Happily ever after

This morning the family who had applied to adopt Cuinn and his sister Skyla came into the city to meet everyone. Their first stop was our place, and Cuinn was an instant hit. Their own dog, also a Lurcher, seemed to like him but definitely told him when she needed her space! Although she is certainly an alpha girl, her behaviour was reasonable and I think overall she didn't mind him at all.


The next stop was a nearby park where they met up with Skyla, Cuinn's former canine sister. Their family dog seemed more comfortable with Skyla - probably because she had been used to living with other female dogs. Mark had taken Cuinn across the park before Skyla arrived in order to give the girls their space while meeting, but Cuinn somehow knew Skyla was there. He was jumping up and down and absolutely bounded across the park towards Skyla. It was extremely touching. They were thrilled to see each other, and the third dog is going to be fine with these two new additions from what I could tell of her body language. I suspect she will remain the boss of the household, but that is the way it should be, as she has lived there much longer!


I can't think of a happier ending for these two dogs. To be together, with the bonus addition of another dog (Cuinn loves other dogs, especially girls), and to be in a family that knows Lurchers, is the best that we could possibly have hoped for. Also, they will rarely be without human company, and will live in a beautiful rural area.

We are thrilled. Cuinn is an amazing dog with such a sweet and loving personality - we wish him and his new family the very best, and I know they will have many happy days ahead of them.

Everyone's comfy

Unlike Oliver, Arlo is capable of sharing the bed with Cuinn now. Arlo is usually not much for snuggling, but all the dogs absolutely love this bed, so I think he compromised.


They seriously do like each other though.

We also have an adoption update for you - the family that put in an application for Cuinn is coming in to town to meet him tomorrow morning! They will also be meeting his sister, Skyla, tomorrow, and if all goes well they'll both be going to their new home together. We are sooo excited for Cuinn, and so happy that the two dogs will likely be re-united for the rest of their lives.

I will post again tomorrow - hopefully with the "happily ever after" story.

A party... and a home??

The Greyhound people held their annual Christmas party today - yes, I know it's late January, but the original party date was cancelled due to bad weather.

We took Cuinn and our own two dogs to the party, which was held in Nanaimo in a dog daycare. They all had a blast! Arlo our shepherd mix got way too hyper and ran around playing; Oliver the Min Pin alternated between socializing and hanging out in my arms (he was too small to hold his own when it got crowded); and Cuinn calmly and happily socialized the entire time and also got treated to a bath, brush, and nail trim.


There are 17 dogs in the above picture. Can you find them all?

We were happy for the opportunity to show Cuinn off - you never know where that adoptive home might find him!

On that note, an application has been put in for Cuinn! Better yet, if all goes well, the prospective family will also be adopting Cuinn's former canine sister, Skyla!! We would be thrilled to see the two re-united permanently. I will keep the details confidential, but at this point it is looking very good, and we expect the potential adopters to come for a visit and meet him sometime this week.

Wish us luck.

Sharing the bed

Oliver is very comfy on the big dog bed...


...but poor Cuinn! He doesn't know how to deal with this problem.


He wanted to lay down, but did not realize that he could easily kick the six pound mini-mutt off his bed.

He's still doing well, other than having his bed stolen every now and again. We've discovered that the old trick of playing music really helps to calm him down when we leave him in the house on his own. He is still loving his walks and we took an extra-long one yesterday. His back legs didn't bother him at all! He enjoyed himself the entire time.

Ted the feral cat is doing well too. In fact, he was just peering around the corner at me a few minutes ago. I called him over but he stayed where he was. (No surprise there.) We've been brushing him when we have him with us on the couch and his fur is getting VERY soft and looks beautiful. He's a pretty cat!

Cuinn's first week

Cuinn has settled in well here. He is no longer crying for his former family, but he does cry to go outside. He also cries for supper, and also, he cries if another dog is sleeping on his bed when he wants to be on it. But he doesn't cry all the time, which is the important part. It's his communication tool!

Cuinn is still loving his walks. When we pass by strange dogs he sometimes gets excited and wants to say hi. We recently had a tiny Papillon mix named Roxie come to visit us and Cuinn LOVED her. I think he would do really well to go to a home with another female dog, although he gets along fine with the males as well. While he's in the house, he loves laying (preferably on his bed) in the same room as us. His needs are simple!


We're still working on the separation anxiety and really, anxiety in general, but as long as he knows what the routine is he is able to relax a bit.

He's not much for playing with toys, but he does seem to love his treats. Cuinn came to us without any apparent knowledge of basic training commands, so we are veeeery slowly teaching him "down". Although he's not a purebred Greyhound, he does not seem to sit EVER, a trait that is not uncommon to Greyhounds due to the shape of their bodies. Instead of sit, we are rewarding him when he lies down and we will use that in replacement of the "sit" command. It will do him some good to have a job to do to earn cookies from us. If we master that command while he's here, we'll incorporate the "stay", and feeding time with three dogs (four when Roxie was here) will be SO MUCH EASIER. Ahem.

Sad Cuinn

Cuinn the greyhound mix arrived from out of town on Tuesday. He let out a little warning growl to Arlo when the two met (Arlo, our shepherd mix, was jumping around in his face) but after that the two got along with no problems whatsoever, and he's fine with Oliver the Min-Pin.


Cuinn is a gentle giant - he's Greyhound with a likely mix of Irish Wolfhound, and he is tall and lanky with a wiry coat and the shaggy-old-man face so typical of wire-haired breeds.

Although I wanted to call him a "Lurcher", this mix is more accurately referred to as a "Staghound". (Lurchers are generally sighthounds (that's the greyhound part) mixed with terriers or herding dogs, and are not supposed to closely resemble sighthounds. Staghounds, on the other hand, often closely resemble greyhounds except that they are thicker and have more fur.)

This old guy is eight years old, gets along with small animals and other dogs, and seems somewhat unflappable despite his reserved nature.

It's been two days now and poor Cuinn is still mourning the loss of his family. He seems reasonably comfortable in our home, but every now and again he'll start softly crying - it's heartbreaking to see, but we cannot give him hugs and love when he does it, lest we encourage that behaviour. We've been doing our best to give him lots of attention when he seems calm and relaxed instead.

One great thing we've discovered is that Cuinn LOVES LOVES LOVES to go for walks! This is a great outlet we're using to reduce his depression and anxiety. We've just got to be careful not to overdo it though - his hind legs seem to be a bit weak. So far though, he's been fine on walks and his legs never seem to bother him. He's so cute - when we head down the driveway for a walk, he starts to bound around joyfully and do a funny high-stepping prance.

We're still getting to know this reserved boy. Hopefully he will get his bearings soon, and as he shows more of his personality to us I will post more updates to the blog here.