Whacha doing mama?

This last weekend it was gorgeous! Not too chilly, not too windy... a great time to start winterizing the home. So I was out in the front of the house raking leaves and getting the front of the house together when I looked up and saw 2 faces looking at me from the other side of the window. The front yard does not have a fence so they couldn't accompany me while I worked, but they kept a close eye on me the whole time. Either to make sure I was getting the work done right or just to make sure I wasn't going for a walk without them (that would be unforgivable in their eyes).

As soon as I grabbed the camera (I always have it on me... just in case) they pretended that they weren't really interested in me or anything I was doing, but just... looking out for the squirrels. :D

Peanut butter and Screaming Monkeys

A week or so ago I was in the grocery store and saw an impassable deal on generic peanut butter. Now, I bought this knowing it was going to be for the dogs and the dogs alone. We have our brand and aren't likely to change. They love it! I like that it an easy treat and everyone gets enjoyment out of it. They love the yumminess of creamy peanut butter and we love watching them continue licking their chops for about 10 minutes after the peanut butter has been put away. Just look at the crazed look in their eyes! :D

At the gala this year we bought 2 screaming monkeys. Last year when we brought Bella Bean home she made sure that the monkey would never scream again within a matter of minutes. We even special ordered another one, and again, his screams were silenced in seconds. They love the monkey and their little screams, but it just drives them batty and in a mood to show that screamer who is boss.

Well, it seems that a year in a home has mellowed my Bella Bean out considerably. Even though she still goes a little crazy at the sound of a monkey scream, she no longer wishes to tear it's little voice box out. She'll crunch on it so the screams follow one after another, and then carry it around happily. In this picture she just went through her squirrley stage where she ran from the front room into the bedroom and was chewing happily on the monkey. As soon as she saw the camera, she turned all shy and demure. Look at the face of innocence. She could never be a monkey killer (nor would she dream of messing up our recently made up bed either).

Gratuitous cuteness

We were out on a little stroll and they were being so good I gave them treats. Bella being too interested in every scurry furry that was around ignored the treat, leaving it on the ground. Bo on the other hand was torn. He wanted to sniff and mark- mark and sniff, but he also really wanted his snack. So he ended up walking around with the bone hanging out of his mouth as he went about his business. I did eventually stop them both and let him enjoy his yummy. As soon as Bella saw Bo enjoying something she gave me the big sad what-about-me look. :)

And a quick side-note of good news! Abby, the foster greyhound that we were babysitting... She was ADOPTED! Her foster parents let me know that someone fell in love with her at the gala (Not a hard thing to do) and she has found her new forever home! Yea!

GALA, GALA, GALA!

Today was the GPA-WI Greyhound Gala. 1 Year ago at the gala we brought our sweet Bella Bean home with us. While this year we had a pretty good haul, it didn't include another greyhound. We dipped our resources in a little of everything... bag raffles, family photos, contests, new collars, new tummy warmers, and a "Clock your dog" run. Last year we didn't know Bella well enough to let her participate and Bo was still fairly new so his time was a little off. 29 mph. This year both of them had the chance to play:

Bella is out the gate and flying!!!

I'm gonna get it!

Bo couldn't wait to get in there. Barking his big head off, wagging his tail, bucking to get to the squeaky toy at the other end... He was loving it!

Just look at that grin. He is in pooper heaven!

And if you take a good look at the rudder on the Seeya, please note that he is the winner of the "Longest Tail" contest (2 years running, 23 inches!). Here we are accepting his #1 cookie: After a few hours of fun, we were pretty tired and our wallets were pretty thin, so we decided to pack up and go. Being that they were both pooped out they actually both laid down for a majority of the long trip, although not comfortably: (I'm trying for a hound-mobile, the Focus isn't the most large dog friendly)

And, I'd like to present, 2 Hound Design collars (I love these)

Bella is SO pretty in this soft pink:

Bo's collar is about as earthy as he is:

Stubborn dogs

We've recently been adding some new dog beds to our collection because a lot of the fluff has gone out of the older beds and I can hear thumps when their bony bums hit their beds. This means there isn't enough padding to cushion their weight. We've found some dog beds that are made of squares of "memory" foam and are pretty inexpensive for the size of them. Bo is in heaven, he absolutely loves the fluffiness of them and uses them exclusively. The old ones are still out just in case but they are soon to be trashed because my dogs won't use the old ones unless pretty much forced.

Take last night for example. The office usually doesn't have a dog bed in it, but they were pacing around and a surefire way to stop that is to set a designated spot to stay. Bella saw the bed being brought in and not a moment after the bed hit the floor, she was on it. Bo paces in and sees the bed, steps on it but realizes that there isn't enough room for him. Pacing continues. I run out and grab another bed (an older one) and set it where there should be plenty of space for him to lay out. Nope. He edges into the corner behind me and next to a wall and eases down... schooching Bella over enough so he'll fit.

Now my dogs are NOT snugglers. They like each other, prefer to be with each other, will even sit close to each other, but body contact has never been something either one of them is comfortable with. So seeing 2 large dogs struggling to lay on the same bed made me laugh so hard. Bo was so happy that he was on his comfy bed that he started rooing. Bella isn't a big roo-er and she seems a little put off that not only was he taking her bed away but he was also singing loudly in her ears.

After a while he settled down to snooze but kept edging Bella off the bed little by little. A few minutes of this and she was done with the whole fighting over the bed thing and went to the older bed. 5 whole minutes of scratching and fluffing the bed up, she finally made it somewhat as comfy as the new bed, but she kept her little bum on the new bed... on principle you know. :)

Bo: Rooo, roo, roo. This bed was bought for me wasn't it mama?

Bella: Can you knock it off? I'm trying to get a little rest here.

Bo: Fine, I'll just make myself comfortable:

(Now take note that the other bed has more than enough space on it for a whole dog, but the prince and princess don't think it is cushy enough for their royal rumps)

Finally Bo wins. He got his bed and begins to snore. Poor Bella Bean has to nearly ball up the old bed to get the desired softness to match the memory foam gives, but her royal rump is still adequately cushioned. :)

Foster Abby

Otherwise known as: Abbers, Abbler, Abbies, Aber-kadaber.

Jon and I love our dogs and just love the greyhound breed in general, the breed has so much history both good and bad. We thought that since we feel so strongly about the dog's cause that we'd dabble in fostering a bit. Abby is already in a foster home but they needed to go out of town for a week and we had the pleasure of watching her.

She is such a sweet dog (and still up for adoption), she loves to snuggle and is so pretty. She took right to the house and there was never any potty issues. I really hope she finds a good home that will love her as much as she has love to give.

Without any further ado here is Abby:

Here she stole Bo's newest favorite bed, he looks so dejected on the older, less fluffy one:

Abby is all white with red ears and a red patch on her left eye.

And how adaptable is she? Being shuffled from one place to another, and still comfortable enough to konk out like this as if she were home:

Abby has gone back to her foster family and will be attending the Greyhound Gala in hopes of finding her forever family.

Where have we been?!?

Well, nowhere. :-)

These last few weeks have been pretty uneventful, so much to that point that the most interesting activity that I have documented of the dogs are these:

Lazy poopers but cute nonetheless. :-)