A new Angel.

We lost Pinky my Italian Greyhound on January 17th. What had started out as just drinking a little too much and peeing a lot at the beginning of December quickly got much worse. We ran lots of tests on him trying to find a cause checking for kidney problems, diabetes and finally Cushings. Then repeated them several times. Sometimes numbers were concerning sometimes normal.

We were sent to a specialist who believed it was either a brain tumor on his pituitary or a tumor on his adrenals and scheduled us for an ultrasound of his abdomen to check for that first since the brain scan was $1500. Before we got that done he started having trouble with staggering sometimes one week, to having pain in his head preventing him from being able to shake it the next. He would barely shake when he got up just barely moving his head then would act like he was in pain right after. He started dropping food out of his mouth when he ate one day and chewing weird. The following day he couldn't eat at all because of the pain when chewing. I made liquid food that he could lap up but could only do that for about another day before the pain was too bad to even do that. So within about a month we lost him to what most likely was a fast growing brain tumor.

Always so cute when he slept

Pinky was such a special little guy his official name was Logo's Pearly Gates. He was a Therapy Dog, Earned his Rally Obedience Novice title and had two legs towards his Advanced title and was a Canine Good Citizen. He was a performer with the Hounds of East Fairhaven promoting sighthound adoption at the GA and Carolina Renaissance Festivals. He was the Greyhound Crossroads small dog tester and helped fosters learn respect for small white dogs that looked like bunnies. He also raised a litter of greyhound puppies and was a great doorbell and best buddy. Pretty amazing for a little deaf dog. 

He was the 2007 Laurelwood Plate Italian Greyhound. Only one  dog of each breed is chosen per year.

He loved to chase the lure but not too far. He would come running back to mom if he got too far away.

He loved to ride in his carrier on the motorcycle with Roy. He was safely hooked in his carrier so he couldn't jump out. They rode from Greenville to Myrtle Beach together one year.

A media photo of Pinky and I used to advertise the Carolina Renaissance Festival

Not many little dogs have Kings and Queens come to visit him

Kiss from a Queen at the Carolina Renaissance Festival

At the Georgia Renaissance Festival Pinky usurped the throne from the King and took part of his court.

We sure miss him a lot and plan to adopt another deaf Italian Greyhound in his honor. If you hear of one please let me know.

Hounds Of East Fairhaven

Miles and Mom at the Carolina Renaissance Festival(Photo Susan Bodnar)

My dogs and I have been working with the Hounds of East Fairhaven for ten years. We are a group that performs at the Georgia and Carolina Renaissance Festivals. It is basically a meet and greet on speed wearing a hoop skirt and corset.  A couple of my fancier outfits weigh about 30lbs without the cloak. If it is cold add another 10lbs to that. Ten to twelve thousand people come through each day on the weekends so it is a great way to educate people on what great dogs greyhounds are. Patrons are always amazed at how calm and well behaved our dogs are in spite of the crowds, costumes, cannons, shows and noise. We have been falsely accused of drugging the dogs as they nap through the excitement. The days are long from 10am to 6pm. By the end of the day the dogs don't even wake up as people pet them.

 

The Hounds of East Fairhaven Building with our new sign!

Miles loves children

Miles loves peasants with frosting on their faces

Handsome Miles

The Carolina Renaissance Festival runs for 8 weekends every Fall and that is the Festival we just finished up. This was Miles second time working this festival and he had a great time as always. He worked his first festival in Georgia when he was only about 12 weeks old so isn't phased by any of it and loves every part of it. You should see him bouncing in from the parking lot.

This was Moose's first time here and he was scared to death. To the point of shaking, crouching down, bolting and peeing himself. Mistake number one was taking Moose without his buddy Miles. Mistake number two was having his first day be Kids Day. Kids Days are when the festival is open during the week so schools can bring bus loads of children. Imagine ten thousand children at one event! When they unload the buses you can hear the kids coming at you from the parking lot like a loud squealing wave. Moose is so calm and such a great dog I thought he would be the easier one to take for kids days. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Moose, Miles and Mom

I had no idea that Moose is terrified of children. He has been around lots of them at meet and greets but only one or two at a time. Looking back there were signs. When we had pool parties with kids at our house, he stayed in the house. I thought he just didn't like the crowd and noise in the yard. The last party we had was all adults and he came outside and was very social. I thought he had just gotten used to the parties at our house. He always greeted families that came over and was friendly but he had had a couple of pee accidents when children came over. I thought he just got overly excited and peed. Now I know he was actually excited to see their parents and peed when the kids petted him because he was nervous.

Moose on kids day with his butt toward the kids

At the festival Moose turned his butt to the kids and got his head as close to the back door as he could. He shook and crouched low and tried to crawl under our hoop skirts to hide. We had the building roped off so the kids could just pet the dogs near the ropes and not trample them so Moose could hang out in the back of the building away from the kids. We told the kids he was shy and they could only pet him if he came to them. He got brave enough to go up to the rope only a few times all day. I was careful not to reward his fear by talking to him or petting him. He got attention only when he was calm and got big rewards when he faced the children or approached them. 

Moose and Joanne. His head still facing away from the crowd and toward the back of the building

The second time I took Moose it was a regular day with adults and kids. He was still terrified even though there weren't as many children there. He gradually calmed down enough to take treats from me and I gave him treats whenever he was calm around children. Gradually he started looking at me every time a kid came up. I started letting the kids sit on his bed with him while I gave him treats. He was OK with on child but when a second child tried to sit down by him he jumped up and tried to get away. After awhile I let the kids start giving him the treats. He got about a pound of treats one tiny piece at a time from kids that day. By the end of the day he had 4 kids sitting all around him on his bed and he was looking from one to the other for his treats, making eye contact with his tail wagging. He was actually moving toward the kids and the crowd and choosing to face them rather than have his butt toward them. He even fell asleep as kids and people were petting him toward the end of the day - totally relaxed.

The 3rd time I took Moose to the Festival, I took Miles with him in hopes Miles happiness would rub off on him. Moose was an entirely different dog and acted almost normal. He was still fearful outside the building but was comfortable and happy in the building. He got pounds of treats again from kids. Not sure if it was Miles or the treats but something sure worked. I think Moose will end up being OK at the Festival and will eventually enjoy it as much as all my other dogs have. It was really a surprise to see a happy, outgoing dog like Moose turn into a spook. Festivals are really extreme though with so many strangely dressed people. The people even speak with strange accents. It helps that most of them smell of turkey legs and beer though. We are looking forward to the Georgia Renaissance Festival in the spring.

The dog's favorite person, Spyglass The Pirate. He brought them treats every day.

Moose and Spyglass

Jekyll Island GA

 Roy and I took all 3 dogs to Jekyll Island GA for a little vacation. A friend, Sam, lives there with her 4 greyhounds, a bird and cat. She needed a sitter for them so we had a vacation and helped her at the same time. We had a bit of a snafu on the way down when the van broke down in Walterboro. They couldn't get it fixed so we ended up having to call Roy's son, Cole, to transport the dogs and all of our stuff down to Jekyll Island. That was after spending an entire day in Walterboro waiting for them to fix the van. Actually the dogs and I were invited to stay in the museum across the street from the garage. The museum is still under construction but had air. The dogs were very good and just laid on their bed all day. They were so good that they were invited back for the grand opening of the museum.

 Since our van was in the shop we used bikes and a golf cart on the island. It is only 7 miles long so there was no problem getting places. It was more difficult to get the dogs to the beach since it was a distance from the house and it was too hot to walk the dogs that far. Miles liked riding with us on the golf cart so he is the one that got to go to the beach and be in most of the photos.

 There were lots of loggerhead turtle nests on the beaches.

Miles, Pinky and one of Sam's dogs Zoomie watching the deer at the feeders. Sam's dogs didn't pay much attention to the deer but my dogs were very interested in them at first. They would come right up to the glass. When we arrived the first night and were unloading the dogs, there was a herd of 8 or so deer just standing a few yards away from us in the front yard. I could walk out in the front yard with them and take photos and they wouldn't run off. When we would walk the dogs through the neighborhood in the evening we would see deer in the yards and crossing the street. Just beautiful!

More Renaissance Festival

These photos are from the second weekend of the Georgia Renaissance Festival. Miles and I only went on Sunday because we were at Bark in the Park in Charlotte all day on Saturday. Thanks to Debbie Rater for taking the pictures.

Left to right. Sharon, Debbie and I



Sharon in blue. I am in gold.


With the Queen and King at Court.



Miles did fantastic. I hope someone got some photos of us up on the joust platform. He was much better this weekend. The first weekend he would turn his head or get under the bench when the knights started fighting each other. He was fine as long as they were jousting hay bales or rings but once they started fighting he couldn't watch. This weekend he was better and would watch part of the fights and seemed much more relaxed.

Had a couple of funny things happen. While we were standing back stage waiting to go on stage for the joust the knights rode in and stood near Miles and I. Miles looked at them, sniffed, then took a step toward the biggest knight on the biggest horse and gave him his best scary big dog bark. Everyone laughed at the puppy that bravely challenged the biggest and baddest of the knights. The horse whose head was just above him didn't even act like he noticed. Miles quickly relaxed and went back to searching for horse poop to eat.

The other funny was when Miles and I walked past the skin dealers tent. The skin dealer sells animal skins and wears a big black heavy fur cape that hangs down to the back of his knees and carries a huge knife. He looks like a big black bear from the back with that fuzzy cape on. When we walked by, the skin dealer walked over jokingly eying Miles brindle coat and commented on what a nice pair of boots he would make. We laughed and when he turned to walk away, that cape flipped around a foot or two in front of Miles face. In a split second the greyhound pup did what greyhounds do and had launched himself and was hanging from the cape and pulling for all he worth trying to take down that giant black bunny. I am glad it was so quick that I didn't see it coming, otherwise I would have stopped him. It was a classic moment and the pup got the last word.

Renaissance Festival

Last weekend was Miles first Renaissance Festival. I have been doing the Carolina and Georgia Renaissance Festival for 8 years or so as a member of the Hounds of East Fairhaven. We are a group that promote greyhound adoption and educate people about the role of greyhounds at that time in history at the two festivals. Imagine an all day meet and greet in a corset, hoop skirt and 25lbs of clothing. Miles was at the Georgia Festival all day both days over the weekend. He did great! He was friendly to everyone and we got lots of comments on how well behaved he was. We are located in the Royal Pavilion with the King and Queen and are on stage at the Joust 3 times a day with the Royals. We didn't get to walk around much because of my injured ankle that is still in a boot for support.

I wish I had photos of Miles on the joust platform watching the joust. He was fascinated as long as they were jousting things like hoops and hay bales. He was fine even when they came thundering by on the horses just inches away. It changed when they began jousting each other and then ended up in a sword fight on foot. He would look then turn his head. He would get brave and peek back then turn his head again. He decided it was safer under my skirt or under the bench during the violent parts. Definitely a non violent dog. Thanks to Patti for the photos.
Some of the other cast members Patti, Jay, Michelle and Kim with their royal hounds.

The most challenging part of the festival for the dogs is going up a narrow, winding staircase to get up to the platform to watch the joust. Pretty challenging for me too since my hoop skirt is wider than the staircase. Colby (fawn male on right in the photo above) was the only greyhound out of the 6 there that could do the steps from the start. Miles got it though and by the second day could go up and down with no trouble.

Many people didn't realize Miles was a pup. We got a lot of questions about the "Whippet" or the "Italian Greyhound". At about 30lbs he would definitely be a Whippet and not an IG.

Happy pup.

Miles was exhausted after two days of festival and camping out Saturday night. Monday, when his brother Otto came over to play, Miles just wanted to sleep. He had that sleepy pup look most of the day where his ears are hanging low and eyes are staring into space. Miles would try to play for about a half hour then crash for a few hours. The boys would play another half hour then would sleep for another 3. Otto was pretty tired himself after doing a meet and greet at the YMCA most of the day on Sunday. They slept about as much as the adult greyhounds Monday.