I took Miles to his first race meet Sunday. This is a for fun short straight race of just 200 yards put on by the Large Gazehound Racing Association (LGRA). It is open to all sighthounds. The dogs win toys and sometimes ribbons. There is a point system so the dogs can get national rankings and titles. It is something that a lot of retired racers and their owners really enjoy. The dogs get exercise and still get the thrill of doing what they have been bred to do for thousands of years - chase.
This is Miles very first practice run behind the lure. He wasn't competing and only ran half the course. He enjoyed it though. His later runs were faster as he realized what was going on. He even did a few runs up and down the track without the lure because he was having such a great time.
Miles wasn't the one doing the barking and howling during the run. Those were the dogs that were watching and waiting very impatiently for their turn. The dogs get VERY excited watching. Miles was leaping around barking and whining while he was waiting for his turn earlier. The reason he was sitting at the start is because it has become a default behavior when the collar tightens up. He would get excited and pull then the collar would tighten and he would politely sit - still barking and howling wanting to chase the lure.
After the first run we taught him to run through the boxes you can see at the beginning of the video. We did that by leaving the front and back doors open. Someone in front played with the lure and got it to make noise then I released him to get it letting him run through the "tunnel". We did that a few times then closed the front put him in and popped it open so he could run out a few feet and grab the lure. He loved the game and picked it up fast. His final run was out of a closed box. There was just a split second pause when it opened before he ran out after the lure.
He will still need some more practices running alone after the lure the entire 200 yard distance before he is ready to run with another dog. I want him to be totally focused on the lure so he doesn't try to play with dogs running with him.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
New Brother?
We lost Miles housemate Streak to bone cancer in November of last year. I spotted another big guy, named Kickin Kevin, that was racing at Jefferson County Kennel Club in Fl near Tallahassee. He was racing in the low 90s which was the weight that Streak raced at. My favorites are the big guys! Kevin is white and red and I really wanted a black dog this time but decided to at least get this guy as a foster to see if he had the personality I wanted. Color really isn't that important and Streak's light almost white fawn color wasn't my favorite either.
It took me 6 months to find Miles after I lost my first greyhound JD. I met 3 or 4 litters of greyhound puppies and fostered quite a few adult dogs before I finally found one that felt right - Miles. It was a real long shot for the first dog I tried out to have the perfect personality and be the gentle giant I was looking for. I new exactly what I wanted a happy go lucky guy that got along good with Miles and was pretty submissive and sweet, not pushy or strong willed. The type of dog I could trust in a crowd of kids at Renaissance Festival and with other dogs when I did home visits. Basically a clone of Streak who was the best behaved dog in the world and never did anything wrong. One thing I did really like about Kevin was that he was an older guy at 4 years old. I like to have a few years between my dogs.
I called Pam, who heads the adoption group at that track, and told her Kevin looked like he was getting ready to grade off (retire). She said she would send someone over to the kennel he was running in to check on him. The next day she called me and told me he was IN the adoption kennel. When Susan, who runs the track adoption kennel, had gone to check on him his trainer had handed him to her on the spot, he was done racing. They got him neutered for me there, then sent him up on their next dog haul on Feb. 26th.
Kevin is absolutely the biggest greyhound I have ever seen. He towers above Miles who is 30 inches at the shoulder and a really big greyhound. My 33 inch high crate rubbed on his back so I traded someone for a 36 inch high crate. If he arches his back just a little in that it still touches - there is a bit of padding in the crate though. He is so long he takes up the whole 48 inch long crate with his butt touching one end and his head touching the other. Might have to get a Dane sized crate for him so he can stretch out a little. Streak was build like a tank and was about the same height as Miles. His weight was in his wide shoulders and booty. Kevin is very narrow in the rib cage and has a lot less muscle so he is much taller at the same weight. You can see in this video how he makes very tall Otto and Miles look like little girls in comparison.
The second day we had him my husband, Roy, asked if he might be a keeper. He was definitely the Streak type dog I was looking for. His personality was perfect! Even though I had had him less than a week I decided to take him to Sandy Paws. Nothing seemed to bother him and he walked perfectly on leash and loved his crate. I was able to take a fabric crate for him to Sandy Paws knowing he wouldn't chew or claw his way out of it. He towered above all the dogs there too and had his own little fan club. If we hadn't already decided to keep him he would have definitely found an adoptive family there. He did great. The only thing he did wrong was to mark the foot of the bed once. Just got a little on the bedspread which washed right out. Not bad for fresh off the track.
When we first got Kevin (now Moose) he was a little afraid of the wood floors and would slip around on them. He fell in the pool 3 times and we finally realized that it wasn't accidental. The days were getting warmer and he would walk out on the pool cover to get in the water on purpose. Once the cover comes off I bet he will enjoy going swimming with Miles and Otto. Seems like quite the water dog. He is just now starting to get up on the bed to snuggle with us, he was perfectly happy sleeping on the dog bed to begin with and didn't even try to get up on furniture. He still hasn't tried to get on the couch. He goes nuts over the lure pole but hurt a toe the first time he ran so now is limping around and can't run with the puppies for awhile. The biggest thing is that he plays nice with Miles and Otto as you can see in the video.
GreyhoundpupwatchingTV.3gp
Miles loves to watch TV. The other night he watched an entire show on grizzlies, wolves and elk. He never took his eyes off the screen as you can see from the video.
Miles got to make a return trip to Sandy Paws the first weekend in March. He was only 8 weeks old when he was there the first time last year. He was the smallest one last year and this year he was one of the taller guys. He got his photo taken quite a few times by people that had pictures holding him last year. Amazing how much they grow. He thought every person and dog was there just to see him. He would happily go up to everyone and most of the adult dogs spotted that he was a pup right away and surprised their owners by growling at him. He didn't look like a puppy to the owners since he was so tall. We heard "Sorry, my dog never does that." so many times. Had to tell people he was a pup and their dogs got a "puppy pass". The adult dogs just growl at pups to let them know they aren't interested in playing or socializing. There was another puppy there, a silken windhound saluki cross, named Floyd that he enjoyed playing with.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Miles Gets Left For the First Time
January 17th my husband Roy's mother died in her sleep. She was 92 and hadn't been in the best health but it was still a shock because she had gotten better after a stroke and another hospitalization a couple of months ago. We packed our bags on the 17th and left on the 18th to drive to Texas for her funeral on Jan 19th.
Joe and Shari (Otto's parents) offered to keep Miles. Roy's family are animal people so they really didn't mind if we brought a dog with us but I didn't feel right about taking both dogs. We decided Pinky would be the better one to take since he is older and better behaved. My friend Becky took my foster Giggles. Shari took some photos of the boys while I was gone and posted them on our adoption group's forum so I could see Miles. These are all her photos.
The mean brothers
Miles had a great time playing with his brother every day. He was at Joe and Shari's from Monday night the 17th until the following Sunday when we got home. They have a huge steep hill that goes straight up behind their house that is at least 3 stories tall. They said that Otto is used to running up it but Miles couldn't quite keep up so would cut across to catch Otto. I could definitely see more definition on Miles hind end muscles when I got home.
Look a likes - can you tell which is which?
Miles is wearing the yellow collar and Otto is in the green.
Miles has a new behavior. He SITS on furniture! Now that he is so tall he just backs up to a chair and sits down next to us. He even does it on the car seat. Here he is sitting in the sun room. Roy was on the couch and I was sitting across from him talking to him when Miles walked up and sat down to join the family discussion. He stayed in that position for quite awhile.
Joe and Shari (Otto's parents) offered to keep Miles. Roy's family are animal people so they really didn't mind if we brought a dog with us but I didn't feel right about taking both dogs. We decided Pinky would be the better one to take since he is older and better behaved. My friend Becky took my foster Giggles. Shari took some photos of the boys while I was gone and posted them on our adoption group's forum so I could see Miles. These are all her photos.
The mean brothers
Miles had a great time playing with his brother every day. He was at Joe and Shari's from Monday night the 17th until the following Sunday when we got home. They have a huge steep hill that goes straight up behind their house that is at least 3 stories tall. They said that Otto is used to running up it but Miles couldn't quite keep up so would cut across to catch Otto. I could definitely see more definition on Miles hind end muscles when I got home.
Look a likes - can you tell which is which?
Miles is wearing the yellow collar and Otto is in the green.
Miles has a new behavior. He SITS on furniture! Now that he is so tall he just backs up to a chair and sits down next to us. He even does it on the car seat. Here he is sitting in the sun room. Roy was on the couch and I was sitting across from him talking to him when Miles walked up and sat down to join the family discussion. He stayed in that position for quite awhile.
Trip to the Track
Sunday January 16th Miles went back to Birmingham Alabama to visit. He was born there and his litter was rescued from freezing to death by one of the trainers at the Birmingham Race Track, Mel. When one of her assistants got a call at a vets office that an adopted pet greyhound had given birth to 11 puppies in an unheated bathroom and the pups were dying, she raced over to get the mom and babies. Several pups had already frozen to death. Miles was one of the 8 survivors. He was taken to Jen's house and raised there for a few weeks with her Borzois, Salukis and Silken Windhounds. At about 5 weeks the litter was moved to the Birmingham Race Track Adoption Kennel where I picked up Miles, Otto and his Mother Sara. We got his brother Kohle and sister Piper later. The rest of the litter stayed with a surrogate saluki mom there and were eventually adopted out too. On January 16 and 17th of last year I was at the track visiting the 10 day old pups.
I took Miles back to visit once when he was about 10 weeks old but he hasn't been back since then. Our greyhound adoption group, Greyhound Crossroads, needed a few dogs so Ann and I drove to Birmingham to pick them up. Miles was finally big enough to ride in the van with the adult dogs so got to go back for a visit this time. We took Ann's dog Champ along for the ride too. Champ is a very calm, older guy and it always helps to have a dog like that along on dog hauls. The young retirees calm down and relax faster if there is a dog in the van that lays down and goes to sleep.
Mel and Jen met us for lunch then took us back to the track to pick out the 3 girls that we would be taking back to SC. They commented on how much Miles had changed since the last time they had seen him. He was a tiny, blue eyed, dark brindle boy and now was a gold eyed, red brindle that towered over most greyhounds. Miles was excited to see them as he is with everyone.
When we got to the track they told me that Miles could go for a run in the track sprint path. It is about as long as a football field and about half as wide with thick sand. We had snow and ice on the ground for a week so it was Miles first time to really get to run for awhile. He had the best time. Jen had a couple of her borzoi there. One was a pup and Miles tried to get her to play but she was a little shy and Miles was a little obnoxious. Jen's older male Borzoi was NOT interested in playing with Miles either and let the pup know right away.
After Miles ran, he waited in the van for us while we went in and picked out the girls we would be bringing back. We ended up with 3 girls one red, one brindle and one black. We cat tested them with the kennel cat that LOVES to be swept with a broom.
When we loaded up the girls, Miles tried to play bow and flirt. They quickly let him know they weren't interested. You can see Miles towering above all the girls and the other male on the trip Champ (red dog with wide green collar).
Miles with his favorite girl, on the trip, Giggles. Giggles is a giant 80lb girl that is just as sweet as she can be. Found out that her mom is a Kiowa Sweet Trey pup like Miles' mom so they are cousins. She ended up being my foster.
I took Miles back to visit once when he was about 10 weeks old but he hasn't been back since then. Our greyhound adoption group, Greyhound Crossroads, needed a few dogs so Ann and I drove to Birmingham to pick them up. Miles was finally big enough to ride in the van with the adult dogs so got to go back for a visit this time. We took Ann's dog Champ along for the ride too. Champ is a very calm, older guy and it always helps to have a dog like that along on dog hauls. The young retirees calm down and relax faster if there is a dog in the van that lays down and goes to sleep.
Mel and Jen met us for lunch then took us back to the track to pick out the 3 girls that we would be taking back to SC. They commented on how much Miles had changed since the last time they had seen him. He was a tiny, blue eyed, dark brindle boy and now was a gold eyed, red brindle that towered over most greyhounds. Miles was excited to see them as he is with everyone.
When we got to the track they told me that Miles could go for a run in the track sprint path. It is about as long as a football field and about half as wide with thick sand. We had snow and ice on the ground for a week so it was Miles first time to really get to run for awhile. He had the best time. Jen had a couple of her borzoi there. One was a pup and Miles tried to get her to play but she was a little shy and Miles was a little obnoxious. Jen's older male Borzoi was NOT interested in playing with Miles either and let the pup know right away.
After Miles ran, he waited in the van for us while we went in and picked out the girls we would be bringing back. We ended up with 3 girls one red, one brindle and one black. We cat tested them with the kennel cat that LOVES to be swept with a broom.
When we loaded up the girls, Miles tried to play bow and flirt. They quickly let him know they weren't interested. You can see Miles towering above all the girls and the other male on the trip Champ (red dog with wide green collar).
Miles with his favorite girl, on the trip, Giggles. Giggles is a giant 80lb girl that is just as sweet as she can be. Found out that her mom is a Kiowa Sweet Trey pup like Miles' mom so they are cousins. She ended up being my foster.
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