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.
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