I haven't updated in a long time! Happy Stutz has been a great addition to our home. He and Miles get along together very well. We have had another addition too now! Another Italian Greyhound named Logo's Holy Ghost. We got him in January almost exactly a year after Pinky died.

He was born in November of 2013 and came from the same breeder as Pinky. This is the first photo I saw of him. When she saw that all white puppy, she took it as a sign that he might be the one for my family. He did have one small black spot on the side of his face. Pinky was deaf because of being all white so we hoped that this little boy wouldn't be. We would definitely have taken him either way though.

We ended up calling him Peanut. Here he is at 9 weeks when we picked him up at the Clemson Dog Show. He can hear!

Peanut is a VERY active and hyper, even for an Italian Greyhound. Miles and Stutz love him and play gently with him. Miles is more active and plays more than Stutz. Having someone to play with helps wear out Miles too. Miles is pretty hyper for a greyhound. Miles does most of the playing and Stutz does most of the snuggling and keeping Peanut warm. Stutz likes to snuggle with other dogs and Miles really doesn't like another dog to touch him when he is sleeping. At night Peanut sleeps under the covers with us but during the day he naps with Stutz.

Peanut as he grew. He was a stocky big puppy for an Italian Greyhound. 

It doesn't really show well in the pictures taken outside but as he grew he got a lot of dark freckles under his fur that show through. I have already been asked if he is a "dalmation puppy". Pinky didn't have the freckling and was much whiter.

Peanut is very hard to potty train, which is an Italian Greyhound trait. He seems to have only a few minutes of warning from the time he first realizes that he needs to go potty and the time he goes. Like Pinky before him, it is very hard for him to hold it. 

He has such a short attention span that I have to watch him to be sure he remembers to go potty when he is outside. He will go outside with Miles and Stutz, watch them go, sniff and play around, then follow them back into the house completely forgetting to do his business. He is getting better but we still have a lot of accidents even though he is approaching a year old. Italian greyhounds are very cute and sweet, but anyone that wants to buy or adopt one should understand that you WILL have accidents and be OK with cleaning up after them. Some owners teach their Iggys to go in cat litter boxes or on puppy pads since they can't always wait to get outside. 

Peanut is very outgoing for an Italian Greyhound, no shivering or timid behavior at all. He throws himself at people and tends to be overly excited to see everyone. He gives hugs and kisses. We haven't found anything he is afraid of, not even the dremel tool, we use to do his nails. He is very confident with all of our foster greyhounds. 

Peanut went to the GA Renaissance Festival in the spring as part of the Hounds of East Fairhaven when he was pretty small and did great. Since, he has done the Greenville Renaissance Festival and is now entertaining the crowd at the Carolina Renaissance Festival. 

Moose (Kickin Kevin)

Kickin Kevin when he arrived from the track

We lost another one. It has taken me a month to be able to write this. Moose died the night of February 5th right before my birthday which is Feb 6th. I was in Florida with Miles visiting the tracks to pick up 11 retired race greyhounds. I hadn't even been gone from home 24 hours when I got a call from a stranger saying my dog was hit by a car.

So many things rush though your head in a few seconds. Can't be my dog! I have one on a leash standing beside me and the other is safely at home with my husband in South Carolina. Can't possibly be MY dog. I asked him what color the dog was and he said "white and brown". Moose is white and red. Everything started swirling around then. I remember asking him if he was alive and he said "No lady, I am afraid he isn't". Then I asked him what street he was on - it WAS my street! I had to accept it at that point that it was my Moose.

To make it more confusing, suddenly I heard my husband's voice on the phone telling me it was Moose. He had pulled up and taken the guy's phone. It is all a blur but later that night he called back to  explain that the realtor showed the house and left the gate open earlier in the day. He had put Moose out for his final potty break and he didn't come back in. He went out to see where he was and saw the open gate about the time he heard the horn honk on the street. I found out later that Moose was killed instantly.

I have actually had nightmares about this happening several of them. I check and recheck the gates and doors because we do live on a busy road. Moose had wanted to come on this trip so badly. I almost brought him but wouldn't have had room to bring back as many fosters since he is was so big. I decided to leave him home this time. I was staying with people and didn't want to crash at their homes with two large dogs. I so wish I could go back and do it over. I had no idea when I told him goodbye that day that that was the last time I would ever see him.

It was all so strange, earlier that day I had been to the farm that Moose was raised on and met his racing owners for the first time. I had promised to bring him back for a visit. I had been to the training track where he had actually learned to race and let Miles run a lap behind the lure there. Just didn't seem possible that the dog that I had been talking about all day could be dead. And so closely behind Pinky.

Moose on an earlier trip happy to see his race trainer again after retiring

I suddenly had only ONE dog. Just Miles Per Hour! I don't remember ever having just one pet before. We always had cats and dogs, sometimes horses, cows, chickens, ferrets and even a pet raccoon. Never just one animal.

I thought about leaving Florida and driving home, but there was nothing I could really do. Roy brought Moose's body back home for the night and wrapped him in a blanket. Our vet had the place that does the cremations come pick him up in the morning from our house because Roy wasn't sure he could get a 100lb dog in his vehicle by himself. I had friends that said they would come help if that wasn't possible.

The next day is a bit blurry. I didn't have any waterproof mascara with me and couldn't keep makeup on. I couldn't go anywhere until I could quit crying because I looked like a raccoon. I was supposed to be at the Orlando track helping out in one of the racing kennels but didn't even make it there until after noon. I went out to get some coffee and ended up sitting in a parking lot nearby on the phone for hours. Friends called, people I didn't even know sent messages on Facebook. I had lots of emails too. Lots of birthday messages but most were about Moose because my friends understood there was no way I could have a "Happy Birthday". I hadn't even had Moose two years, but he had touched a lot of people though the meet and greets, Renaissance Festival, home visits for adopters and all the people that came here to adopt dogs and met him. He was such a big guy and so sweet that you just couldn't forget him once you had met him - a real gentle giant.

I was furious with the realtor. It is bad enough when you lose a dog to illness like Pinky. This was so much worse though because it was senseless and could have been prevented so easily. Moose was a healthy young dog one second and gone the next just because someone forgot or was too lazy to latch the gate. Someone that knew we had dogs and knew their names. The family looking at the house had met Moose that day. Their little daughter had opened his crate and went in to pet him. My husband had crated him like we always do while they were looking at the house just in case anyone left a door open. He had gone outside with them and made sure the gates were closed when they went through like he always does. The realtor had gone in and come outside again and must have gone back through the gate rather than around the house though because that gate was open again.

Moose and Miles at the Renaissance Festival

Moose and his favorite pirate Spy Glass

Moose was a special boy. Raced at 92lbs so was a big gentle giant. He was the perfect boy to raise a greyhound puppy and was so tolerant and sweet with Miles. Moose was actually a pretty good racer in spite of his size and didn't retire until he was nearly four and a half years old.

Moose racing

This giant dog that was so friendly and seemed so unafraid most of the time was more timid than he appeared on the surface. He was afraid of kids and wet himself the first few times he was around more than a few of them at a time. It took a couple of days of treats at Renaissance Festival before he was comfortable around little kids and decided that they came bearing gifts. After that he was great and had just passed his Therapy Dog test before he died. 

Moose was a calm guy that loved napping on the bed and had his own twin bed at the foot of our bed to sleep on at night. He would stretch out and take up the whole thing. Moose never really got used to the wood floors at our house and never liked walking through the kitchen unless treats were involved - then he would brave the floors. He loved his crate and loved to travel though. Most of all he loved to chase a lure. It could be a lure at the race track, on the lure pole in the yard or lure coursing. That was about the only time this quiet guy got excited enough to bark. His bark sounded much like Pinky's. A high pitched, ear splitting yip that didn't sound like it could possibly come out of a giant dog. He did have a deep scary bark that I heard only a few times when he thought something was in the yard that 

shouldn't be there or when Miles had annoyed him one time too many. When he would get excited enough to bark it would often be accompanied by a leap straight up in the air - often above my head. He wouldn't pull on the leash so much to get a lure but would leap up and down in place like a toy poodle bouncing at a door. 

The normally perfectly behaved Moose got a little excited while watching a lure coursing competition

Moose was a gentle giant that I could completely trust at meet and greets with kids and adults. He would stand and lean against them and soak up all the attention he could. When they walked away he would walk up to the next closest person and lean on them. He loved to curl up in bed with us and wanted his head and a paw to be on us so that he was as close as possible. Never ever any issue with space. A dog or human could lay on him and he would never even move. He loved to be close to other dogs and people. He was such a love. 

One of Mooses quirks was that if he ever got afraid he would run. If he slipped on the wood floors he would bolt. He wouldn't think and would run into glass doors or walls. Just would go into panic mode and I know that is what caused him to run into traffic. I am sure he went outside and initially was just sniffing around. Once he realized he was in an unfamiliar place and alone in the woods he panicked and ran. He was running when he got hit according to the guy that stopped to help. My sweet boy will sure be missed and I can only think that Pinky needed a buddy up there worse than I did down here. 

Miles and Moose Christmas of 2011

Moose wasn't big on swimming but he loved to lay on the top step of the pool even in cold weather

Therapy Dogs!

Seems like a lot of bad news recently with Pinky and Sara. I do have some good news, Miles and Moose took their Therapy Dog Tests on Saturday. They passed!

My last two greyhounds JD and Streak were Therapy Dogs with Therapy Dogs Inc and Pinky was too. I had meant to test both of the boys a year or more ago but there aren't a lot of tests in the area and whenever one came up it was always on a weekend when I had other dog events. I am so glad we finally got it done.

My biggest concern was that Miles would get too excited and go up to one of the dogs during the test and pop it with a paw trying to get it to play instead of staying 2 feet away like he was supposed to. I was especially worried when I saw that one of the other dogs used in the test was another greyhound and one that he had played with before. He was a good boy and minded his manners. It helped that he had done a meet and greet already at PetSmart that morning then walked a mile or so right before the test. He was already pretty tired.

They aren't officially therapy dogs yet. They still have to complete 3 supervised visits with tester observers before they are official but with all the work they do at the Renaissance Festivals with people already these should be easy.

Happy Birthday Miles, Otto and Kohle!

Today is the boys 3rd birthday. They are officially grown up now even though they don't always act like it. Miles has slowed down some finally. He runs some in the yard but not every day. Still pretty high energy in comparison to most of my fosters, although many are younger than he is now.

On Miles birthday I found out that he finished in the NOTRA's (National Oval Track Racing Association) Top 10 for 2012! He was tied for 8th place! It was a huge surprise that he ended up in the top 10 at all after not being able to run much because of an injury. He also finished in the top 20 in LGRA (Large Gazehound Racing Association)These are not professional track racing. They are "for fun" racing organizations for all sighthound breeds. They get to have the fun of chasing the lure and do what they were bred to do and pick up a few trophies or ribbons while they are at it. It is great exercise and the dogs love it! A lot of the greyhounds that compete in it are retired track dogs that still love to run and aren't ready to be couch potatoes yet. NOTRA is oval racing and LGRA is straight track racing.

Miles seems to have recovered and doesn't seem to have soreness left in his back. It was never an injury that I would even notice if he was only a pet, running in the backyard. It is something that prevents him from fully extending in a full run and slows him down when really running hard. It only seemed to be painful when he was really pushing to run fast like when he was trying to keep up with or pass another dog or when really trying hard to catch a lure. All things he loves to do.

It initially happened in February. He healed up after being off for a couple of months and was competing and running great. He pulled it again in October at the Nationals, pulled up and was out of competition the rest of the year.

We leash walked him for a long time and didn't let him run around. That was worse on us than him. He has been bouncing around wanting to run and play and really doesn't understand why he isn't allowed to. We started letting him run around in the yard, where he couldn't really get up to full speed, a few weeks ago. I waited until to take him out to a larger area to run by himself and let him really kick it in. No sign of any trouble though in December so we started letting him run with other greyhounds. We are starting him on the lure again and straight sprints to get him in shape for competitions in February.

Beach Bound Hounds

Photo BBH Photographer Bronnie Fisher

 Beach Bound Hounds is the greyhound event that our adoption group puts on at the end of September every year. We had 450 greyhounds in attendance with their owners this year. We take over the Sea Mist Resort and have vendors, dinners, beach walks, contests, seminars and fun for 4 days. I did a seminar for new owners and foster homes. Miles won the best trick contest there by doing 20 tricks in a minute.  Moose and I won the best owner dog costume contest by dressing up as a very small but notorious motorcycle gang.

Photo BBH Photographer Bronnie Fisher

Photo BBH Photographer Bronnie Fisher

 Miles learned how to curl up really small to sleep in an arm chair in the suite I share with several others. We don't have any arm chairs he can fit into at our house so this was a first for him. He also was filmed and photographed for Myrtle Beach Online

Photo Myrtle Beach Online

Big Moose got to meet little Moose the tiny star of the Birmingham Race Track commercials and her owner Mel that is the head of the adoption kennel at the race track. Here is another commercial. Mel did a seminar for us and talked about going from greyhound trainer into adoption and how she and her small group of volunteers move more than a 1000 greyhounds a year to adoption groups as far away as Canada.

The Moosekateers

 In addition to my own greyhounds, I took my foster LW's Fats to Beach Bound Hounds in hopes he would find a home. I wouldn't take many of my fosters on vacation with me but Fats is about as perfect as they come. He was well behaved in a hotel room and was not stressed in that type of crazy environment. He is so unique with his crooked nose and deformed face that I was sure that the greyhound people at BBH would appreciate him. I was not disappointed, by the end of the weekend a couple of people wanted him. He ended up going home to live with a BBH regular, Bettie, that lives in Florida. I am sure I will get to see him next year. I ended up not seeing much of Fats during the weekend. One of the speakers, Shelley Lake, a vet from Kansas that had flown in with no dogs, borrowed him for the weekend and helped show him off. Fat's new name is Max. Have a great life little boy!

Miles did an ASFA lure coursing competition on the 4th of July in Georgia. There was a heat wave going on at the time and temps were around 100 degrees. It was a wonderful field with plenty of shade. They had misters and baby pools and I had fans in my van. By staying wet and keeping the air blowing on us all day we stayed very cool. Miles got his first ASFA Ribbons - a nice blue one and Best of Breed and won a stuffed rabbit and a champagne flute with a greyhound on it.

In August my brothers were in town for my parents 50th Anniversary Party and everyone stayed at my house. Miles had CHILDREN to play with - 6 of them. He was in heaven- until his fur got nearly brushed off by over zealous grooming. We had to limit the grooming to once per day. He really enjoyed the leash walks around and around through the house and having kids to throw his toys for him and swim with him. I came in one day to Miles sitting in his crate WITH two little boys. He was squeezed as far back as he could get to make room for them. Moose wasn't as sure about the kids but decided they were OK after I gave them all treats to give the dogs. The kids passed out treats to the dogs several times a day and were very fair making sure everyone got equal amounts. Pinky the tiny Italian Greyhound got the same amount as the big dogs and is still on a diet to lose all the weight he gained. I came in one day to find Pinky sound asleep in his crate with a pair of kids swimming goggles on. I ran to get the camera but he had moved by the time I got back. My sister in law did get a picture of Moose wearing a swim mask though.

Miles and Jasmine

Moose ready for a swim

Miles and Jayli - she was the main dog groomer and dog walker

Miles newest sport is dock diving. He has been to two different docks on two different lakes and will jump off of them. Still working on getting a big jump with speed. He started out going to the edge, looking over at me in the water then carefully jumping in. Gradually he started leaping out into the water pretty far to get to me but that still isn't really far from a standstill. If I run and jump with him he will run and leap in but there is a huge downside to that - he tries his best to land ON me. If we can get that greyhound speed AND a big leap he will fly. We have lots of work ahead of us.

Greyhound Models

Miles and Moose Model!

Miles and Moose did some modeling awhile back for a plastic surgeon. Here is their ad. I think the gorgeous thin greyhounds were the "after" and the wrinkled chubby shar peis were the "before". They were very good during the photo shoot and stood next to the doctor and for the most part faced the right way and did what they were supposed to. I was very proud of Miles that he was able to resist playing with the other puppy that was jumping on him and the doctor. I was surprised that they ended up using a photo with none of the dogs looking at the camera. The greyhounds were looking at the camera most of the time. The other dogs weren't and we were lucky if we could get them to face the right direction. The pup was really wild and probably was a blur in some of the photos. Boy she was cute though with all those wrinkles. Here is a link to the online Look Book that this is in. Our ad is on page 7.

Updating

Have gotten pretty far behind in posts so will do a bunch of quick updates.

Miles and Moose had their first modeling gig for a local plastic surgeon. They were the "after" dogs and two Shar pei dogs were the wrinkly, "before models".  The photo shoot was done in a beautiful local park. The dogs just needed to stand next to the plastic surgeon who was holding their leashes - all 4 dogs. Easy for the greyhounds, not so easy for the Shar peis. One was a puppy and was jumping up on the surgeon and the other dogs most of the time. They took her out for some of the photos so I am not sure if she will be in the final ones or not. It was a miracle that Miles didn't start playing with her since he is young too. I could tell he really wanted to. I kept telling him to "leave it" and he did. I was very proud of my boys. Will post photos when I get them.

Miles spent some time in a real racing greyhound kennel while we were doing a dog haul. We left Miles and Moose there for a couple of hours while we went to have lunch and watch the matinee races. I took a couple of photos but it was in low light and taken on a cell phone so they were blurry. We brought back nine fosters for our greyhound adoption group, Greyhound Crossroads, to place. We used the dog hauler and my van on that trip so we could bring back a lot of dogs.

Our vintage dog hauler

Miles continues his agility and obedience classes with his trainer Rhea. He LOVES Rhea! She trained my first greyhounds JD and Streak for Rally Obedience and they both earned their Rally Excellent Titles. Miles had to take a little break from training after his muscle pull because sitting seemed to hurt him. We also didn't want to take any chances with jumping or anything that might hurt his back. He will be starting classes again next week.

Miles won his first LGRA straight racing competition right before he ran in his first NOTRA competition. LGRA races are very short 200 yard straight races so he really has to be quick out of the box. He won't have time to catch up over such a short course if he has a bad break. Four greyhounds at a time run and they chase a fuzzy lure with a squawker. It is more exciting for the dogs than other types of lure coursing where they just chase a plastic bag. Because of the short distance it is perfect for retired racers that might not be as fit as they once were but still want to have the fun of chasing the lure.

A greyhound that lives on the same street that we do won Best of Breed at Westminster! His name is Duncan and he is the most beautiful greyhound I have ever seen. Before I got Miles I looked at his brother who was available as a pet. He was a very big, young guy but he was not able to lure course because of an injury to one of his legs from what I remember. I really wanted a dog that I could course or I would have been very interested in him. The breeder is a really nice lady that has coursed some of her greyhounds so they are bred for form and function.

Front Page of the Woodruff Paper! A photo I took of Miles with Streak

Miles and Moose have gone to several schools this year with me to do talks on greyhounds. We have a powerpoint with photos of greyhounds from birth through their life on the farm, training, racing then retirement that we show. We talk about why the breed is special and what we do as an adoption group to find them homes. We adjust the talk for all ages from kindergarten through high school. Moose has gotten over his fear of children and is fine now doing these pretty intense visits. Miles loves them and I always take Miles with Moose for moral support. Not sure how Moose would do without enthusiastic Miles beside him.

We did a similar presentation on greyhounds for the Woodruff Rotary club and ended up on the front page of the Woodruff Paper. Miles and Moose went along so the Rotary Club could actually meet greyhounds. My friends that set it up - Wayne and Kerin brought their greyhound Tequila along. The greyhounds were the stars as always and perfectly behaved even during the meal that they served before the presentation.

Miles First NOTRA Race Competition

We went back to the greyhound training track in Jacksonville, FL for Miles first NOTRA competition on February 18th. My friends Ellen and Ken drove down with me to be part of Team MPH. Patrick and Sheen are friends in Jacksonville that set up their motorhome for us at the training track. Jennifer brought her greyhounds over from Columbia, SC to run so we even had a vet in our group. I think we need to have T-shirts made for our next outing.

This was a NOTRA Derby only for greyhounds and whippets. Most NOTRA meets are open to any sighthound but this was a special competition. Miles was the only greyhound running in the competition that wasn't a retired racer.  NOTRA racing is a fun way to encourage our dogs to stay in shape and allow them to do what they have been bred to do for centuries. They LOVE it more than anything else - even more than chasing squirrels in the backyard.

Moose(2) is a professional and raced around 150 races before he retired. You can see Miles (1) lack of experience in comparison in his slower break from the box in his first competition.

Moose and Miles started out in the low point race since they hadn't accumulated any points yet. The low point race is a race for the slower dogs with the lowest number of points coming into the race. The winner moves up to the high point in subsequent races. The loser in the high point moves down to the low point.

Moose still in the lead

Moose is serious about racing. I wrapped his front toe that he has had problems with in the past to give it extra support

 Moose finished 1st and Miles got a 2nd in this race. That was Moose's only race of the weekend. His toe didn't look good after the first run so I didn't let him run any other races. After the dogs rested for awhile and all the whippets ran Miles got a second run. Since he hadn't won the first race he didn't move up to run against the faster dogs and stayed in low point again. There was a huge difference in his start and his speed in his second race. He was much better and won that race by quite a few lengths.

Miles in the white number (3) coat finishes way out front in his second race

In NOTRA racing the dogs run 3 short runs in a day. The third race Miles moved up to run against the top dogs. These were serious competitors - the top 3 NOTRA dogs in the country! By the first turn Miles was in second place and held onto that placement at the finish line. I was so thrilled that he could even keep up with these dogs!! I was on cloud nine that he had actually finished ahead of two of them in his first competition!

Miles in red on the inside breaks better in his 3rd race but is still last out of the box

Miles inexperience shows as he doesn't stay as close to the rail as the top dogs. He held on to 2nd place even running a bit wide

Miles first NOTRA Ribbons!!

 The NOTRA Derby was a big competition and the prizes were great! Miles and Moose both got some pretty fancy ribbons. Miles took 3rd over all the first day and High Scoring First Time Entered Greyhound. Moose got a thank you for coming ribbon since he only ran one time. The head of the Jacksonville Race Track (tall guy in baseball cap) and the lady that runs the adoption kennel there come out to present the ribbons. The guy in the cowboy hat was one of the professionals that was hired to run the lure during this competition. He is a trainer at the Jacksonville greyhound track too.


Sunday was day two of NOTRA racing. Miles started out in the high point race. He still broke last out of the box but just barely. In a few strides, before they even hit the first turn, he had passed the top dogs. He wasn't far enough in the lead though. The dog in second bumped him. They didn't go all the way down but he slid, slowed dramatically and obviously had something wrong with his stride. Miles came in last and I pulled him out of the rest of the competition.

Miles in red passes the rest of the dogs coming out of the box

Miles in red gets bumped and starts to go down. At the speeds these guys run a bump or a crash can be bad.

 Miles ended being OK but had pulled a muscle in his back when he got hit. We have done some chiropractic adjustments, Alpha Sim, massage and acupuncture therapy on him to get him back into top form. In these for fun type races for retired racers we only run 4 dogs at a time instead of the 8 that they run in professional races just to prevent this from happening. Occasionally the dogs still bump into each other but I have never seen a serious injury in the 10 or so years I have been doing this. The worst my dogs have had are toe injuries, nail injuries and sore muscles. Greyhound get those and worse just from playing in the back yard at the speeds they run. One of the hazards of having a dog that can run 45 mph.

We finished up the weekend by heading to the Orlando Race Track to pick up 4 racers to bring back for Greyhound Crossroads to adopt out. We had towed our greyhound hauler down so on the way back up through Jacksonville we picked up 3 retired racers from that track and 2 broods from a farm for a total of 9 dogs. It was a great trip!!

2 Years Old

Miles with gold eyes and Otto with the ball

Miles and Otto celebrated their 2nd birthday on January 6th. Hard to believe that they are no longer considered puppies. Even thought they look like adults they still have quite a bit of puppy in them. They are a lot calmer than they were but they still are active for greyhounds. Their attention span can be long if they are doing something exciting like hunting a bird in the yard. Like teenagers, they have a hard time concentrating when their friends are around, especially girls.  There are still occasionally some naughty things done like holes dug in the yard, a toy unstuffed or a guest jumped on and french kissed. They know the rules but still "forget" occasionally. We really haven't had the damage that people talk about from greyhound puppies and Miles hasn't need to be crated when we leave ... until recently. 

Miles has started going in the bedroom by himself and has the zoomies before bedtime - usually when we are in the other room watching TV. He grabs a toy, spins on the bed and jumps on and off sliding on the covers until they fall off. The fitted sheet doesn't slide off so ends up like this. This is the 3rd one torn up in a few weeks.

Torn sheets

 So Miles has gone back to total supervision at home. He is crated again while we are gone. We still do a lot of exercise to prevent things like this and it makes all the difference with a puppy most of the time. This happened after a 5 mile hike though.

The blue puppy eyes have been gone for a long time now. Miles is the only one of the litter that ended up with the gold wolf eyes. Sometimes they make him look a little freaky or evil in photos but he couldn't be any sweeter. He is such a snugly guy and sleeps with some part of his body flopped over me or Roy.  He doesn't growl or try to bite, we can take food and toys out of is mouth and do anything to him.

Miles is still very goofy but has changed some. At our greyhound playgroup he would run, yelp or roll submissively on his back if one of the adult dogs disciplined him. That would send the pack into prey drive mode and they would all jump on him. We would try it every few months hoping he would eventually outgrow that behavior that so he could play safely. He has always been fine playing with fosters in the yard and dogs we are dog sitting at our house.  In a large group of high prey drive dogs that behavior is very dangerous though. He has finally started standing up for himself and doesn't run or scream anymore. I got some pictures of the boys playing on their birthday.

Miles Goofing Off

Otto

Miles

Miles and Otto (with ball)

Otto (with ball) and Miles