Recap of Siesta's First Month: Part 2

Racing Sessions with Oliver
For the first week or two with Siesta we thought that a docile dog like her just didn't do rambunctious play like most typical dogs. Turns out we were WRONG. I think it took her that long to figure out that we were good doggy parents and that when Ty gets down on all fours and pretends he's a dog, he is showing love not aggression. Our good friends, Alice and Perry, have an adorable puppy, named Oliver, who finally drew Siesta out of her shell.
One evening over at Alice and Perry's apartment, Oliver was relentlessly trying to coax Seista into rough-housing when she finally gave in. It was hilarious! She started by play-bowing to him and barking, and man, she has a loud voice when she finally talks! I guess greyhounds are known for their clacking teeth when they are play fighting together and Siesta is no exception. Oliver was stunned and a little nervous with this drastic change in her, but still VERY intrigued. All of a suddened - OFF SHE FLEW - across the dining room and through the front room! She was as close as she could get to full speed in the two huge paces it took her to get from one end of a room to the other. Then, TURN and BACK DOWN THE ROOM THE OTHER WAY! She was quite a sight. I was just as stunned at Oliver, but my reaction was side-splitting laughter. She was hilarious! She didn't knock anything over, though Oliver did get in her path once or twice and was nearly plowed down. Then as abruptly as she started, she stopped. Literally 1 minute of all out exercise and she was pooped!
Since this escapade she has done the "crazy sprinting" act a couple more times - both in our tiny apartment and back at Alice and Perry's. It's typically accompanied by the clacking fake bites and a few loud barks, but it is PRICELESS. I'll try to get it one video sometime.

Oliver's Birthday Party
Siesta's best friend, Oliver, had his one year birthday party a few weeks ago. Oliver is a Vizsla and came from the same litter as Alice and Perry's friends (Leah and Bob) dog, Nutmeg. Nutmeg looks just like Oliver just a little more petite and lighter in color. They are adorable brother and sister. Since Nutmeg was from the same litter she shares a birthday with Oliver, so it was really a party for both dogs at the local dog park. Siesta met all kinds of dogs, flashed some incredible speed in a big sprint around the dog park, and was pooped. You're getting the pattern, right? Here are some great photos from the party.

This is Alice (left) and Leah (right) in the human park beside the dog park with the human birthday cakes Leah baked. The chocolate cakes were awesome and even had stenciled Vizslas in icing sugar on top. I don't have a picture, but Perry made a meat-loaf cake for the dogs to eat.


This is Siesta walking by a cute puppy that was invited to the party.

Perry throwing a toy for Oliver and Nutmeg (left of Perry).


Recycling Naughtiness
Besides the increase in play behavior, Siesta has started testing some boundaries when left home by herself. Specifically, she has taken to taking items out of the recycling bin in the kitchen and placing them around her bed - which happens to be in our bedroom. Needless to say I am not crazy about coming home to trash strewn about my bedroom. Luckily, nothing was too messy, but still! Gross!
I tried telling her "no, no, no," but she just kept doing it! So we've taken to removing the temptation, by putting a lid over the recycling bin. So far that has kept her from "decorating."

Wearing out her bed

As you can see above, Siesta stays true to her name and sleeps roughly 18 hours a day. When we first adopted her, Ty and I tried to figure out what type and size of bed to get. We went with cheap and big, but with all that time sleeping on her bed - she literally wore it out in a month! So, I gave in and bought her an air mattress made specially for arthritic old dogs and I put it under the bigger old bed. If she could talk she'd tell you that she LOVES the new combination! It's virtually impossible to get her off it these days.

Recap of Siesta's First Month: Part 1

Separation Anxiety and Whimpering
Siesta came from a Kennel in Massachusetts originally. While at the kennel she had the company of other dogs all the time. While undergoing surgery on her broken leg in Boston she was lucky enough to spend most of the time at a foster home with dogs of their own. After she was all healed up she came to Stacey (WAG) in Connecticut and she was very happy to have the company of Stacey's dogs as well as her large family. In fact Stacey is lucky enough to spend most of her days at home with the dogs.
So when Siesta moved in with Ty and I we expected she might experience some anxiety when left home all by herself during the day. We started off with her in the kennel for a couple hours at a time. She always willingly went into her kennel, but as she watched us leave the apartment she would start to whimper (heart-breaking). Our downstairs neighbor even heard her after we left a few times. She is a sweet lady -- she brought up a stuffed bunny for Siesta that she sleeps with all the time.
That first week of work I would come home every couple of hours to take her outside and play with her, but I got the feeling that she was to be trusted with great roaming of the house. So we slid the kennel with her bed up to the doorway to the kitchen and let her walk around in there as well as sleep in her bed. It became obvious that she didn't really need to go to the bathroom every 4 hours and it seemed like the coming and going was more torturous than happy. So I stopped coming home at lunch and she easily transitioned to being home all day on her own. Miraculously the the whimpering just subsided. Of course she is still unhappy when we leave, but she pretty much stops as soon as we're gone. Excepting that whimpering didn't help, and knowing that we'll be coming back.


First Trip to the Vet
During Siesta's first week at home I make an appointment at the closest vet to get a wellness check up. I knew they were familiar with Greyhounds cause they are an animal hospital and they do many of the spays and neuters for the local adoption groups, like WAG. Everyone there seemed very friendly, but Siesta was really not happy to meet the Vet. She typically greets EVERYONE with kisses and a wagging tail, but some how she knew this woman was different. Over all I was not a fan of the vet. She was very thorough, but almost to the extent of being overly enthusiastic to take unnecessary action. She said that Siesta was missing a puppy shot in her records so she wanted to give that to her as well as a Lime's Disease Vaccine. Also, she wanted her to come back in a couple of months to have her teeth cleaned. Luckily, I sort of hesitated and said that I would come back for everything cause today wasn't a good day. I got in touch with Lindsay from WAG and she wonderfully helped me sift through what was necessary and what was not in her experience. Since then I have talked to more people who have had similar experiences with this Vet and have given me recommendations for other local vets to try out.


Theater in the park - learning to lie down
A good friend and I had made plans to see a play in the park near by and I figured that Siesta is so sleepy and easy that I would just take her with me and she could snooze on the blanket while we watched. Apparently I was not the only one to think this was a good idea cause there were a lot of other dogs at the play. Needless to say Siesta was a lot more interested in meeting all the other dogs than taking a nap on the blanket. When the play started I tried to get her to lie down to no avail. Eventually she started whimpering with frustration cause I wouldn't let her roam through the audience in the middle of the play. I had to admit defeat and call Ty to come pick her up and take her home. Chalk it up to not really knowing my dog well enough yet.



New Coat from Needle Nose Apparel www.needlenoseapparel.com
So even though it was not nearly cold enough to warrant a coat, I couldn't resist buying a snuggly coat for Siesta from www.needlenoseapparel.com . We took all her measurements and emailed them to the terrific woman behind Needle Nose, Andrea Truax. She was great to work with and super fast. In fact the coat arrived 2 days after I mailed her a personal check for the coat. Here are a few cute picture of Siesta trying it on the day it arrived. Since then she has only worn it once when we had to go out in a cold rain.