Wednesday, March 3, 2010

This is it: "Dog Blog"

Okay, as promised finally a proper introduction of the four legged members of our family.

Some of you may know that Jack and I met through Greytalk
Both of us joined several years ago, we both had greyhounds and it is a good way to get some info about the breed, the background of these dogs and for me it was a way to get the word out about the galgo's in Spain. The board has members from all over the world, but most members are American people.
Anyway, you all know how this contact developed.

So now we have 4 dogs together.
Johhny and Tex, both greyhound males and belonged to Jack. Paquita, the lurcher and Cara the galgo, both  females, belonged to me.
And from the first introduction on in September they get along really well.
Johnny thought he had to show that he actually was ' the guy'  in the house, but he found out really fast that Cara wasn't impressed by that type of behavior. And since than they all sleep in the same room, on the same couch if there is space, though Paquita prefers her own dogbed.

Tex is the eldest. He is about 12 years old and an ex-racer. He is a very sweet, gentle dog that loves to have his butt scratched and his ears rubbed. He will make the most funny faces when you do that. He spent a long time at the track and it looks like that left its marks on his back.
He is the only one who has trouble with our pergo floor, he slips now and than, which makes him scared.
It took me quite a while to get decent pictures of him, he doesn't like the camera and looks away.
For the rest, I have the feeling that he rules the roost.  But in a quiet, not in your face way.
He also has the softest fur I have ever seen on a greyhound.
For the rest, there isn't much to say about him, he is as I said sweet, quiet and handsome. One of those dogs that is easy and great to have around.






Johnny is the biggest one of them all, matter of fact is, he is huge, meaning tall. He always is on the skinny side. He is one of those dogs that have a hard time keeping their weight.  He is about 10 years old now and one of those, in your face dogs. Actually, he is a bit spoiled by Jack. If you would ask Johnny, we are here to serve him. Add his size to that and you understand that with him it is important to let him know that we are in charge, not him. He is also very funny and very happy every time you come home.
He will let you know by running into you, pillow in his mouth and tossing it in the air, pouncing on it and running around.
He also is a former racer, but wasn't adopted out right away, he ended up as a coyote dog. (used to hunt coyotes) This isn't without danger for the dogs and he when he finally ended up for adoption, he was covered in scars. He was Jack's first greyhound and it turned out he had huge separation anxiety. Which is why Jack adopted Tex.  Johnny is the type of dog that you can tell tons of things about because he isn't the brightest bulb. But he also is very cute and sweet and it is hard not to give into him if he wants something.

Paquita is a galgo border collie mix (lurcher) which I found at the Scooby shelter in Spain almost 8 years ago when I was there as a volunteer for Greyhounds in Nood Nederland. She was only a few weeks old at the time and she grew up with my son who she bonded with.
She is one of the sweetest and softest dogs I know if it comes to character. She is also very sensitive and will react to whatever mood there is in the house. She puts herself in lowest place in the group and is comfortable with it. She also loves her people, and the people she meets and the dogs she meets.
She is also too smart. I took her to three courses and she loved learning the tricks, but don't let her off leash. She will have a great time, will come when called, until the moment her galgo button gets pushed.
Banana's start growing out of her ears in an instant and she takes off.
So she rarely gets let off leash.  In a way that is okay, since the others can't be off leash at all. But in the rare occasion  she can be let off leash at a save place, you see how much she adores playing and running around with other dogs. Anyway, even though she now is the oldest of my own dogs, she will always be my baby.

And last, but certainly not least, we have Cara, aka the Little White Monster. She also comes from the Scoobyshelter in Spain, adopted through Greyhounds in Nood Nederland and I am not really sure what her age is now. I had asked for a steady, quiet, grown up dog to accompany Paquita after my two old dogs past away. What I got was a bit different.
She was not even a year old and a lot more scared than she looked at first. She had lived in a group of males since she was a puppy and decided she didn't want to bond with any female dog.  She more or less ignores Paquita, but is very happy to have the two big males around now. From the first moment on she choose Johnny to wrap around her paw. They are funny to see together. Where Johnny lies, she lies and usually with her head on his butt. Most of her fears are slowly going, she decided within two weeks after moving here that Jack was ok and will lie on his lap if she feels like it.  This after being scared to death of him every time Jack came over to the Netherlands, he couldn't even pet her. She also is our wild child, she races through the house and has a huge prey drive. Which is fun with all the rabbits and squirrels here. She still has quite the bit of separation anxiety, but is getting better these days.

Sooo, that is a bit about all of them.
Off course I could tell a lot more about them all but this is it for today.
But if it weren't for these guys, Jack and I would have never ended up in this adventure together.
And that makes them a huge part of our lives.
Love them all.

4 comments:

Petra said...

Great story!
Love the characters. Our two are completely different too.
Give them a big hug from me!

Petra said...

Fun to read how different they all are. Paw from Cosmo for all 4 of them.

houndstooth said...

Well, you know that I'm a huge fan of Cara, but they're all stunning!

Sistertex said...

Just found your blog - do I love your hounds...YES I do. :) Yours are beautiful!!!