Tails from Home -- Ruff, Cobey, TO, and Nico

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

Our dog blog mailbox got another 'Tails from Home' update!  Today we have a note from 'up north'!

My Mom doesn’t have any fancy video equipment so no pictures.  She says we only have a “dumb” phone, whatever that is.  Anyway, she loves us and thought some of you might like to know what my siblings and I have been up to.  

It has been a long, cold winter.  We’ve been sleeping a lot.  The snow got so deep in our turn-out pen that we could hardly squat.  Then Mom got out her snowshoes and tramped down that nasty stuff!  Still cold on the feet—but much better for, well you know what.  Then it got deep again, and well… It seems to be getting warmer now, less snow but lots of mud.  

Squirrels are out like crazy—I thought Nico and I got rid of all of those last fall, but guess we fell down on that job.  We only go for short walks because it is still pretty cold and the snow is still deep in our favorite walking areas (plus our sister TO is old and can’t walk too fast anymore).  Mom says they treated the road we used to walk on with some “nasty” stuff so we can’t walk there any more.  

Mom says some day it will warm up and we can go for some nice long walks.  I don’t know when “some day” is.  Can that be tomorrow??

Forever hopeful.

Ruff Ruffman(aka Valera)

For Cobey, TO and Nico

Thanks so much for sharing your tails with us!  We hope it warms up soon!

PLEASE send in your 'Tails from Home' too!  To keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going we need more tails!  

Tails from Home -- Wildfire

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers,

Our dog blog mailbox got another 'Tails from Home' update!  Today we have a poem and video about Wildfire!

Greyhounds like naps

Some greyhounds like water

Naps and water do not mix

Just ask Wildfire

Thanks so much for sharing Wildfire's tails with us!

PLEASE send in your 'Tails from Home' too!...let's keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going!

Tails from Home -- Lena

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

Five days in a row for our 30-days of 'Tails from Home' updates!  25 more days to go...will your hound be one of them?!  Today we will hear about Lena from her family!  

Lena adopted me in December 2011. I had met Lena the previous year when I dog sat her. Lena has severe separation anxiety and was not doing well as an only hound. When I heard that she had been returned in June 2011, I asked if I could foster her. The first week was tough and she had a hard time adjusting. After the first week, life got better for Lena.

We went for daily walks.

She loved to hang out in the yard.

And sleep partially under the bed.

And picked “her spot” on the couch.

After a few months, Lena knew she was home.

She no longer has separation anxiety but still gets very anxious at Meet & Greet’s. She’s a goofy girl and I’m thrilled she’s part of my hound family.

Thanks so much for sharing Lena's tails with us!

[PLEASE send in your 'Tails from Home' too!...let's keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going!...we still need 19 more tails to fill up April!]

Tails from Home - The Jammer Girls

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

Our dog blog mailbox got another 'Tails from Home' update!  Today we will hear about the joys of traveling with the Jammer girls!  

[...PLEASE!...Do not forget to send in your 'Tails from Home' too!...let's keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going!...]

For two years now we have hauled the beautiful Jammer girls from Minnesota to Arizona after Christmas.  That is three days of driving: starting out walking the dogs in the snow and cold of the Minnesota/Iowa  rest stops,  thru the slush of Kansas/Oklahoma, and ending in the sun and warmth of Arizona, with a lookout for those critters of the southwest:  scorpions and snakes!  I just have to say, my greyhounds are terrific travelers.

Whether there are two or three of them crammed into the back of our cross-over vehicle, it’s crowded.  After all, Mom needs to take all those clothes and shoes!  But they manage to find their spot and settle in.  

There has never been any snarking, whining or car sickness during our travels.  They just cuddle up and sleep.  Of course, I have lots of dog beds piled in the car and it is pretty comfy for them.  They jump in and out the side door when we stop; it’s pretty high off the ground but even our 13 year old Camille could get in and out with no trouble.  I keep a dish, bottled water and treats close at hand so they can be rewarded for doing their business on our schedule.  We roll down the back windows for them when we are stopped or going slowly thru small towns.  Kaya especially loves to put her nose to the air and enjoy the new smells. 

Feeding time is always interesting on the road.  Forget breakfast; too much action with those suitcases coming and going for them to think about eating.  Pills are not wrapped in sausage so the girls will eat them; they are just crammed down the throat because we need to get on the road.  Dinner in the motel is better.  I have baggies of kibble made for each meal so I don’t have to drag a bag of food along.  I usually add some wet dog food  and warm water to entice them.  But sometimes it’s just inconvenient.  (Check out the picture of Kaya eating her dinner on the bed!!  We just gotta do what we just gotta do.) 

Once we get to our destination, so far a different house each year, they adapt to the situation.  

I just have to say they much prefer carpeted stairs to tile.  It took Kaya a while this year to get used to the tiled stairs; she slipped once and was forever cautious.  Shirlie didn’t mind the tiled stairs, but she really disliked the sharp rocks in the yard.  Where Kaya would go out and do her business on the rocks, not Shirlie.  She would have held it 24 hours if she had to, but I took pity on her and walked them 4 times a day.  So can you see who’s in charge?   Of course, I had lots of time this year as sitting by the pool was not an option!

I think these dogs are very adaptable.  The most important thing for them: “don’t leave me behind.”  As long as their humans are with them, they can deal with anything. J  

Thanks so much for sharing the tails of the Jammer girls with us! 

Tails from Home -- Daisy Lu

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

Our dog blog mailbox got another 'Tails from Home' update!  Today we will hear from Daisy Lu's family!

Miss Daisy Lu came into our lives on February 5, 2009.  This sweet little fawn girl had been retired just two weeks earlier, and after some time with her foster mom, Mary Ballanger, she was ready to be adopted….or should we say, SHE was ready to adopt US! 

Much of Daisy Lu’s life before she came to live with us remains a mystery.  Her tattoos tell us very little:  we know that her birthday is May 1, 2007, and that she was at a track, somewhere.   She has no racing history and no track name.  Apparently she tried one training race but became very frightened in the box.  She is sensitive by nature and track life was just not her style.  [She is is VERY sensitive to sounds.  Oh my gosh!  The slightest thing will make her jump a mile!]  This wonderful girl was retired and NLGA took her in.  These events all happened the very month we contacted NLGA to see about adopting our second Greyhound!   

We will always remember meeting Daisy Lu for the first time.  When Mary brought her in, it was love at first sight!  This beautiful, sweet, inquisitive, and loving dog went home with us that very day. 

Daisy Lu is the most interactive, social, joyful, gentle, and loving dog we have ever known!  She takes her job as an ambassador for Greyhound adoption very seriously, sharing her gentle nature with everyone (two legged and four) that she meets.   Her irrepressible “wagginess” has even led us to create Daisy Lu’s own Facebook page, where she currently enjoys regular messages from friends all over the country and in England.  As she says on her page, she “lives to make new friends, give love, and heal the world one doggy wag at a time.”

On May 1^st, we will celebrate Daisy Lu’s 6^th birthday.  We have over 4 years of love and laughter to be thankful for. And hopefully we will have many, many more years to look forward to sharing with our beloved Greyhound.  Thank you, NLGA, for making this possible for us!   ~Don and Caroline Lehman

And thank you, Don and Caroline, for sharing Daisy Lu's 'tails from home' with the NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

[...Do not forget to send in your 'Tails from Home' too...let's keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going!...(nlgahounds@gmail.com)]

Tails from Home -- Tara (and Scooter too!)

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

Our dog blog mailbox got another 'Tails from Home' update!  Today we will hear from Tara's (and Scooter's) family!  

[...Do not forget to send in your 'Tails from Home' too (nlgahounds@gmail.com)...let's keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going!...]

After letting our first greyhound, Febe, go across the rainbow bridge, my husband and I were heartbroken and didn't know if we could adopt another dog knowing the pain that would come with it, but our other greyhound girl, Scooter, seemed lonely and lost.  

Friends of ours dog-sit for us when we go out of town and can't take the dogs.  They were fostering a senior greyhound girl named Tara.  Tara and Scooter had spent time together and seemed to get along well. Craig and I were a little apprehensive because Tara looked so much like our beloved Febe and she was 9 years old, but we took our turn fostering her with the intent to adopt for Scooter's sake. 

At first Tara seemed to be a little standoffish at times and others she was incredibly snuggly and wanted attention. Her behavior seemed a little strange, but not alarming. We figured it was just a learning curve to get used to our routine, how we responded to her and where she placed in the pack. 

Then one day I was upstairs in my office and Tara and Scooter were both being office dogs and "working" with me, which means sleeping soundly on dog beds at my feet while I worked. Craig came home from work and opened the door. We have an alarm system on the house and when the doors open a loud electronic voice announces, "Fault back door!" to which Scooter immediately picked her head up, perked her ears and listened for Craig. Craig then called up the stairs to me and Scooter jumped up and thundered down the stairs to greet him. I called back down to him and Tara slept soundly through it all. 

Tara and Scooter 'working'!

Then I noticed that Tara wouldn't respond to you if she wasn't looking at you, and wouldn't come when called, but if Scooter got excited she would get excited and follow her. Tara also startled easily in sleep and when she was awake if she didn't see you coming. We got concerned and brought her in to see the vet.  Dr. Barr did an examination and discovered that Tara only has about 30% of her hearing. He couldn't find any trauma to her ears or anything that would have caused the hearing loss and otherwise she was completely healthy. 

By this time she had been in our home a few weeks and she had wrapped her little paws around our hearts and we completed the adoption. It didn't matter to us anymore that she looked like Febe, or that she was 9 years old, or that she was hearing impaired. She was our girl!  

After getting the diagnosis of her hearing loss I decided to use some of the sign language that I learned as a teenager to see if through repetition Tara could learn some simple signs. We started with the sign language sign for the word "toilet" and we used it when we asked the girls if they had to go potty. We would say, "Do you have to go potty?" more for Scooter's benefit and sign "toilet" at the same time. In the beginning both girls didn't pay any attention to the sign, but they have come to understand what it means and Tara definitely took to it more quickly . Now Scooter, who is NOT hearing impaired, is easier to communicate with, too. 

Tara's favorite spot to watch out the window

We have moved on to signs for "eat" and "sit". Craig and I are slowly building their repertoire of signs and it seems to be only limited to what little bit of sign language I know. Tara seems much more confident and relaxed in the house now. She definitely responds appropriately to us and I think she is excited to be communicating with us in a way that works for her. Tara has certainly made us approach things in different ways. 

Another good example was at Christmas time when we went for Santa photos. Trying to get two dogs to look at the camera with perked up ears and not looking like this is the worst thing they can imagine to do today is difficult when both of them can hear, but what do you do when one can't? Scooter is easy, all we have to do is ask her if she is hungry or if she wants to go for a car ride, or simply just make a noise like you are surprised and she will look interested. Tara not so much. We tried throwing toys into the air, no luck. We tried waving, clapping, stomping - nothing. As a last resort I just went to the treat container because they had been really good and patient and I had given up. Well, lo and behold, we have a winner! Tara's eyes got big and her ear went up. Aha! Now we are cookin'! We got great pictures of the girls! 

Scooter, Santa, and Tara

Long story short, Tara it turned out really didn't need the training - we did. She has taught how to better communicate not only with her, but with Scooter. Our household isn't perfect, but we are all happier and learning together. Craig and I still need some training, but the girls don't mind. They are patient with us. They already taught us about love. 

Adopting a senior special needs greyhound has been a blessing and I can't imagine our house without her. She is the funniest, silliest dog and Tara makes me laugh everyday!

What a wonderful tail about a special greyhound!  Thanks so much for sharing!

Tails from Home -- Whoopie & Heaven

Hello NLGA Dog Blog Readers!

Today is our first day of 30 days of 'Tails from Home'!  Today's update is a video update from Whoopie and Heaven's family!  

Whoopie and Heaven have a daily ritual!  The plant trance...no foolin'!  Enjoy!

Thanks for sharing!

[...Do not forget to send in your 'Tails from Home' too...let's keep the 30 days of 'Tails from Home' going!...(nlgahounds@gmail.com)]