Sicks days

Daddy was home sick on Monday. Something about a bad back? He sure smelled funny! We tried to make it clear that he should get up and do something instead of just going potty and laying back in bed.

 

Seriously! It is puppy bed time during the work week.

Sunshine here

Hello to all my puppy loving fans! Mom went to bed early so I stole the laptop. It is my far the most interesting thing I have stolen and drug into my crate... uh... I mean Rainy's crate. One must never bring the bad stuff into your own crate!

We had so many people over this weekend. :( I was scared and stayed in the back bedrooms most of the weekend. Two of the scary people even slept here last night! Glad I was safe in Mom and Dad's bedroom. I even tried barking at them when they first got here and it didn't work. They stayed.

Mom bought pig ears yesterday! They are my favorite treat.

We just came back from a super long 2 mile walk.  I was a big brave bear, although I was busted... Rainy was sniffing/peeing/pooping all over the place. You would think she was at Disneyland or something.  Anyways, Mom was picking up some of her poop and these people started walking towards us in the parking lot going to their car.  I thought no one was looking at me so I sneaked a very curious stare at them. They were pretty close too! Only 30 yards, but Mom caught me out of the corner of her eye.  Then she laughed and made fun of me for faking my fear of strangers. I just thought maybe these people had some yummy cheese... Supper was hours ago and I may waste away to nothing w/o snacks. She said there was no fear in my eyes and I am a little goober. Is that a good thing?

Mom twisted her ankle in a hole walking up a grassy field and I even stood very very still so she could lean in my shoulders while she moved her hurt foot around. I was worried but she was fine in a few minutes.

We had an exciting jog/walk. I was the perfect jogger. Rainy kept getting yelled at for sniffing and pulling on the leash. For once I was the best behaved. Jogged right along Mom in a perfect heal with a loose leash.

Then a bird popped out form behind a tree and scared Rainy. She tried to pretend that she wasn't scared and was a mighty hunter, but I could tell the truth. I spotted a bunny hiding on a stone pile in the weeds. I have good hunting eyes.

On the way back to the car Rainy zigged to the other side of the trail and I stayed right next to her. Then out of nowhere a shadow came up on my empty side. It was Tall and Big and SCARY. I tried to run, but I was too scared to get a grip on the pavement. My toenails scared and skidded, scrambling to get away. Once I looked backwards I saw that I was running from Mom. Ops... hehehe. All I could do was look her in the eye with a sheepish expression. It's not fair she switched sides! She should stay on one side so we know where she is. How else are we supposed to sniff all the good smells?

Well I'm tired it was a stressful weekend. Off to frame Rainy for stealing the laptop.

Relaxing Saturday

We got up super early to meet Bruno at the dog park. The girls ran around, but Bruno wasn't feeling it! After running for about an hour we came home and both pups napped while I drove 3 hours round trip to go get some more pup food.  Then I zipped over to Costco and started an intense cleaning at home. It was a busy day for Mom!

Sunshine spent lots of time relaxing on the big bed and even cuddled with me and Rainy for a bit. She starting to pick up that she won't get yelled at for being on the bed. :)

Then after dinner we went for our evening potty walk. For some reason everyone wanted to stop and chat with us! Rainy charmed everyone and Sunshine coped fairly well behind all of us. She only shook a little bit then settled as long as everyone kept ignoring her. Such a good pup!

Cute Sunshine on the bed!


At 6am I crawled out of bed ans Sunshine stole my spot! See how tiny she's trying to make herself.


Rainy says I can be tiny too!


Sunshine did not want me to clean up her toys


Yup I would say she's getting comfy on the bed. Sleeping in a sunbeam.

Yay for Soloxin!

So we started Sunshine on some thyroid meds Tuesday night.  On Wednesday when I came home from work she almost knocked me on my ass!  Thanks goodness for walls. :) This is one crazy/normal puppy. No changes in her interactions with strangers yet, but she is much hungrier with the meds.  Time will tell if they will help long term.

I'm trying to find larger chunks of meat that Sunshine will try to eat. She bolts her food down fast enough to make me nervous so I'm trying to get her used to chewing off bits to slow her down and lessen the chances of choking.  But she is new to this raw feeding stuff so if I give her too big of a piece she looks at me like she has no clue it's supposed to be eaten! At least she will eat chicken! Picky ass Miss Rainy only eats the expensive meats.  

I also caught Sunshine roaching this morning! I was 1/2 asleep snapping crappy pics with my cell phone, but here they are.



Notice the toofers


Such a greyt way to sleep!


I worry that the 42" crate is too small for her to sleep in at night, I guess it isn't.

Coming in from our morning walk we ran into our neighbor who lives across the hallway from us.  She seems to appriciate the pups from a distance, never wanting to give Rainy a good pet (much to Rainy's dismay)  Poor Sunshine tried to run and crab crawl across the floor in an all out panic to get away from the little old 5 ft nothing elderly lady. So we all stood there in shock and half asleep until Sunshine stood back up and got some brain cells back.  Rainy just stood there yawning wanting to get to her morning cookie then go back to bed.  I apologized to the neighbor explaing that she's not very trusting of strangers yet and I was told that it just takes time to train them.  We have such awesome neighbors! Not sure she would have been to wonderful if Sunshine had fear pottied all over the place, but the pup held that end of her together.

Once we got home both pups got PB spoons and their morning cookie.  Next on thier agenda was to steal the big bed!





Plus a few other random pics

Rainy laying on top of Frizzle. The kitty is SO not amused, but refuses to be the one who moves first.


Is this what I'm supposed to do with the big bones?


Have to make sure Rainy's doesn't decide she wants it during my nap

 

Ah... Dog park Sundays

We got up super early this morning to take the pups to the dog park and we met some other greyhound friends there.  Sunshine was a perfect perky pup who didn't tuck her tail up to her belly once! Everyone had a blast running around and have been crashed out sleeping since 8:30am.

Sunshine sniffing a rock






Friends!






Sunshine likes Miss Gracie


Big Brave bear!


Rainy was tired










Everybody

We have roaching!

I'm always so worried about leaving Sunshine alone and taking Rainy somewhere. Well today proved that Sunshine doesn't mind at all! Chris came home and she was roaching in her crate. All by herself in the Apt. Such a good pup!

We are on day #11 of no potty accidents, and our shy little girl has started barking at strangers. She barked at a guest that came over Friday night and Chris praised her. Any type of assertive behavior gets encouraged right now.  Today she started barking at people walking by on the street from the porch. We are 5 floors up! Silly pup! We can't correct her for it so we are just distracting her if she gets excessive.

Rainy and I went to a M&G today at the Christiana Petsmart. There were 2 separate greyhound rescue groups there and Rainy enjoyed meeting more of her own.  Sunshine stayed safely at home with Chris. 

Then Rainy got to go to Home Depot with me to make a return.  I heard through the grapevine that they don't tell you to bring your dogs, but if you have a well mannered dog they won't ask you to leave.  I read Rainy the riot act before we went in. She can get a bit whiny in new places and I didn't want to get kicked out for her whining.  She was so cute and perfect. Only whined a tiny bit when we both got bored of taking to some employee. He thought gh's were high energy and unpredictable, so we got to show him otherwise and educate him a bit.

The other employees either looked at us and said "what a nice looking dog" or they just stared at us, but didn't say anything. No one asked us to leave. :) 

Rainy was so proud of herself. There were no doggie smells so she knew this was a special place for her to be. Pranced around in a perfect heel the whole time acting like she had a job to do.  I hope someday Sunshine will be this relaxed in new situations.

Onto today's pictures!

I cleaned up the dog toys/chewies form the crates last night and within 2 hours of being loose this morning this is what 1 crate looked like. Compliments of Miss Sunshine.

Redecorating is tiring!



Rainy says "Oh.. that's the spot!" She loffs Mommy's fingernails


Sunshine has decided the double bed is much nicer than the giant crate




Rainy prefers the big bed

Labor Day Trip to the Mountians

We had so much fun on vacation in the mountains! Everyone is ready to go back today.

Tuesday: We were planning on getting the cars packed and leaving around 9am if not earlier. Gave Sunshine her first 1/2 Xanax around 7ish and by 7:20 she was a totally different pup! Running around all crazy, jumping on the furniture, getting underfoot, etc. While she was running around drugged she somehow sliced herself on Rainy's big crate. All I heard was a bang and whimpers. So I make sure she can move everything, clean her up, give her a feel better cookie, and continued to load the car while waiting for her leg to clot.

In the next 2 hours Sunshine had 3 bandages fall off (there just wasn't one staying that far up her leg!) We loaded all the pups in the car to drive to my parents house to pick up my brothers gf (we were driving her up there too) Still no clotting! There isn't really anything to stitch up, so I wasn't rushing off to the vet.

Then..... my SUV wouldn't start! Dead battery again So I get a jump, get to my parents house, Chris breaks into the garage to get tools to take my battery out, and off he goes battery shopping. Of course Wally World didn't have one for us so he proceeded to go to a bazillion other places.

Meanwhile... still no clotting! Blood all over the place. :???: Plus pee since she peed in the crate during the 15 minute drive. So I place a panicked call to the closest vet to my parents house and they say they will get us in asap. Only I don't have a battery in my car! So I hijacked my brothers [i]brand new car[/i] throw some blankets down to catch the blood, shove Sunshine in, and pray she doesn't pee in there. Thankfully she was a very good puppers and didn't pee in the new car.

Poor Sunshine was dramatized while she was at the vet w/o Rainy. They couldn't even get her to follow them to the scale. She was held down, shaved, cleaned, and glued back together. Not a happy camper. So $160 and a bottle of antibiotics later we were on our way. After our vet trip though she has never peed in the car again. Guess she figures she wants to stay in the car and it's her only safe place after that trauma.

Around 1:30pm we finally started our 5+ hour drive. Sunshine even peed at the rest stop! Then when we got to the cabin I handed both pups to my Dad so I could unload the cars and set up Sunshine's crate. Rainy went trotting off for a walk with Grandpa and Sunshine stayed as far out as she could. Grandpa wouldn't let her get away with that for long. As they walked he kept shortening the leash until she was walking right next to him.


Picture of the creek behind the cabin

The outhouse

Salt lick for deer

Cabin

We had a quiet first night and burgers for dinner. Now these pups were so spoiled! They ate everything they shouldn't have. Spagetti-os, hot dogs, pizza, PB sandwiches, rice crispy treats, burgers, lunch meats, donuts, ice cream, pudding, cheese, not to mention the doggie treats. The air is so much thinner up there it makes you hungry and tired for the first few days. We were so active that Rainy lost a good chunk of weight, but Sunshine managed to gain a bunch! Everyone must have been sneaking her tons of treats.

We woke up Wednesday morning and needed to go get water and go grocery shopping.

This is where real spring water comes from

Dad filling up jugs


Leah (brothers gf) filling up jugs
This water tastes SO GOOD

Chris stayed behind as we drove 3 hours for some grocery shopping. His back spasmed so he stayed drugged up. He swears that Sunshine was roaching in her crate while we were gone, but I'm not sure he wasn't hallucinating.

Once we got back I got down to my redneck roots.

This is the contraption you get when you give a redneck a greyhound that jumps

Rainy exploring

Both exploring

I was paranoid and kept a leash on Sunshine for a bit until I was sure she wouldn't get out.


Belle barking "take my picture too!"


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They both settled in quickly


On our first 2 mile walk on Wednesday. We hiked at least 2 miles every day, with a 6 mile hike on Friday.



Someone was getting tired towards the end...


3 pups all shoved in the back of Dad's explorer. (no pee! )

Then it was naptime



It was so cold at nights that Sunshine needed jammies!



Rainy just decided to steal my sleeping bag to stay warm

So on Thursday I was napping inside while Dad and Leah were wittling out front with the pups. Belle was tied out and the greys were in thier Xpen. Next thing I know I get jarred awake by Leah running into the cabin with Belle going "bear out front!" Talk about waking up quickly with no caffeine needed. I ran outside and both pups were standing rigidly in the Xpen staring at this bear 10-15 yards away. Both dogs weren't barking but they were giving steady low deadly growls. As soon as I came out the door the rolly polly black bear started waddling slowly away. Before I had come out, Dad had stood up so he didn't surprise the bear, expecting it to wander away once the human presence was known. Instead the bear started walking TOWARDS him and the dogs. That bear isn't going to survive hunting season this year. Poor dad was trying to figure out how to distract the bear while I came out and grab the dogs. :rofll: Takes a special person to voluntarily become bear bait to save the grandpuppies. No pictures since Chris kept insisting on putting our new nifty camera away. How are you supposed to catch wildlife unless you leave it out? I'm proud of my big brave puppies!

Friday we packed a lunch and planned a 6 mile hike. We saw a waterfall and then hiked down to a place on the creek called the Haystacks. Basically just rocks sticking out of the water that look like stacks of hay, but it was a nice walk.


Here we are at the waterfall




Then we started the long hike down to the haystacks

Please note how close Sunshine (in blue) is walking next to scary stranger Grandpa! This was on a Xanax free day too.

Most of the trail was a washed out loggin road, but some of it looked like it was made for mountain goats. Sunshine is now part mountain goat! Rainy... not so much. :hehe: Both pups were very careful and no one got hurt.


We finally made it




We stopped to eat lunch down there. Humans had meat/cheese sandwiches and pups each got a PB sandwhich. Dad was sitting on a ledge with his elbows on his knees eating his sandwich when out of no where Miss Sunshine sneaks in for a bite off the top! The part of the sandwich that was closest to his face. I gasped and my jaw dropped, meanwhile she sneaked in for a second bite! :rofll: :rofll: :rofll: No Xanax needed to sneak food off unsuspecting strangers...

After lunch some other hikers came through and Sunshine growled at them! Belle growls at all strangers so I'm sure Sunshine is picking up on some bad habits. :wink:

I'm surprised both pups made it the whole 6 miles. I expected we would have to carry Sunshine, and for Rainy to be at least tired. Rainy pulled the whole way while Sunshine took her time on the way back but still was peppy and bouncy with her steps.

Then we got back to the cabin


Talk about some serious sleeping!

Friday night the neighbors brought a pack of beagles up for the holiday weekend. Talk about loud! Sunshine needed more drugs for them, but she coped. She should be able to deal with the barking dogs on our Apt walks easy peasy now!

Saturday we took the pups to a deep part of the creek to do some wading.


The city clickers claimed it was too cold in there! I tried to convince them to get in and slipped.. went down like a ton of bricks. Seriously thought I broke my arm at first, but I think it's a sprain. No one was looking forward to driving me for X-rays on Sunday. (did I mention that typing this is slow going?)

On the way back to the car Rainy impressed some other people. The guy said his wife wanted a greyhound and Rainy was cute and perfect. :)


On the way back to the cabin Sunshine crashed in any available space



Poor Rainy was left with standing room only


Look at those good pups eating supper together in the ghetto/redneck Xpen!

Sunshine's glue held until Saturday night when she decided to chew it open! :naughty: She's was still on antibiotics so I wasnt; too worried and just tried to keep it somehwat clean.

On Sunday Rainy and I drove to a local bar to get take out pizza for dinner. Some drunk lady saw rainy and went "what [b]is[/b] that?" Yup she was sloshed. LOL So I got Rainy out of the car for another M&G. She has decided that drunk people and their friends are fun.

Sunshine got car sick on the trip back home, but there are lots of windy mountian roads so it's not to abnormal.



As you can see the kitties really missed us.