Good Luck, Gus!

Yesterday Gus' new family came to take him home. They were very excited that it was finally time! Mark came home at lunch time to see Gus off. When his family arrived, Gus went right up to them looking for attention, which they were all too happy to provide. They had a new harness for him and a lot of new comfy and warm clothes waiting for him at home.

They gave us a sweet thank-you card for looking after him and it had a gift certificate to our favourite pet supply store in it (for WAY TOO MUCH money, I might add)!! Since Oliver had turned one and Arlo had turned three earlier this week, we bought them each special fancy cookies as birthday presents using the gift card.

So...last night Gus spent his first night in his new home. I am hoping it went well, but I'm confident that even if he was restless at first, he'll settle in quickly. Our house is a lot quieter this morning without Gus-Gus around! We'll miss his goofy presence around here, but we're so very happy that he has a fabulous new family and we're certain he'll have a happy and fulfilling life with them.

Good luck Gus and family!!

He'll be home for Christmas

We've received confirmation that Gus' new family will be taking him home mid-day this coming Wednesday. His new family is very excited! I think they're going to have lots of fun with him.


Meanwhile, Gus and Oliver (our little Miniature Pinscher) have been bonding. I've described previously how Oliver crawls all over him, and yesterday all the dogs were REALLY hyper and worked up, and Oliver and Gus started playing and chasing each other around the house. Only, it was mostly Oliver (six pounds) chasing Gus (seventy pounds?) from room to room. Then Oliver would hop onto a piece of furniture in order to be at Gus' head level, and growl and chew on his face. Gus was hopping back and forth, and play-bowing, obviously loving it. Meanwhile Arlo, as king of the dog pack, watched his loyal subjects play with an air of detachment.

I'm happy to see the way Gus and Oliver interact. Gus' new family has two little dogs and I'm certain he will feel at home with them. I know that one of the little dogs is a bossy alpha female, but maybe the other one will want to play...?

In any case, Gus will be settling into his new home over the fast-approaching holidays. Maybe Santa will leave a big bone or a nice, warm sweater for him under the tree.

Gus' busy week

This past weekend a friend who likes running took Gus out for a run around the neighbourhood, and Mark biked along with them. They went about seven km in total, and Gus was hardly winded.

Gus has also been going to Obedience and Agility classes, where he watches from the sidelines. He's had the opportunity to hang out around lots of dogs of all shapes and sizes, and he honestly acts very casually, as though he's an expert at hanging around big crowds of mutts. He enjoys getting petted by anyone and everyone while we're at class, and he's also mildly interested in the other dogs if they come close enough.

He's been exposed to a lot over the past week or so! On the weekend we also went to a popular dog park for a nice long walk. Again, Gus was King of the Cool, pretending hanging out at a dog park was nothing new to him. He had fun, converted a few people into Greyhound lovers, and wore himself out in the process. All three dogs collapsed on the futon when we got home.


Gus has continued practicing walking on stairs, and is also sort of learning how to ask humans for attention. He's such a people dog! He loves people - whether they're friends or total strangers. He loves the ones that have cookies even more!!

He's doing great. As far as I know, in a week he'll be off to his new forever home, and I think he'll fit in there as though he's always belonged.

New Name, New Home!!

So Kanny went to be tested with cats to see whether he would try to eat them or not. And...

He was perfect! Curious but cautious, and lost interest very quickly. No chasing and not so much as a nibble. We were very happy with this, because a nice family was hoping to adopt him, and they have two cats. Now that he has passed his cat test, we can confirm that he will be going to his new home in a few weeks! His new home will feature two other canine siblings and an entire human family to spoil him. We think it will be a great fit and we're very happy with how things are falling into place for this awesome guy.

His new family wants to call him Gus, which in our opinion is a huge improvement over the name "Kanny".

Yay, Gus!


Gus has a confession: he would like the world to know that he sometimes sleeps with his eyes open. This boy is full of quirks.

Gus' new mission is to get all practiced up on stairs. We don't have any in our house, so we'll be taking frequent field trips to the nearby school grounds to go up and down their outside stairs. Otherwise he has settled in almost as though he's always been here. Now that he knows the routine, he's pretending that he's always been a house dog. I think his new family will have a ton of fun with this great Greyhound.

Kanny's habits

As Kanny settles in, he has been showing off some endearing and quirky mannerisms.

He chatters his teeth frequently - he does it when he's excited about food or going outside or anything else interesting, and I think he also does it for attention sometimes.

Almost daily I will find him relaxing on his back with all his legs up in the air. His lips flop down when he does this and they expose his overbite and all his teeth so that he has this goofy, grinning expression on his face, even when he's not awake.

He is showing more interest in the various dog toys that are lying around the house. He was playing with a few today, running around and flinging them about and catching them again. He likes stuffies quite a bit.

Kanny has continued to get along perfectly with the resident dogs and doesn't even seem to notice when our cuddly Miniature Pinscher curls up next to (or on top of) his head. I hope the cat test goes well too!

He's definitely a people dog and wants to know what we're up to whenever we move around the house. He is extra-attentive when we are working in the kitchen, ha ha! He loves his food and loves treats as well, but is learning that a kitchen counter is not a good place for a Greyhound's nose to be.

We just can't help bus smile at his antics. He's settling in very well and slept through the entire night last night! Going to the bathroom outside, even when on leash, is coming along really well too.

So the big tests this weekend are cat-testing and being left alone. Hopefully things will continue to go smoothly!