Camp Day

Yesterday we took Earl out to Sleeping Giant Provincial Park for a little hike. The weather was ideal... breezy and cool. We spent the day with friends and did a 9km hike (5.5miles). Earl was a trooper and looked smashing in his I AM NOT A DEER bandana.

A new friend

Recently I received a notifcation from Northern Lights Greyhound Adoption. Apparently they had received a request from an Ottawa greyhound adoption association that a hound adopted from them was missing in Thunder Bay! I was thinking to myself... "What???? there are more greyhounds in town?" (Apparently there at least three more.)

Anyway... Earl and went out to see if we could find the missing hound, a girl named Snappy. We were unsuccessful but found out that later that day, after missing for 67 hours, Snappy had been found by a family a few miles away from her home.

Since then we have been in touch with Snappy's owner and last weekend went out for a short walk with Earl's new GF.

A Trail of Bread Crumbs.

It amazes me how Earl's personality traits grow. For the first year and a bit that we had Earl, he was not much of a leaner. He would stand in front of you to get petted, and when you stopped petting he would switch so you could pet the other side. Now however, Earl seems to have skipped right past the whole leaning thing and gone right to hip-checking. Now when Earl wants to get petted, he walks up to you, then does a 180 turn and throws a pretty good hip check... just to get some attention.

Another quirk Earl has is taking his kibble from his dish in the kitchen, and one kibble at a time... bringing it into the living room. The coming back for another. And then another trip back. Who knows... maybe he is worried about getting lost? (Sometimes, the single kibble doesnt make it all the way to the living room, Earl eats it, and has to return to the kitchen yet again.)

Rooing!

It's been a while since the last Earl post, so since a picture is worth a thousand words I figured a moving picture must be worth 10,000... so here is a video of Earl doing some rooing.

The Basement

Since my daughter has gone back to school I have decided to reclaim the basement. Once again it will become my domain, where I can sit back and watch some football, hockey and movies. For the summer, and for the two years previous to that there has always been one of my kids using the rec room as their HUGE bedroom. Well, I am taking it back.

It has been a two weeks process of reclamation. One evening while my wife and I were working in the basement, Earl was whining at the top of the basement stairs, wanting to come down. So far he has ventured as far as two paws on the first step... and occassionally one paw on the second step, but that is as far as he will go. I don't blame him... I wouldn't want to be on my hands and knee crawling headfirst down the basement stairs.

My wife urged me to help him down, so after much coaxing... I finally picked him up and carried him down the stairs. All 73 pounds of him. He took the carrying well... was as rigid as a board, but did not act skittish about his trek downstairs.

Earl spent a lot of time running around the rec room and exploring all the other rooms down there... and finally christened the carpet where it meets the bottom of the stairs. Gonna have to get him out of that habit.

By the end of the evening Earl and I had made it up and down the stairs three times. Now, Earl isn't a lightweight... and I have bad knees... the day after carrying Earl I didnt feel too bad... but the second day post Earl.. wow... was I sore!!!

We will look into a runner for the stairs and will work on getting Earl up and down the stairs. It will take some time as they are pretty steep, but I am sure the runner will help.

Bath Time!

Not far from us is a car wash that has bays where you wand wash your car... not one of those new-fangled drive through car washes where you get to sit inside. At this particular carwash there is a separate room for a doggie wash with an area to shower your dog and an area to dry your faithful companion. We have taken Earl there once before and he did fine. This time however we decided not to venture out, and for the first time, we showered him at home.

To start... Earl did not even want to enter the bathroom. And to be honest... the bathroom is very small, so with my wife already in the room... and then trying to get Earl in there... no wonder he was nervous.

In the end... I lifted Earl (all 73.1 lbs) into the bathtub. He was shaking but not once did he try to bolt out of the tub.

Like a trooper Earl stood and allowed himself to be scrubbed and buffed with nice warm water... and not once did his legs give out on him.

After the shower and some toweling off Earl scampered into the living room where he rubbed himself along the front of both the love seat and sofa to further dry himself.... he was so excited it was like he was a puppy!

After Earl settled down, he was rewarded by being snuggled in MY bathrobe!

Curious Earl.

While going through a local household accessory store I couldn't believe my eyes! There... peeking from the top shelf of one of the display racks... a greyhound statue! Now, I did not go out looking for this particular accessory, but since I am refurnishing our rec room, I thought this would be the perfect addition. Who knew I was such a decorating genius?

We had the statue sitting on the kitchen table when we first got it home. Later in the evening Earl meandered into the kitchen and the statue immediately caught his attention.

Earl did not know what to make of this addition to the household. He cocked his head curiously... walked back and forth to take a look from a different angle... then at one point placed his paws on the table to get a closer look.

After we took the statue down from the table we placed it in the living room... and Earl sniffed all around it... ever so curious. Later, when we were away from the living room and just Earl and the statue together... we suddenly heard little "chirps" from Earl... which we have never heard before. We think maybe he was talking to the statue.

Not My Good Hat!!!

Earl seems to have gone into super-collector mode lately. His latest find was a straw Corona cowboy hat I picked up in Mexico last year as a souvenir of a cruise my wife and I went on.

Earl had previously made off with the hat when it was sitting on my office desk. I managed to retrieve it from him but he had already done some damage to it. The video illustrates Earl showing off his fine voice when I was wearing the hat... before I finally relented and let him play with it.

A Visit To The Airport

Today my daughter went back to school in Toronto. She insisted that Earl see her off at the airport. So along with her overweight suitcases we also packed Earl in the van. While dogs are allowed in the airport, they are not allowed upstairs in the waiting area, only downstairs where the luggage carousels and ticket agents are located.

It was down here that we sat and enjoyed our morning coffee while travellers oooo-ed and awwww-ed over Earl. One ticket agent finally made her way over to us and we thought she was going to tell us that only small dogs were allowed in the airport. Instead, she said that she had watched us walk by her three times and had to come over and see Earl up close.

It was pretty much a non-stop procession of people coming to visit Earl. One little girl... not quite two years old, actually walked right up to Earl and planted a kiss right on his nose. Good thing Earl is so easy going and takes all the attention in stride.

A Trip To The Vet

Last year when I brought Earl to the vet for his first time it was a new experience for me. I selected the veterinarian out of convenience (their office was a two minute drive from work). Earl had two visits to that particular vet, and I just didn't feel comfortable with the care he received. There was nothing bad about the care, just nothing special. And if I felt uncomfortable, I am sure earl felt the same way as he is probably more sensitive than I am.

This week I took Earl to a different vet, one recommended by a girl I work with. The difference was night and day. Whereas the vet last year had me hoist Earl up onto the exam table, this veterinarian got down on the floor and ran her hands all over him, checking him out thoroughly. He received two shots and did not even flinch. The vet was enamoured with Earl and told me about how when she received her training in animal acupuncture and chiropractic, they practiced on greyhounds because of their muscle definition. She also commented on how stoic the hounds were. She said they could do almost whatever they needed to do with the dogs and they never reacted negatively because they were so used to be handled.

Earl's weight last year after his second visit to the vet was 73.1 lbs. This year... 13 months later... 73 lbs. Looks like he has found his natural weight. I should be so lucky.