Wordless Wednesday - Can Beryl Do It Without A Tail?

YES!!!

Are Greyhounds Really That Lazy?

One of the common misconceptions about Greyhounds is that they need a lot of exercise.  I wrote about this in my post about Greyhound Myths.  People who have Greyhounds are quick to say that Greyhounds are really 40mph couch potatoes and are lazy.

Now Beryl does like to laze around and she can do it in various ways

She can spread out on the couch

She can sleep on the mattress and the floor at the same time:)

Although Frankie can do that too;)

She can use Frankie as a foot rest!

And sleep cuddling him - although Frankie's hoping she's not going to strangle him!

She can curl up into a tiny ball

She can rest and smooch with Frankie on their cot mattress, awwww!

But most of these photos also include Frankie and no-one would ever call him a couch potato or lazy!!  And I don't consider Beryl to be lazy either.  I consider her to be 'easy':)  She likes to be in the thick of things but if there's nothing happening, well, why not have a snooze.  It's way better, as far as I'm concerned, than looking for some mischief or annoying me for some action!  A few minutes ago she came to see what I'm doing and see if I could be persuaded to take them for a walk.  When the answer was not now she was happy to have a bit of a cuddle and go back to snooze on my bed:)  That is a very easy type of dog to have around and since getting Beryl Frankie has calmed down a lot, although he might have anyway as he's 3 now.

It's very easy to get photos showing Beryl sleeping but running, now that's a different story. A lot of photos turn out like this

Would have been a nice photo if it was in focus!

Faster than a speeding bullet!

And then there are the photos of grass, a tail, a head etc.  It isn't easy getting good photos of a running Greyhound:)

This isn't quite what I have in mind:)  But at least it's in focus, lol.

And it's easy to get pretty photos of a Greyhound standing

Beryl enjoys the beach:)

But hey, if it was easy it wouldn't be a challenge and so very satisfying when you get that great shot.  I don't appear to have any to show you yet though, lol!

Do you think your Greyhound is lazy?

Wordless Wednesday - The Other Nubbin:)

Tommy's Nubbin:)

The Greyhounds Were a Big Hit:)

Beryl and I spent the past 2 days at a huge agricultural, rural event held this time every year in our town.  We were helping man the Greyhounds As Pets marquee and had a good muster of people and hounds on Friday.  I couldn't be there Thursday as I had to work but I think the same crew were there.  On Friday we had a steady stream of people showing lots of interest and wanting to pat our lovely guys and learn more about them:)

Stanley, Beryl and a sleepy Tina:)

This is the only photo I got of Stanley:(  He's a lovely boy who's been with his new family for about 3 weeks now (that's his Mum, Sarah, holding his lead) and they love him to bits.  Tina's Dad is Graeme who is in the blue.

Tommy (National Debt)

Tommy with his Dad, Norm, and Mum, Maxine, Andrew and his Mum, also Maxine:)

The interesting thing about Tommy (apart from the fact that he was a top racer who is loving his new life as a pet!) is that he is a stumpy tailed Greyhound like Beryl!!  Same problem with the happy tail syndrome.  So Beryl had company.  Tommy's new parents are amazed and very impressed at how well he's settled into his new life:)

Andrew; such a lovable guy

Tina enjoyed herself:)

Beryl being abducted by Dennis, our CGC instructor:)

Dennis loves dogs and when he'd need a doggy fix he'd come and take off with Beryl or maybe Billy and wander around with them for a while and help spread the word on what wonderful pets Greyhounds make:)

I can see my Mum!!!

Adorable Billy resting on my leg:)

Beryl napping with Sarah

Tommy making some new friends

Where you going Mum?

At one stage I handed Beryl's lead to a very surprised lady and just asked her to hang onto it so I could take some photos.  Beryl wasn't real impressed to begin with but after the lady started scratching her hips she decided it was OK:)

Yep, that's the spot:)

All in all Friday was a successful day:)  We made lots of new friends, so many people have never patted a Greyhound and don't know they can be pets!

Yesterday (Saturday) was VERY busy!  Big crowds, I hardly had time to take photos as we rarely had a break from talking to people and with only me and Beryl and Michelle and her 2 lovely boys, Rozzo and Jumbo, there for most of the day it was pretty full on.  And very tiring for the dogs.  Beryl took to hiding behind the table so she could have a break!!

Monique, Jumbo and see Beryl hiding behind the table, lol!

Monique is a special young lady.  She just turned 10 years old and is saving up for a Greyhound:)  She comes along on all the GAP walks and to events like this to learn and get a Greyhound fix!  Her Mum told me Monique won't have to wait much longer:)  Monique and her girlfriend, Nieve, spent the afternoon with us and loved taking Beryl and Jumbo for little walks, which gave the dogs a bit of a breather too.

Rozzo gazing adoringly at his Mum:)

Rozzo, Michelle, Monique, Jumbo, Nieve (Monique's gf) and Beryl

I have no idea who the girl on the left is, lol!  A member of the public who happened to be sitting there admiring Rozzo when I took the photo.  I'd just called Beryl to get her to look at me but she decided she'd better come and see what I wanted:)

Meredith and Seth

Later in the afternoon we were joined by Meredith and Seth (who used to be Snuffles;) and they were soon being admired by the public!

Beryl wants to go back to her hiding place!

Seth looking handsome:)

You could buy everything from licorice to leather goods at the show!

Just around the corner from us was a stall selling natural dog treats.  How lucky was that!!  I bought the kids a 1 kilogram bag of dried liver and a 1 kilo bag of seconds which contains all sorts, pigs ears, sheep ears, deer ears, liver, beef cakes etc.  Hopefully that will last them for a while!  Jo, from the stall, gave me a small bag of dried chicken necks to give to the Greyhounds and they went down very well.  If anyone from New Zealand is interested, they have got a web site (they do post overseas too!) www.pet-care.co.nz and their stuff is very yummy!

Beryl posing in front of the Feilding information area

On Saturday I must have told thousands of people why Beryl didn't have a tail!  I was wishing I'd written it all down and copied it off so I could just give people the story, lol!

But you don't need a tail to be beautiful!

When we finally got home Beryl was understandably exhausted and the thought crossed my mind that I'd leave her home to sleep while I took Frankie for a walk after we'd had tea.  But as soon as she heard me starting the 'we're going to the park' routine she sprang back to life and made it clear that no way was she going to be left behind, lol.  And she really enjoyed being outside without any people around and stretching her legs with a gallop, big grin all over her face:)

I was so proud of Beryl.  She's not a dog who needs much patting or attention and she accepted it all from thousands of strangers, a lot of whom were children who she doesn't have much experience with.  She made it plain late Saturday afternoon that she'd had enough when she started going behind the table to hide but she'd still come out, without grumbling, to be patted yet again when asked to.  Plus she's still not 100% after her tail docking, it still worries her a little and is tender but thankfully nobody touched it or trod on it when she was lying down!

Hopefully some adoptions will result from the show.  I know on Saturday, especially, we gave out lots of brochures on adoption and quite a few people went away giving very serious thought to adopting a Greyhound:)

Now, who has noticed something different about Beryl apart from her tail?  Yes, she's sporting a new collar;)

She's the Sun, Moon and Stars to me xox

Totally an impulse buy but as soon as I saw it I knew it was Beryl and couldn't resist.  It was going to be a Gotcha Day present (which isn't far away!) but shortly after I ordered it we had to dock her tail so it became a Happy Nubbin present:)

And it's Saturday Blog Hop time.

Wander over to any of the co-hosts Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers  or Confessions of the Plume! for the instructions on how to join in and have fun:)

Coffee, Tea and Us:)

A few weeks ago we were asked if we'd like to participate in an interview by Coffee With A Canine which, of course, we were delighted to do.  The finished result has just been posted and I hope you'll all go check it out.  There are also lots of interesting interviews to read with other people and their dogs.  Thanks Marshal:)

Shortly Beryl and I are going to the Central District Field Days which is a huge, 3 day rural event held at this time every year here in Feilding and Greyhounds As Pets have a marquee there:)  There are hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of things, big and small and thousands of people visit over the 3 days, so we're going to help spread the word about what wonderful pets Greyhounds are.  I hope to take lots of photos but the weather doesn't look promising ... well, it's looks like it's promising to rain!!

As it's not raining yet we'd better take off so hopefully we'll get undercover before the skies open!

Catch you all later and I'll leave you with a photo of Fatima's latest foster dog, the handsome Hugo, with our kids at the velodrome:)

Hugo, Lucy, Frankie and Beryl

Wordless Wednesday - Doggie Dancing:)

Lucy and Frankie

Keeping Up Appearances!

Quite a few years ago now there was a wonderful English comedy series shown on TV here in New Zealand called Keeping Up Appearances.  The star of the programme was a middle aged character called Hyacinth Bucket ... pronounced Bouquet:)  She had great pretensions of grandeur and class but always let herself down in an extremely funny manner.  If you ever see a DVD of the series it's well worth watching:)

What has this got to do with me and the kids, you may be wondering?  Well, I've been ever so gently chastised by a couple of my lovely readers for letting down my classy Princess by putting up photos of her in a collar that didn't match her tail bandage!!  Funnily enough (!) she actually does have a collar that matches her bandage perfectly and I had thought she should be wearing it but was too lazy to change the collars over.  However I quickly rectified matters and proudly present my lovely Princess in a matching ensemble this time:)

Better late than never I suppose, Mum:)

Right profile

Left profile

And my girl can still run with a big smile on her face:)  At this area of the river there is a decent strip of lovely sand and the other night, when she very purposefully strode away from me, I knew she was going to turn and race towards me:)  I just had time to get my camera out and turn it on but not really time to zoom in and focus but I got a couple of photos of her in action!

Go Beryl!!

And again:)

She's loving it:)

It does my soul so much good to see her running and enjoying herself:)

And it's Saturday again and you know what that means ... Blog Hop time!

For the instructions visit any or all of the 3 co-hosts Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of The Plume.  Have a wander around and make new friends:)

Is This Tongue-tacular?

We stumbled across a cool blog written by Anna the GSD a few days ago and she's running a competition for the most spectacular tongue around.

I've just got time to get an entry in before it closes and as Beryl has been hogging the blog lately I thought it was Frankie's turn:)  Some of my recent, random photos of Frankie have shown his tongue doing weird things that I never imagined possible and it's a shame to waste them.  So, here are some of the things Frankie can do with his tongue ...

He can curl it

Side view - and he's not as porky as he looks in this photo!

He can run with it out the front

He can run with it out to the side

And he can run with it curled and out to the side!!

The last photo looks a little obscene to me, lol, but it's probably the most tongue-tacular!

And just so Beryl doesn't feel left out

She can look gorgeous with her tongue hanging out:)

There's probably still a day to go before the competition closes so if you've got a spectacular tongue photo why not check out Anna's blog, heck, why not go check it out anyway and look at the entries:)

There's still a few days to go before Beryl gets her new bandage taken off and the stitches removed.  When I took her to the vet on Monday afternoon to get the bandage changed I was quite shocked to see that her tail is even shorter than I thought!!  It's probably a good 1/2 inch shorter than it looks because of the tail protector she's got on!  And it's shaved ... it never occurred to me that, of course, it would be shaved before it was operated on, duh!  But it's a very cute, short, shaved nubbin:)

Happy Friday everyone!