Yelling at the Poo

A few updates for you guys.


First of all, Linus the Greyhound landed safely in Ontario yesterday and is settling into his new forever home wonderfully. The resident cats, after having the house to themselves for six years, are already adjusting reasonably well to the new canine presence in their domain. That's surprising news if you know these cats. One's a KILLER ex-stray with the most dominating personality ever, and I'm pretty sure the other is the wussiest cat in Ontario.

Since he's been adopted by my sister, I expect I'll be able to give you guys regular updates on how he's doing. :)

Spot our current foster cat and Oliver the new permanent Min Pin have been playing like crazy today. Every time I decide that Oliver is just teasing Spot relentlessly, Spot will sneak up and 'attack' Oliver out of the blue. Spot should be going back to the shelter, but the SPCA cats are experiencing a wave of contagious feline Upper Respiratory Infections, so I'm not sure when he'll be able to safely go back.



Oliver's house-training was somewhat neglected while the greyhound was here. It's not his fault, it's ours. We are not cracking down as solidly as we should to get this problem solved. BUT, I partially blame Oliver for having the capability of pooping out huge (for his size) poos like EIGHT TIMES A DAY even though we only feed him 1/2 cup of food per day, total, and we think that's not enough because he looks like he might have lost a little weight recently. Do we feed him more and hope he fills out a bit, or do we feed less because there's been so much, er, output?

It's a bit frustrating to take a dog out for a pee AND a poo every two hours throughout the day, and still have him poo on the carpets when you're not looking. Which is what happened today. I tried a new technique I've recently learned about. Oliver is a small, sensitive boy who gets completely freaked out and scared of us whenever we try to discipline him, so we've had to develop carefully thought out disciplining techniques that will work for him. I found his present on the carpet today, went and grabbed him and returned to the disaster area and, with him standing next to me (I was holding him there gently) I YELLED AT THE POO for being on my carpet. This is supposed to put me and Oliver on the same team, and we're fighting against the poo. He was definitely paying attention, and I made sure to be gentle and quiet with him while directing my ire at the teensy little mess. He wasn't scared of me afterwards, which is progress in my books.

We're going to take Oliver to the vet for a check-up soon, and we'll discuss the pooing-a-million-times-a-day problem and see if the vet has any input. Do small dogs just do this? I mean, seriously, he poops more often than a little puppy. We're also going to form a disciplined plan of action for house breaking, as we've been way to slack about it up until now. Wish us luck.

(Okay, after re-reading what I've written, it sounds like Oliver's a disaster. He's not! And we're averaging about one accident every two or three days, so really it's not that bad. Hopefully we'll be able to fix this problem sooner rather than later though. I'll keep ya posted.)

Linus: Unshelled

Yesterday afternoon, as quick as turning on a light bulb, Linus became happy and cuddly and playful. I was puttering around the house and he approached me with his tail held WAAAAY higher than I'd every seen it up to that point. I started talking to him and his tail started wagging away! I petted him and told him how good he was and that tail just kept on wagging.

I then took him and Oliver the Min Pin out for a potty break, and his tail stayed high (a sign of happy contentment/confidence). While we were wandering around in the grass, Oliver, who is a busy little bee, was zipping all around at the end of his leash, jumping and playing and generally amusing himself. Suddenly, Linus went running up to him, jumped goofily a few times, and play-bowed! He then went zipping around at the end of his leash with a silly expression on his face. He was honestly frolicking like a foal, and I couldn't stop laughing. He has kept his content, "normal dog" mood ever since.

We also got a surprise email from Kansas about him! It seems that he's been hiding his talents...Linus knows a trick! The Kansas people told us that he will "turn" on command, and they are right! If you tell him to "turn", he'll immediately walk in a complete circle (always clockwise, it seems). It's a pretty good trick! We shot a quick video of it and sent it to my sister. No, you can't see the video because I'm in it and I said so. (Unless you are the greyhound people, or a VERY privileged friend - just ask and I will send you the link in that case.)

There are a few last-minute administrative hiccups in the adoption process, but the flight is booked for early Sunday morning and I am confident that everything will go smoothly.

Oh, and I didn't mention it before, but Linus has not had a single accident in the house! All in all things are going very well with this amazing boy.

More later!

His name is Linus

This turned up in my email inbox last weekend when the greyhounds were en route to Victoria. To be sung to the tune of "Copacabana":

His name is Linus
He's on a bus now
Coming up from a Kansas track
And he will never go back

He lived the fast life
but couldn't cut it
not making money for the track
so they're giving him the sack

He won't race anymore
and he'll get used to floors
lots of treats and great big new bed
who could ask for more?

Oh, the greyhounds are moving on up
they're coming up on a great big bus

Yeah the greyhounds are moving on up
So tired of racing I'm gone crazy waiting

Oh the greyhounds are HERE!!!!


...do you think my sister was a bit excited about her potential new dog??


She's been calling Whistler Ian "WIPL", which stands for "Whistler Ian, potential Linus", because we still don't know 100% if he's going to be her dog yet (but by now I think the answer is "yes"). He showed some behaviour upon arrival that made the greyhound people think that perhaps he hadn't handled the trip well, and they were nervous about sending him on another trip to Ontario.

Since then, he's settled right in and the strange things he was doing have stopped or been shown to be something benign. He initially tried to back out of his collar when he first arrived, which was taken as possibly a fear of humans, but we've discovered that he ALWAYS did it right before trying to poo, and four days later it's stopped. We think he just wasn't used to being on a leash and doing #2 at the same time.

He was also very aloof both with people and with the other greyhounds when they arrived. He seems like a somewhat reserved dog. Now that he's been here a few days he often follows around the other dogs - like if there is action going on, he makes sure he's with the other two investigating, or if everyone is sleeping in one room, he usually goes there too.


He's doing very well. He learned stairs without hesitation - he just went slowly and deliberately down the first set I tried him on, and although he takes it slow, he can go down stairs like a pro. Going up is a bit more awkward but nothing horrible.

We haven't seen a tail wag, but he will approach us for attention (and treats!) and he doesn't seem very stressed about all the new stuff in his world. In fact, he's a downright curious guy.


We'll continue packing on the food to get some fat on those bones of his, and if all goes well, he may very well be on his way to Ontario this Sunday! Wish him luck.

Whistler Ian

I have a greyhound update for you guys! There is only one more step to go (the calling of references) before my sister is 100% approved to adopt a greyhound! The greyhound people have told me that the dog we will be fostering is the one they are planning on sending to her. Yay! It is a male named "Whistler Ian", whose call name is Buster. For those of you who are new to the greyhound world, all of the dogs have a unique but ridiculous name (like "Whistler Ian" or "Santa's Little Helper") that usually gives homage to the dog's lineage, and all the dogs in a particular litter are sometimes named on the same theme. Whistler Ian had no littermates, so I guess he's his own self-contained theme. Because their official names are always so unwieldy, racing greyhounds also have a "call name", which is just an easier name to call them. Like I said, Whistler Ian's call name is Buster.


However, these dogs often don't know their call names and don't really understand the concept of having a name at all. Unless they are someone's favourite, they really don't get a lot of one-on-one attention. My sister is planning on naming this guy Linus, so since he likely doesn't know he's called "Buster" at the present time, I'll start calling him "Linus" when he arrives. He is said to be "happy, friendly, curious and obedient" which sounds like a really nice nice mix of characteristics. He leaves Kansas on July 20th and is due to arrive here on July 22nd. We will foster him for a week to make sure he is suitable for my sister's household, and then, assuming there are no problems, off to Ontario he goes!

In other news:

Spot the cat is still here and we have adjusted his medication. He's doing alright, other than his lovely little habit of peeing on things that are NOT a litter box. Hopefully the medication will correct this before too long!

Oliver the Min Pin is fitting in well. We don't have many Min Pin - sized toys yet, so he keeps hauling around all of Arlo's toys that are longer than his entire body and picking up tennis balls that I am shocked he can even fit into his teensy jaws. He really is a big dog in a little dog's body, and that suits me fine. He went to the vet yesterday to have his teeth looked at. He's healing fine from the surgery (they had to pull four badly impacted canine teeth) and has gained 0.2 kilograms! He now weighs 6.5 pounds. Woah there, fatty. Just kidding. He will be going camping with us this coming weekend, and I hope he does not associate it with his last camping adventure, which resulted in his abandonment in the campground for two days before the SPCA picked him up. We'll make it fun for him and I'm sure he'll do great - he's so adaptable. Housebreaking is coming along, and he is learning to sit. By the end of the summer I hope he will have at least a few commands under his belt. He loves treats and is an intelligent, driven dog so I think obedience is going to be a snap for him.

One last update: Remember Cecilia, the rescued fur farm chinchilla that we were fostering a while back? Well, it turns out she WAS pregnant (it's hard to tell on those critters) and she gave birth at the SPCA to two cute little babies on a day that I happened to be working in the small animals room, and AN INSANE GROUP OF 30 TOURING SPCA DAY-CAMP KIDS were in the room when her little surprise was discovered. I didn't get much work done that day.

we're failed fosterers

We have become the owners of a dog that is half the size of a cat. WHAT IS THE WORLD COMING TO? I didn't think I was a small dog person, but for the first time we have become "failed fosterers", and in a spectacularly unexpected way. We took Oliver the Miniature Pinscher home for the Canada Day long weekend at the request of my boss at the SPCA. Oliver was recovering from surgery and needed to recuperate in a softer environment than the shelter. By the end of the weekend I couldn't face taking him back and having some random stranger adopt him and take him away from me forever. What if they bought a purse to put him in? What if they tied a bow around his head or put frou-frou clothing on him? Noooooo!!

Therefore, after much thought and discussion we have become the owners of a little dog. My excuse is that we don't discriminate. He never asked to be born into a teensy tiny body. Why should I scorn him for it?

Oliver is an eight month old purebred Min Pin who was left tied to a tree in the woods for two days before someone phoned the SPCA to come rescue him. He is a charming little guy who likes to be in your arms BUT will not beg to be picked up every two seconds. I refuse to carry a dog who is supposed to be out on a walk, and this guy loves to be outside on his own four feet. He likes to meet other dogs and also happens to be great with cats. He doesn't bark much but I suspect he'll try to get yappy as he gets more comfortable with us. I'll try my best to correct this if it happens, but how do you discipline a six pound dog? If I yell at him he might break.

Oliver's former owners, geniuses that they were, failed to housebreak him. I mean, come on. This dog is eight months old. Peeing on the linoleum is officially "not cute" by the time a puppy is ten weeks old. They also failed to have a veterinarian fix his horribly impacted baby teeth. He had surgery to pull four of his teeth last week and he's recovering wonderfully. He's also improving with the housetraining issue every day. He's a smart guy and I think we'll have him pooping in public like a civilized dog in no time at all.

Officially, we are still fostering him, but that's only because my boss wants to give us time to make 100% sure that he'll fit into our household. It will become official in a week or so - I'll keep ya updated!!