We just adopted Living History "Duke". He is settling in well and doing better than I could have imagined. He even lets Dex(Welsh Corgi) and Rex (Chow/Retriever Mix) play with Ducky now. He is such a sweet boy and does have a lot of personality. We went for our first walk yesterday and he was such the gentleman. He sleeps in our room at night and wakes us up with a nose in the face every morning. He loves the kids and they adore him. My sister even wants to adopt a greyhound!! He has made a perfect edition to our family!! We love him!!!

CGC and Beyond!

For those who may be curious, here are the 10 tests that dogs have to complete in order to pass the CGC test. More details can be found at (http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/index.cfm)

Test 1: Accepting a friendly stranger. The dog must show no sign of resentment or shyness, and must not break position or try to go to the evaluator.

Test 2: Sitting politely for petting This test demonstrates that the dog will allow a friendly stranger to touch it while it is out with its handler. The dog must not show shyness or resentment.

Test 3: Appearance and grooming This practical test demonstrates that the dog will welcome being groomed and examined and will permit someone, such as a veterinarian, groomer or friend of the owner, to do so.

Test 4: Out for a walk (walking on a loose lead) This test demonstrates that the handler is in control of the dog.

Test 5: Walking through a crowd This test demonstrates that the dog can move about politely in pedestrian traffic and is under control in public places. The dog should not jump on people in the crowd or strain on the leash.

Test 6: Sit and down on command and Staying in place. The handler tells the dog to stay and walks forward, turns and returns to the dog at a natural pace. The dog must remain in the place in which it was left until the evaluator instructs the handler to release the dog.

Test 7: Coming when called This test demonstrates that the dog will come when called by the handler. The handler will walk 10 feet from the dog, turn to face the dog, and call the dog.

Test 8: Reaction to another dog This test demonstrates that the dog can behave politely around other dogs. Two handlers and their dogs approach each other from a distance of about 20 feet, stop, shake hands and exchange pleasantries, and continue on for about 10 feet. The dogs should show no more than casual interest in each other. Neither dog should go to the other dog or its handler.

Test 9: Reaction to distraction This test demonstrates that the dog is confident at all times when faced with common distracting situations. The dog may express natural interest and curiosity and/or may appear slightly startled but should not panic, try to run away, show aggressiveness, or bark.

Test 10: Supervised separation. The owner will go out of sight for three minutes. The dog does not have to stay in position but should not continually bark, whine, or pace unnecessarily, or show anything stronger than mild agitation or nervousness.

We recently had 2 additional greys that we sat for a dear friend. Duke was an absolute gentlemen with his new girlfriends (he is on the far right side). There were no squabbles over beds or food, and he even shared his beloved Ducky toy without batting an eye. Well, OK he did follow Ducky from room to room, but only from a distance, and made no move to get it back. To see all 4 of them running through the yard after a squirrel was quite a site! Sadly, Sydney, the white-faced fawn in this picture has recently passed, and we will miss her dearly.

Since Duke did so well at the beginning obedience, I have started him in a beginning agility class. The more exposure he gets to all breeds and sizes of dogs the better he will be. He was bit focused on a tiny toy poodle in the class, but he completed, without hesitation, all the obstacles that he was faced with. The little jumps, the A-frame and even the jumping-through-a-tire were not a problem for him. The tunnel, however, was a bit of a challenge. He can't just duck his head and go through. He is tall enough that he has to scrunch his shoulders down to even get started. But we did manage to push, pull and lure him through it 3 times. I obviously have to come up with some tastier, more irresistible treats for next week.

Unless, of course, he gets adopted! If someone would adopt him now, they can continue the agility classes with him and learn to be a team from the very beginning! Won't you give this boy a chance to tunnel, A-frame and leap right into your heart?

CGC Test!

I would to introduce Living "Duke" History, Canine Good Citizen! We completed our beginner obedience class last night. The final class also included taking the AKC Canine Good Citizen test, and Duke easily completed all required elements. I am very proud of him! He has come a long way from his first few days as a foster. He has become quite a gentleman yet maintains his zest for life. Somebody better adopt this fellow before I enroll him in an agility class!!!

My fiance and I had the pleasure of keeping Duke (Living History) this weekend while his foster parents were out of town. And let me tell you, he was the perfect house-guest! This boy is loaded with personality, and with manners! He got along great with our own greyhound - they chased tennis balls in the yard, played together with their stuffed toys, and even took a little dip in the kiddy pool. Duke liked the pool so much, he kept laying down in it! He has definitely mastered the "sit" and had impeccable manners on the leash when we went walking around the neighborhood. He crated well when we had to leave the house, and we had no issues with the two of them during dinner time. He is also king of the greyhound roach - its quite comical to see him sleep on his back with all four legs in the air!! This happy go-lucky boy has certainly won our hearts.

Very belated update

This is going to be a long post, I have a lot of catching up to do…

First day of Obedience Class
We started History (aka Duke) in an obedience class this weekend (4/20). Not that he is bad by any means, but I wanted to put is eagerness and food motivation to some good work! He was a bit overwhelmed at first by all the dogs. There are 10 of us in the class, but it is a wide variety of breeds and ages: from a beagle to a very shy Newfie. With all the activity, he was not so interested in the tasty treats I had, but eventually started to relax a bit. Then towards the end of the class, he noticed the big mirror on the wall. At which time his attention when right out the window again because this seemed like whole new bunch of dogs to see!!! All in all he did fine considering all the newness. The instructor was impressed with how outgoing and confident he is considering that he is a greyhound. Now if we can just keep up the good impressions!

Monday night after work, we went for a short 10-15 minute walk and then practiced our homework in the yard. Silly me, I tried to work with walking/heeling with Duke on the leash, but Aspen was also right beside him (unleashed) but following us every step of the way hoping for treats as well! It was funny, and Aspen actually did better while he was OFF the leash than when it was his turn to be on leash. Duke also followed along even when it was Aspen’s turn. We spent about 5 minutes doing that, then moved inside to practice sits. Well, OK we actually practiced “downs” since ‘sit’ doesn’t quite work yet, but we will get there.

Second Obedience Class
We made a little headway this week. Walking on leash is great, the initial attempts at down-stays were nearly perfect, but sit… not so much. We accomplished just one sit after much struggling, pushing, pulling, folding, luring… he just didn’t get it. Thankfully with some expert greyhound advice, while practicing at home the following week I backed Duke up a slope in the yard and then asked for a sit. VIOLA! 2 days later, he sits without the hill and in the house on command as well. The rest of the week we worked on sit-stays and down-stays while I moved around him. No problem!

Third Obedience Class
Well… although I took a dog that resembled Duke, it may as well have been Dumbo the elephant that accompanied me to class. We walked in, did a perfect sit while everyone was finding their places along the wall, and we did wonderful walking with attention, both slow and fast, (except for him occasionally picking up treats that others had lost on the floor). Then we were asked to practice our sit-stay routines, and out popped Dumbo and Duke the wonder-hound disappeared. He suddenly wanted nothing to do with the yummy treats (left over BBQ chicken breast for Pete’s sake!!). Duke briefly re-appeared partway through the class when we did down-stays, but then Dumbo soon returned. We tried the “meet a stranger” with other class members, and Duke was perfectly fine with the other dogs, just did not sit as he was supposed to do when the humans met and shook hands. Maybe it was the phase of the moon, but his attention just was not with me in class tonight. We have our work cut out for us this week.


Fourth, fifth and sixth Obedience classes
Things have been definitely improving since the time I last wrote! Duke pays attention to me during the class and seems very eager to please. He is confident and not afraid of anything new. We take the Canine Good Citizen test in two weeks. Unfortunately, we will be out of town this weekend, which is the last class before the test, so we have some serious practicing to do on our own. However, we are not using the training collar anymore. He does fine on walks without pulling hard and responds to me even with the distractions in class, so I think we have permanently retired the training collar.

At home he still LOVES to chase the squirrels, I am sure that he will get one eventually! He and Aspen have a good time chasing both the squirrels and the neighbor’s cat who strolls through the yard on occasion. On walks, he anxiously meets new dogs, but gets along fine with them. There is a chocolate lab on the corner of one the streets in our neighborhood. The lab is contained by an underground fence and comes running full-speed and barking at us each and every time we walk by. Duke now, merely pricks his ears at Sassy, and then completely ignores the ruckus as we walk by. For awhile he would stick like glue to my leg, but now we just go on our merry way past the lab.

Inside the house he is perfect. Aspen and Duke get along fine, even while jockeying for position when it’s time to open the magic closet (where the food and treats are)!. Actually, Duke will stay out of the kitchen during meal prep with the “Out” command and pointing to the doorway. And he knows “Manners” means that he pauses at the door instead of rushing in or out. He will stop and look at me until I tell him it’s OK to come in or out. That has helped greatly the traffic jams that occur when going in and out the door from the yard!

This weekend will be his first stay at another house while we are traveling. I’m sure that he will do fine and enjoy the change of scenery and change in the routine! Besides, there will be new squirrels to chase and a new greyhound buddy to get to know. Could life get any better? Maybe when he “graduates” and gets the CGC (Canine Good Citizen) added to his name, the ultimate reward will be to remove “foster” from his title too…. Anyone out there ready to adopt a soon-to-be new graduate????

Squirrels and Bubble-baths

Just to keep the ‘history’ theme with his name, the next famous person that History wants to be is Paul Bunyan. Oh does he love the squirrels (History that is, I don’t have a clue if Paul liked squirrels)! He will ‘statue’ at the window for minutes on end watching them feed on corn cobs that we put on our desk for just that entertainment! When out in the yard and he spies a squirrel, he is off and running full speed! Of course the squirrel’s immediate reaction is to go up the nearest tree. Of course without opposable thumbs, it is difficult to climb the tree to get the squirrel. Although History does his darnedest to try, he ends up actually doing a little dance around the base of the tree, bouncing on his hind legs, while his fronts are up the tree trunk begging the squirrel to come back. As the squirrel does a spiral up the tree, so does History at the bottom – round and round the trunk. (Yes, finally we are getting to the Paul Bunyan part…).If only he were Paul Bunyan he could wield his mighty ax and chop down the tree and bring the squirrel back to ground level… Of course I have not yet had the camera with me when he does this.

The other day he was in the bathroom with me when I decided it was time for a bubble bath (for me, not him), despite the water restrictions, because I had a really bad day. When I turned on the jets to the tub, History was not startled at all, but definitely curious as to what was going on. He kept looking into the tub watching the water swirl around. Then he would lie down, then come back again, cock his head from side to side watching the bubbles. Very cute. He licked the side of the tub, and my hand, but made no attempt to drink the water or climb in. Although I bet he would get in there for a bath (maybe without the jets), as fearless as he is! Of course when I was all done, he tried to steal the mesh bath-puff from the faucet. He thought it was a perfect toy! But a gentle “uh-uh” was all that was needed to ask him to leave it alone.

He and our other grey (Aspen) continue to get along fine. Inside the house Aspen runs to the front window and barks when people/dogs walk down the street. History blindly will follow him to the window, but not bark. Of course, depending on where he was coming from, frequently there is nothing to see when he gets there! The only thing I have found that History barks at the little red Dirt-devil hand vac that I use on the stairs and throw rugs. The big vacuum he doesn’t mind at all (unless it touches the bed he happen to be lying on), but this little one he barks at and tries to play with. At least I think he’s trying to play because his tail is wagging like crazy and he appears to be play-bowing! Outside History is one who will chase the squirrels and Aspen runs along side, but doesn’t understand why they have to stop at the tree because he didn’t see the squirrel, and was just running with glee beside History. It’s funny that the roles are reversed inside versus outside.

OK, just because his name is Living History, obviously that doesn’t mean that I know my history! That should have been Daniel Boone in the previous post (referring to the raccoon tail). We have actually been calling him Duke as I saw a note at the kennel that this may have been his call name. He has made great progress these past couple weeks. He now answers to his name, and will come immediately when called. Well, that is immediately unless the neighbor’s 2 little terriers are out and socializing through the fence.

He has really changed and mellowed quite a bit and is developing some very nice manners. With just a little reinforcement at the very beginning that the humans are alpha, he is very respectful. He will stay out of the kitchen during meals and meal-prep without questioning. Although he is still interested in following me from room to room, he quickly zonks out where ever he is. Comfy dog beds are simply HEAVEN! Stairs have not been a problem since the first day, but he has learned to slow down a little, especially coming down them. All of ours are carpeted, but I don’t imagine that uncarpeted ones would bother him either as he does the 5 open steps to the deck just fine. Walks have gotten much easier too. I still end up with some zig-zagging when I walk them both, but he is much better at not pulling toward other dogs we see along the way now. Other than my one potted plant on the very first day, he has shown absolutely no interest in marking or peeing in the house.

Duke/History does not interact much in the house with our grey, who is more on the timid side. But outside they will occasionally play chase. We are still working with sharing toys as Duke prefers not to. However with people he is perfect teddy bear - complete with thick fuzzy fur everywhere, unlike our grey who has a very bald belly and butt! I can take anything out of his mouth without a single protest (food, chewies or toys). He is really a very lovable fella who does not seem to mind anything that I do to him: trimming nails, pulling his ears, tugging on his tail, checking out his teeth, picking him up with his chest off the ground, wiping paws when coming in from the yard, great big bear hugs... And when you pet him, he leans into you so hard that if you move too quickly he nearly falls over! All the while looking at you with gorgeous brown eyes surrounded by dark brown “eyeliner”. Even his eyebrows are little darker and make his face very expressive!