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Christmasandnewyear report

January 4th 2009 06:28
dog dogs pet pets greyhound greyhounds

Hi, Big Brindle here. Just thought I'd pop in and say hello. Short Black says hi too. (That's us above, up close and cosy, settled for a nice nap.)

If you'd like to know what's been happening, we've just been through something our Humans call christmasandnewyear, and I have to tell you, it was tiring. People everywhere, and not one of them understood that patting hours are 6-8am and 6-8pm. The rest of the time, of course, is for sleep, but every time we dozed off some new Human would arrive and want to pat and fondle and coo. You'd think they had never seen a greyhound before.

Especially a sleeping one.

The thing is, all these Humans walking through our front door, and only one of them had the courtesy to bring a dog. Here she is, sitting on her Human's lap.

dog dogs greyhound gethounds maltese terrier christmas


Her name is Prilly, and she's a frilly Maltese terrier. Something of a difficult house guest, too. We tried to be nice, sniffing subtly and panting politely, but, well, I think she prefers dogs who stand closer to floor level. When I first said hello, she cringed. I thought she was about to make a little puddle. She calmed down pretty quickly, but spent most of the afternoon camped on her Human.

It's the old communication problem: how can you bond with someone who's too short to sniff your bum?








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Our boy

December 21st 2008 02:16
dog dogs pet pets greyhound greyhounds

Our boy's name is Scratchy. His dad was a champion racing greyhound in Ireland and his mum was a champion racing greyhound in Australia. He was one of a litter of eight and his seven brothers and sisters are successful racing greyhounds. Scratchy won one race, but it wasn't a big one. It was in a small country town before a crowd comprising mainly dust and flies. We don't know how many starters there were in the race. Possibly one. Not long after that Scratchy was retired, and then he came to live with us.

Our boy is a greyhound with tiger stripes. The technical name is brindle but our little neighbour Jake calls him a tiger and we like to think of him like that too. His roar is definitely worse than his bite though.

Our boy is gentle. All greyhounds are gentle, but Scratchy takes it to new levels. When he walks up and lowers his head and asks for a scratch in that special place at the base of his ears, he does it with all the force of a growing mushroom.

Our boy is a softy. Greyhounds are pack animals and it is important for humans to establish pack leadership. After that, it is up to the dogs to sort themselves out for the minor placings. Daisy, our second greyhound, established authority over Scratchy about three minutes after arriving in our house, but she didn't have to try very hard. About the only thing that disturbs his equanimity is if Daisy tries to muscle in on an ear scratch.

Greyhounds are the second-fastest land animals on Earth. Scratchy likes to run occasionally, and when he does it is beautiful to watch. But most of the time, if he has to move at all, he does so at a pace rivalled only by some of the slower tectonic plates.

Except in matters of food. When it is dinner time, Scratchy can move from sofa to dog bowl at the speed of thought, passing cheetahs, Ferraris and F18 Hornets on the way.

Our boy has epilepsy. He was started on one phenobarbital tablet twice a day, but the dose has had to be raised to two tablets twice a day. The incidence of seizures is reduced, but he still has them. We try to tell ourselves, when it is happening, that he is not in pain, but epileptic fits are distressing things to watch. We just try to keep him away from anything he could hurt himself on, and we wait, and afterwards we care for him with infinite tenderness as the fog slowly clears and our boy comes back to us.

dog dogs pet pets greyhound greyhounds



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A litter of mastiff proportions

December 15th 2008 22:19
neapolitan mastiff

There is cute, there is very cute, and then there is mastiffly cute.

Meet Indy, the Australian champion Neapolitan mastiff, and her 18 puppies, delivered December 14, 2008.

The litter was 20, but two died. It is thought to be the largest dog litter delivered in Australia. (The world record is 24, delivered by a great dane in the UK in 2005.)

The puppies, nine of which have already been sold for A$2500 each, will put on about 3kg a week and will weigh up to 90kg when fully grown.

The Neapolitan mastiff was first bred about 1,000 years ago to guard property. They can be grey-blue, black, tawny, mahogany or brindle. They are fearless protectors when called upon to be so. They are wary around strangers but relax once they get to know the person. They are affectionate with family and friends. They are usually very loving with children.

The Neapolitan mastiff is a descendant of the molossus, huge war dogs of the Middle East, and were used in the Roman arenas pitted against lions, bears and gladiators for entertainment, and as dogs of war, fighting alongside the Roman legions. Eventually the descendants of the Roman molossian splintered into several mastiff breeds: English mastiff, Dogue de Bordeaux, Spanish mastiff, St Bernard and rottweiler.

A Neapolitan mastiff was featured in the Harry Potter movies as Hagrid's dog Fang.
www.news.com.au, www.mypets.net.au


neapolitan mastiff


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Lap of luxury

December 13th 2008 00:38
dog greyhound

What else are house guests for? Just give that left ear another scratch, wouldya?

dog greyhound




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I can see puddles

December 12th 2008 23:37
dog greyhound rain

And the news from south-eastern Australia is that it is raining.

It is a warm, steady, rose-petal ruffling, early summer rain. It is a drought-breaking, catchment-filling, crop-making, farmer-yodelling rain.

It has been raining steadily for 36 hours, and follows other good falls earlier this week. It is the sort of rain which 10-year-old children around here have never seen.

There is no negative that can be attached to this whatsoever, unless it is the teensiest hint of inconvenience when, at 7am today, it was time to take the dogs for a walk.

In his 1968 novel In Watermelon Sugar, Richard Brautigan has a scene where three people are walking in the rain. One, dressed in a suit, is scrunched up and miserable. The other two, dressed as free spirits and probably with flowers in their hair, are walking with their faces turned upwards savouring the wonder and joy of nature's munificence and ... you get my drift.

All these years after reading the book, I still feel ashamed when I cringe at the idea of walking in the rain. Dammit, I thought this morning, grabbing the dog leads and shoving a flower in my hair, let's go!

I'm not sure that Scratchy, aged four, or Daisy, aged two, have ever seen a puddle. "Oh look," said Daisy, peering intently into one, "there's a good-looking but slightly out-of-focus dog looking back at me."

We went to the park, which has lots of landscaped gardens and the biggest collection of palm trees this side of Tahiti. The palm trees dripped happily, the warm rain reminding them of the tropical homes of their ancestors.

We saw only one other person, a runner in red singlet and white baseball cap. Given the amount of rain on my glasses, I wished I had a baseball cap. The runner stopped at the public toilet block - one of those modern things with unisex cubicles and flashing lights and enormously complicated instructions and (the runner was stooping now, the better to see the last of the instructions) inconvenient opening hours. The runner said a very rude word and shuffled away in the forlorn hope of finding a dry bush.

We stayed out longer in the rain than expected and enjoyed every minute of it. If I had a baseball cap, I would doff it in salute to Richard Brautigan.

Back home, we walk down the side path to the back of the house, where I fetch an old towel from the shed and give the dogs a rub down before letting them inside. They look like they have had a bath.

Melbourne's reservoir levels are still at just 34 per cent so this rain is universally welcome. With the bonus that you get to walk in it. What could be better?

What's that you said Scratchy? Oh, he thinks the best part was the rub-down with the towel.

dog greyhound daisy
"Tell me again, how did the other dog
get in the wotchmacallit - puddle?"

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Five-star dog house

December 7th 2008 02:15
dog kennel luxury

In a display of dog appreciation which some people may call barking mad, a British surgeon is building a kennel for her two great danes for £250,000. That is US$368,000, or A$568,000, or enough money to rescue every stray dog in Europe.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Greyhounds make great pests

December 3rd 2008 01:56
greyhound sweet face

There are greyhound lovers everywhere. I just found one in a quiet corner of the internet and I love the message she wrote, which is both the proclamation of a convertee to the cause of greyhounds as great pets, and evidence that you don't need perfect grammar or sparkling language to communicate the wonderful nature of greyhounds.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Table of two cities

November 28th 2008 01:29
christmas morning

This sweet little table was brought to life in a small Hong Kong factory and has since hosted family Christmas lunches, candlelit suppers and riotous gatherings of good friends.

[ Click here to read more ]
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The dogs don't dig it

November 27th 2008 11:47
paving work

It has been a traumatic three days for the dogs, who have seen their beloved backyard turned into an alien landscape. We tried to explain that we had little choice, but understanding and forgiveness weren’t immediately forthcoming.

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Dogs' days disturbed

November 19th 2008 05:38
daisy greyhound
Please don't leave me

Our dogs like their days to go like this: wake at first birdsong, whine outside the bedroom door for a minute until Big Boss yells "Go away," go away, laugh, dig hole in garden or destroy fluffy cushion or bark at birds or inspect interior of rubbish bin or do zoomie laps of the house until Big Boss or Little Boss appear for walkies time followed by breakfast, sleep the sleep of exhausted innocents, wake, eat dinner, sleep, wake at first birdsong ...

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greyhound adoption
Gentle Tess needs a home

Dammit, it's always a mistake visiting the Victorian Greyhound Adoption Program web site. They have lots of pictures of dogs looking for adoptive homes, and that tugs at the heart. And they have some fiendishly clever copywriting to go with the pictures, and that tugs at the heart even more.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Thundering greyhounds

November 13th 2008 21:01
It is 6.27am and I am woken by two greyhounds chasing each other up and down the wooden floorboards of the passage outside my bedroom. It sounds like thunder.

We have a firm rule in our house. The dogs are allowed to sleep inside as long as they don't wake us early. They have been doing well, but they have relapsed this morning


[ Click here to read more ]
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Daisy finds gold

November 12th 2008 22:50
In a major upheaval in the lives of our greyhounds, we have a new sofa.

We have two sofas - and anyone with two greyhounds will understand the need for this excess. One of them, due to the wear and tear of time and the tossing of sleeping dogs, was in need of replacement


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Pillow fright

October 31st 2008 10:06
greyhound
Such a nice cushion. I know, let's ...

Greyhounds like to sleep about twenty-three and a half hours a day. The time they don't like sleeping is, invariably, the 30 minutes before your alarm goes off.

[ Click here to read more ]
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