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

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.

Hiking

Took Miles on a couple of long hikes during his 10th week. His energy and stamina are up to covering longer distances now. We went with our friend Jann who brought 4 of her own dogs along. That is Jann the May Pole getting all eight dogs out of my van. Three of the dogs are puppies all about the same age. I had Miles and his brother Otto and she had her golden mix pup Roo. The first hike we did was at Paris Mountain State Park and it was about 5.6 miles long. The next hike was a better distance of 4.8 miles and was to Raven Cliff Falls at Caesar's Head. The pups were very tired after both but weren't laying down and falling asleep at every stop like they did at the end of the longer of the two hikes.

Left to Right: Miles, Sara (pup's mom), Me, Otto and Pinky. This was on the trail to Raven Cliff Falls at Caesar's Head.


We made it to the falls and it started snowing! It was nice when we left Greenville so I just had on the windbreaker and only had Pinky the Italian Greyhound in a coat. A cold front came in and we went way up in elevation. Will be checking the weather forecast for future hikes. It got steadily colder while were hiking and I would have had all the dogs wearing coats had I known how cold it was going to be. Had lost feeling in my face and hands even though we jogged some on the way back to keep warm.


Miles and Roo at the falls.


Glad I was able to give the pups this new experience when I did. Those will probably be the last hikes in awhile. Stepped down wrong last night and either broke a bone in my foot or sprained my ankle. I don't even have any good story or reason for it. I was just putting a dog toy away in the garage. I can't put any weight on it and it is all swollen up. Have it wrapped up and am on crutches for awhile. Done with hiking for awhile and am wondering how in the world I am going to watch Miles every second and give him enough exercise while I am on crutches. ACK!

Finally!

I finally have them! I picked my pup, called Kyle Petty and his brother Mark Martin (race theme litter) along with their mom Sara yesterday in Alabama. It snowed 4 or 5 inches on Friday so we were lucky the roads were clear enough to make the trip over from SC. Several friends went with me Jenny, Ann, and Jann. Made it a fun trip. Here we are picking pups up from the adoption kennel at the Birmingham Race Track.
















































In the van on the trip home



















Got the indoor and outdoor pens done on Thursday and Friday right before the snow storm.

Finally home