the chicken

Techno rage

As per usual, so much has happened since I last posted.

I have not posted because my laptop died! Well, the charger at any rate. It was disastrous, I rely on my computer. I survived perfectly well before I had it, but it has now integrated itself into my life. Quite sad, but anyway, back to the business of Dog Blogging!

We still have Omo staying with us.

As you can see, he is over it. Either that or he is very, very tired. We have been doing alot for your average greyhound and he is less fit than most. First of all we attended K9 Capers. That was fun, there were so many greyhounds there, I think about 17 in total. My girl Asha was there, we got to have quality time before she had to go back with Si again. (sob) Mr Skidattle was also there for his last hoorah before saying Seyonara and heading to Japan to live happily ever after! Skidattle LOVES me. Follows me around and glues himself to me everytime I see him. He and Omo hung out, being that most of the promo dogs are girls....

There are little competitions run at K9 Capers. One of them is "fastest dog" Those who know greyhounds know that our dogs have a slim to nil chance of winning, those that don't assume we are going to blitz it. Don't get me wrong, they ARE fast dogs, just not usually when you WANT them to be, or in this case, chasing a ball in front of an audience. Patch is pretty good at it. She did well at the last one and came 3rd this time, scoring a bag of treats and toys and a book for me. Yay for Patch. Skidattle actually WON. Though being a greyhound they gave the prize to the next fastest and he got a pat! Now, there is no way in the world that he leaves my side by choice, so we cheated a little. I stood across from the start, got somebody else to hold him and when they threw the ball, which he took NO notice of whatsoever, called him. 1.6 seconds later there he was!

After a huge day out we had a doggy (or should that read dodgy!) sleep over...

This is Omo hiding from Patch. She has hit the terrible two's or is just having a crank fest. She is generally a very friendly, happy, easy going dog. She is not growly or clingy or difficult. Lately she has been all three. Poor Omo has been growled and even snapped at, for daring to walk near her no less! The audacity of him! This is odd, since Skidattle can literally sit on her head and she just moves. She just has it in for Omo. Possibly because Omo loves Pete. He lies at his feet and follows him around. She has not come across this before. She is not all that good at sharing....

She hasn't really eaten much since Fletch left us, she is about as mopey and sad as I am. The Chicken is doing happy dances on the other hand!

I am still in negotiations to ensure that Asha comes to live with us.......

The shoe is in the other foot now..

When I started out fostering I would either be REALLY excited to get a PH call from Kirsty or completely dread picking up the PH. I was happy to hear from her when I was GETTING a dog, not so much when I thought she would be taking one away. As Katy says, she is either the bringer of good things, or the evil dog snatcher.

Funny how things come full circle. I am now the evil one who rips gorgeous foster dogs from their besotted carers. I had to make my first "Hi, how's Taz going? Great, glad to hear she has settled in really well and that you think she is wonderful. So, I'll be moving her on the weekend....." call. Not much fun as I know all too well what it is like!

I did however have a dog I had prepared earlier to step into the gaping hole.. I'm good like that! I personally can't be without a foster dog. Neither can Patch. Fortunately Manny came home with me on Thursday.

He was meant to be elsewhere, but he decided that playing with the cat would be fun and has been duly sent to Chicken Boot Camp. I have been a little remiss in my duties of drumming into him that "Thou shalt not chase The Chicken"  Supervision is required to make sure they don't get out of hand. I have been dead tired and a little lazy with the whole introductions side of things. To add to the chaos I did dog swaps on Friday afternoon. Mr Skidattle skidattled on out to a new foster home, and in came Suzie. Photos don't do her justice, she is the prettiest, shiniest little black dog I have ever seen. A little shy, only a baby, 2 in April.

She was only an overnighter, today we are back to Manny and Patch Rat. Manny is a lovely sooky little boy, he lay in my lap for an hour today while I read my book, every time I stopped patting him the little head would come up and he would demand that I continue to stroke him. He fits nicely into a lap!

I do have to keep a close eye on him though, being a boy dog he thinks that peeing is fun....

Patch is doing her bit for GAP, she is coming to check out a potential foster home today. She loves to come out with me, I try and include her in as many outings as possible. When she see or hears the car keys she runs straight down and waits by the car. She was a little offended today when I put Suzie in the car and made her stay home....

Dare to ignore ME???

Then I shall destroy things.....

I will start with the feather pillow because that makes a heap of mess, and feathers stick to the carpet and are REALLY painful to clean up!

When you catch me out at that one I will go and lie on my bed and give you death stares until you are overwhelmed with guilt for leaving me home alone all day....

Yep, Skidattle is an attention seeker. Pouting didn't work so he resorted to ripping up cushions. The general rule with kids and dogs is that if it is too quiet you need to get in there FAST and see what is going on. This doesn't really apply to greyhounds, they are pretty quiet most of the time. It's when you heard the clicking of little scurrilous nails then ripping that you get worried....

I know for a fact that this was Skidattle's handy work. Pete questions this. Hmmm, my Patch Rat just WOULD NOT do this! No, really, it WAS Skidattle. Proved by the fact that he looked TOTALLY innocent and the dead giveaway, he was down the dreaded stairs, right next to the pillow whilst Patch was on her bed.

Couldn't possibly be her!

The Spectacular Petacular

What a weekend.

By some miracle we had a fully installed and ready to roll stall by 7.30am Saturday. This is our masterpiece.

Impresseve if I do say so myself. Just add greyhounds!

We had a successful weekend, and have some VERY tired puppies. I took Skidattle and Patch on Saturday. Patch is a promo veteran, she has been to every single promo since I have had her. She goes silly when she meets all the other greys,then promptly lays down and sleeps the day away. Mostly. She has small fits of energy, which are siezed uopn by a few people as a great opportunity to wind her up and watch her behave like an idiot! I love that she can be so calm and tolerant of strangers patting her etc, and still play and be silly.

My two doing what they do best. Sleeping.....

Skidattle didn't cope all that well, he got quite stressed at one stage, so we went for a little walk, had a cup of tea, a bex and a good lie down and he was ok after that. He was fine as long as I was there to hold his paw....

Patch put in a good 12hours on Saturday (Skidattle too) I decided to leave Skidattle at home on Sunday, Taz came to visit and keep him company and Patch and I set out again. Another 12hour day and she was such an angel. At the end of the weekend we had to dismantle the stand. She lay quietly on her bed with Goldie (the ultimate promo dog) doing the same. We took down in about an hour what it took us 10ish to create!!!

So many people over the weekend didn't want to "disturb" the sleeping/resting dogs. We had to explain that lazing around is what greyhounds DO. They are not likely to be any different at home. We had many enquiries and already applications for adoptions and new foster carers. This is great, keeping us all busy, but great!

Banjo was with us to keep us on our toes. He had a ball....

I'm not a Border Collie???

I am not often lost for words.

Today I was stunned into silence. Skidattle has transformed. The first time he was here he was a quiet dog, didn't play, didn't really do much of anything. Since he has come back he play bows, wags with the best of them, even jumps up when he is excited. This in itself is lovely but not awe inspiring. What got me was his performance at the park this afternoon.

I wish I had captured it on film. I have not seen anything like it and doubt I will again.

A bouncy little Samoyed was doing the agility course. Went through the tunnels, over the rails, onto the platform and then over the large A frame. **Still not at the good bit yet**   I am watching this. So is Skidattle. With absolutley no prompting whatsoever what happens next?

Well, next thing you know Skidattle starts climbing up the A frame..... WHAT THE??? Scrambled a little to get to the top as he started from a walk. He manages to perch himself on the top, then looks around mighty confused. Must say that I was too. I have no idea what possessed him to climb up there.... must have looked like fun! Poor boy is just perched up there, cant decide if he should go forward or backwards. Ended up going forward, sauntered down and continued nonchalantly on his way.

He is also learning to sit. What a clever boy...

Smurf on the rampage

Mr Murphy is a busy little puppy. Today he thought he would help clean out the garage. This is in spite of the fact that before his valiant efforts it was all organised and the box was complete and ready to go to the tip. This is the aftermath of a bored Smurf.

Helpful little bunny isn't he?

Ah well,he is so cute that all you can do is laugh, and remove all shreddable objects!

I did a swapsie, Phoebs for Murphy. She is much quieter and less inclined to eat the place....always a good thing.

Mr Murphy is with another foster carer, and I had a quiet chat to him when I dropped him off. This gist of that conversation was that he had better behave himself and various threats if he didn't. He seemed to take it all very seriously and I imagine he will now be an angel! (Wishful thinking?!!)

The best laid plans

Today we said good-bye to Sweetie. She went to a lovely forever home.

She wasted no time sussing out the garden. Couldn't do anything but laugh when she came tearing around the side of the house with a piece of bone in her mouth and started to throw it around and play. No idea where she got it from, we took it off her just in case it was cooked and she was a bit miffed. She looked so proud of herself for finding it. I think she will settle in well and be much loved. Her new family are having another addition soon, a little baby girl. Sweetie can look forward in years to come to being dressed up in pink by a little girl. What every greyhound deserves....

I schemed and planned and thought that I would have Fletcher for one night at least. Then I got really excited, I was going to get Murph back! He is a sooky boy, has some issues. This is not surprising, when we first picked him up he was with Fletcher. They had probably NEVER been apart from each other. He comes to our house, then goes to another home and it has finally sunk in that he is on his own now. He is still totally adorable and much loved by his foster carer, just needs more people contact.

He thought he had it bad with The Chicken at our place. Tag team Siamese have it all over us.

Since he actively avoids even making eye contact with anything feline the Siamese are having a complete ball tormenting him. I think The Chicken would get on well with these guys!

So Mr Murph is not coming here, niether is Phoebs...... or Fletch.

We have Skidattle, who had somewhat of a personality transplant between 8am and 4pm today. He now has one! Got home to a typical Patch Rat greeting, and low and behold, Mr gigantic fat unco Skidattle joined in! I don't call him that to be unkind, he is a lovely dog, he is just so chunky and well rounded in comparison to the delicate little girls we have had lately.

So all quiet here until after the Petacular. The one upside of this is that I now only have to wash 2 dogs for the weekend, not 4!

Skidattling on thin ice

Sweetie is going to her forever home tomorrow. This meant she needed a bath today so her new peeps get a lovely clean day-glo white dog. She is currently under house arrest... Went for a walk after her bath to dry off and she is not allowed out unsupervised until she gets picked up tomorrow. She looks stunning. The white ones are always the softest, and now she is fairly glowing with brightness. I am impressed with my washing efforts and am NOT going to let her ruin them!

Pretty difficult when I bring another dog home tonight and they all want to run and play outside. Had to have minor chaos in the lounge to avoid any dirt. Patch saw him coming.

She gets very excited to see new dogs.

Any bare feet are best not in the same room as an excited Patch Rat. They will be stomped upon, and then licked for good measure.

I didn't bring a totally new dog home either. I have Mr I am a giant sook and can't live without you Skidattle back. He suffers from separation anxiety. This results in a very unhappy puppy if left alone. No chance of that at Chicken Manor! Too many transient fosters and the ever constant Evil Chicken and Insane Patch, not to mention all the crazy people. Much fun at our place....

Skidattle seems pleased to be back, plonked himself down on the good bed and looked at me as if to say "What? I didn't do ANYTHING! Honest... I didn't"

He is a big doof head. The shoulder muscles on this dog are something else, he is built...

Also happens to be a bit of a porker, had trouble lifting him into the car, am very glad we do not have stairs that I would have to help him up!

It is going to be a crazy week, we get the pleasure of having Fletcher for the night tomorrow. Fletch is Murphy's brother, they are carbon copies of each other. You would think that as Foster Co-ordinator I could wrangle it so he gets to STAY at my place. Hmmm, sadly not. Murph is being well loved where he is and I am sure the same will go for Fletch.

Besides, if I had Patch, Skidattle AND Fletch there would be no room for.....................................................................

PHOEBE!!!!

Yes, Miss Phoebs is coming back for a short stay. I will no doubt be calling her Sweetie...

Two little white and blue girls... enough to confuse even me with a mind like a steel trap (though some would say that it is rusted shut...)

Welcome to the drop-in centre!

We have 3 dogs at the moment. Patch (of course!) Sweetie and the new boy - yes, boy! haven't had a boy for ages - Skidattle.

He is a larger, subtler version of Sweetie. He doesn't push for affection, just stands really,really close and looks at you.

Poor Patch, she doesn't get a look in.

Skidattle is a very quiet dog. Likes to follow humans, any humans, he isn't fussy, as long as they have capacity to cuddle he has no loyalty. He doesn't play with toys, or do much of anything really.Pete thinks he is great!

It will be a short stay for him though, he will be leaving tomorrow and we will be getting a new girl. At least Patch won't get to sulk as Sweetie will still be here.

The Chicken is in fine form, effectively keeping them all out of the kitchen by lounging on the bench and striking out if any of them are foolish enough to put a nose through the threshold. I must amend the "GUARD DOGS ON PREMISES" sign to read "BEWARE OF THE CHICKEN" I am quite sure he would do more damage than all three of the dogs put together! Except maybe Patch, she gets excited and stands on peoples toes, usually preying on bare footsies if she possibly can....