Half Full

The pups had so much fun playing in the shallow end of the pool while we were filling it that we left it half full for awhile and had a couple puppy pool parties. Miles would run laps in the pool until his feet bled unless we stopped him.







Miles, Otto, my adult male greyhound Streak and German Shepherd Duchess playing in the water while Pinky the Italian Greyhound supervises from above.



I still dog sit Otto all day on Mondays and Thursdays so the brothers can wear each other out. More shots from their play sessions.



It looks like so much fun you almost want to join them.....


Well, maybe not....


Amazingly there was no blood drawn in this series of pictures.
Eventually the fun is over and it is time to dry off.

Predator Pup

We were at Petco all day Saturday for a meet and greet. We were near the birds and I thought that Miles was showing a little too much interested in them. Some licking of lips and staring. He also watches the birds flying around the yard at home with more than a little interest. We have birds in one of our chimneys and they make a lot of noise which alerts him too.

Miles was tired after the meet and greet and went to sleep on my bed so I did some housework figuring it was safe not to watch him. When Roy got home he asked what Miles was doing in the living room and said he had pooped on the floor. Miles hasn't had an accident in the house in a very long time so that surprised me. I was in for a bigger surprise, it wasn't poop - it was a bird. Probably one of the adult birds from the nest in the chimney.

After watching birds all day at Petco, Miles found a bird in his own living room! He caught it and had killed it without making a sound - well nearly killed it. I was in the next room with an open door and there was no commotion or anything. Must have been very stealthy because the living room is huge with a two story high beamed ceiling. Would be very easy for a bird to fly away from a dog in there. So even 5 month old pups can be pretty good predators. The bird was in way too bad of shape to save. The baby birds in the chimney have been in there for a long time so should be about ready to leave the nest. I hope the other parent will be able to take care of them alone until they are ready.

Interesting Guest

The pool ended up needing a lot of work so is still empty. Miles found a vole in the pool that had climbed in and couldn't get out. He wasn't sure what to make of it. When it would run he would chase it but then wasn't sure what to do with it. The tiny vole would face him and stand up on his hind legs and nip Miles nose if he got it too close. Miles would snort, shake his head and back away but couldn't resist going back in for another sniff. Miles finally figured out that he could use his paws at which point I ended the game not wanting him to injure the little guy.




Miles showing off all his grown up teeth.


Pups playing in the back yard.





The pups love Streak but Streak puts up with the pups. We found out accidentally just how tolerant of the pups Streak can be in spite of his growls and showing of teeth. We left last night to run some errands and put Miles in a crate. Streak and Pinky are usually left out since they aren't likely to cause any trouble. My husband opened the enclosed plastic crate and told Miles to "kennel up" and Miles minded. The enclosed crate is a pale tan color and had a pale tan blanket in it about the color of Streak. When I got home I saw Streak in standing in the enclosed crate and thought, "What is Streak doing in the crate? I could have sworn Roy put Miles in that crate". I guess Streak had been sleeping in the crate. Since he was the same color Roy hadn't noticed when he told Miles to go in. So giant Streak and Miles had both been locked in one crate for over an hour together. There is barely room for big Streak in there to lay down. There was no gash or any blood so they had treated each other well in spite of the very cramped quarters. Streak probably wondered what horrible thing he did to deserve being locked up for an hour with a puppy.

Streak getting puppy kisses

Pups in Motion

Took Streak, Otto and Miles to the baseball field near my house to run. Love to take pictures of greyhounds running. They are just amazing even as puppies! Here is a picture that shows how big the pups are next to Streak. He probably isn't the best one to make a comparison too since he raced at 92lbs and is exceptionally large for a male greyhound. You can see the pups are about girl greyhound size though.


Miles loves to run!







Both greyhound pups playing keep away with a ball. Miles is wearing the blue collar and Otto has a white one on.





Otto



The pups can keep up with Streak pretty well. He isn't usually big on playing with the pups but was chasing the ball some too. I was thrilled to get some photos of Miles and him playing together since it doesn't happen very often.

Slowing Down

Nope not slowing down in speed or energy. Their growth is slowing a bit. I have guessed Miles to weigh 50lbs or more based on his previous growth. When he was actually weighed today he was 48.7. So instead of a couple of lbs a week it looks like it has slowed to around a lb a week for the last few weeks.

Today's weight might have been a little low because of an "incident". Miles brother Otto is staying with us for a week while his parents are out of town. His adult greyhound housemate Shug is here too.

I had spotted the wet neck boys playing keep away with something that looked like dry dog poop. I tried to get it from them but Miles saw me coming and ran into the bushes and hid it. When I got to the bushes he was sitting with his paws crossed looking at me. No dried dog poo anywhere to be found. Not wanting the pups to become the dreaded poop eaters, I instantly cleaned every tiny piece of poo up. The only piece I didn't find was the one hidden in the bushes.

Before lunch the pups went out to do their business and Miles comes running out of the bushes with that piece of poop in his mouth and Otto tugging on it. I ran over and grabbed his collar so I could inspect it, trying to figure out how I was going to get it without touching it. When I looked closer I saw that it was actually a mushroom. Very large shriveled and dried up. Then I grabbed it and smelled it to be sure. Yep smelled like a mushroom too. It was mostly whole but there were some pieces missing. ACK! Probably poisonous!

I left the pups outside and grabbed the Hydrogen Peroxide bottle. They each got about a tablespoon or so which was all that was left in the bottom of the bottle. I held them in the grass by their collars so when they threw up it would be easy to clean. No throw up though and no more peroxide in the bottle. After about 4 minutes I released the hounds so I could go look for another bottle of peroxide figuring I had not gotten enough in them. By the time I got the other bottle they had both hacked up their breakfast all over the porch. Miles had some suspicious bits that could have been mushroom but also could have been stick or grass.

After a few minutes of no throwing up I gave both pups activated charcoal to absorb any toxins that might still be in them from the mushroom. No lunch for the boys. After they held down the charcoal for 15 minutes or so I gave them each a dog biscuit. They ended up getting a half a lunch at 4pm after I was sure they weren't still under the influence of the hydrogen peroxide. Since he eats over a lb at each meal Miles would probably have weighed exactly 50lbs if he hadn't thrown up all his breakfast and had only half a lunch. I am sure he will gain it back at dinner. LOL We weighed Otto too and he was 4lbs lighter than Miles but looks like he is as tall. Miles is a little over 24 inches at the shoulder now.

It is 8pm and both pups are doing great. Now that it is cooler they are running wild outside and having a great time. They don't seem to be having any bad effects from the mushroom incident but I will keep my eye on them for the next two days for any weirdness. I did some research on the mushroom and it looks like one that isn't even toxic so all the throwing up may have been for nothing. Miles has run from me a couple of times, probably thinking I am going to pour some foul liquid down his throat again and make him sick. Or maybe he is thinking I am going to steal another "prize" from him. LOL