently I do not corner well on that surface and lose speed. But on grass no one can beat me! Trouble is that there are not enough grass tracks and so I am retired.
I spent 18 months with my trainer, so I have only been in New Zealand a short while, but he used to train me on a running machine for 20 minutes at a time and when we went to the races he would share his chip supper with me and my other mates at the end of the evening. He also suggested ways in which I could be let off of the lead for a run in the park behind my new home.
So this morning that is exactly what happened. I was walked out into the field and my new family armed with treats, toys and bribes let me off of the leash! What joy! I bounded off past everyone, around the edge of the reserve until I heard them call my name and I came bounding back to them at full tilt! I loved it. At the end of the dash I did a face plant on the grass out of sheer delight, just like the Premier League footballers do when they have scored a goal. I am already looking forward to my next off leash dash. Oh and in case you are wondering, yes I had my muzzle on, but would have prefered not to have had it on. Next time there will be video footage of my turn of speed on grass. I am not as fit as I once was and at the end of that 400 metre sprint I was really puffed, so went and had a lie down!
This week has been quite eventful. It started with the new year celebrations, I was not too keen on the fireworks that some of the neighbours let off to start the new year. But as they did not last too long it was not really an issue either.
This week can be summed up by boundaries! I have been pushing the sleeping arrangement boundaries this week, when my new family all retire upstairs I see no reason not to join them, so after about 20 minutes or so, I sneak up and join them, but they keep putting me back to my own bed, I am starting to get bored of this waste of energy and I think that I will just stay put in future, but I will keep the family guessing for a bit longer!
Hooray after the boring food of convalescence I am back on my gruts and some additional extras. I have lost 2kg while I was ill, so now I have to build up some weight and not exercise too much, so my two walks a day have been reduced to a short stroll after the heat of the day. I went back to the vets this week and I was a star, all the nurses came up to say hello they gave me lots of cuddles and liver treats. I am the first Greyhound at the practice and they want me to come back as often as I like, even if I am not ill. They were really impressed that, even when I was at my most de-hydrated and weak, I still had enough energy and drive to have a go at a cat in the surgery. Respect!
The other boundaries that I have been testing this week have been my own. I have banged my head, my feet and my tail a lot this week. I seem not to know my own size, I was out in Waiatarua Reserve the other day, I turned my head and banged it hard into a bench, I have banged my feet into the steps on the deck and have on a number of occaisions walked straight into the door jam of a completely open door ! I think that I am a Whippet trapped in the body of a Greyhound!
Apparently my trainer has been asking after me and how I am getting on. Sonja has relayed the information that I am getting on well with my new family, but he does not have Internet access to read this via his a computer. My new family say that he could read this blog and subscribe to the RSS feed via his phone if it is a 3G phone. Apparently it is really simple to do, but as I have no thumbs to speak and do not txt, I can not comment!
Today's picture is of me in the driving seat! Well not really, I sneaked in to the car and tried to make myself comfortable in the front, but I have to admit that I prefer the back, someone else can do all the leading, I am in for the easy life. I think that I might need to get some wing mirrors fitted to me though if I keep hitting myself. Right when's dinner?
The only other male of my new family, thinks that I follow him to the garage as a sign of male solidarity! He has shown me his bike that he cycles to work on, not interested in that, his tools, they smell good, his bits of scrap metal make him a bit edgy when I nose in there, he claims they are a bit sharp! He goes in there a lot, referring to it as the man room, he tends to potter and he thinks, mistakenly, that I am interested in all that man stuff. I have a bigger fish to fry. I have been waiting patiently for an opening and today it came! He went to the car to get out a map and before he knew it, I was in there... At last. The purpose of all those trips was waiting for him to open the car door so I could get in, and there I have stayed for hours, quite happily! The car door is open, the internal door to the rest of the house is open, I can hear the comings and goings of the family, but I am happy in the car.
You may have noticed that my site has adverts on it. My new family have set up this blog to keep all of you who know me in the loop about my transition from track to blobbing! My new family also hope that this site will help and encourage others to adopt ex-racing greyhounds from GAP and other re-homing organisations around the world for my fellow racers. The adverts have been placed here purposely, the plan is to encourage readers to click on the advertising links. Every time each one of you do, each click will generate money and any and all monies created from the site will be sent to GAP to help them to keep doing the good work that they are doing, so spread the word and encourage the clicking!
In addition my family have also turned on commenting for the site, so now you can all leave me comments.
Well as experiences go, the last few months have been one of continual change. I used to race, now I am slowly exploring the world of my new role, the couch potato! Everything is so new and exciting, my new family would really like to call me 'Parker' after Lady Penelope's Butler cum Chauffeur, whose nickname was 'Nosey.' That epithet really suits me. Every time my new family open something, a cupboard, a drawer, the shed, the tool box... I am there with my nose having a good sniff. I just want to see what is in the myriad new places of my new world.
The newness of it all for both my new family and me, has landed me in a bit of trouble over the last week. My family have been introducing me to the kinds of things that the GAP book says that I can have to eat and I have been eating them with gusto! I have tried pigs ears, I love them! I am getting my gruts and some left overs. I am being enticed to learn new commands with cheese, this family is crazy about cheese, just look at what they had for themselves over Christmas, I did not have any of this stuff, but boy did is smell!
Anyway earlier this week, I woke up, I think that it was Tuesday and was sick. I had eaten something that my stomach did not like. I was a bit quiet all day, then when I went for my walk in the afternoon I collapsed, all a bit worrying for all concerned. As a result of all of this I was taken to the vet who had to look after me all night, I was very de-hydrated, but all the nurses loved me and I sat with them all night. In the morning I had developed a cough and so they x-rayed me, but because I am such an amenable chap, they decided not to sedate me and simply asked me to lie on the x-ray bench, Greyhounds are good at lying down! It turns out that I have pneumonia. So now I have to rest and so for the last three days I have not been out for a walk as the exercise apparently will not be good for my cough, throat or lungs, so what have I been doing, well, check out the video below and you will see the kinds of things that I have been doing a lot of. I am starting to like this new life, especially now that I am getting better!
