2012

As 2011 comes to a close, we want to wish all our friends, new and old, a very Happy New Year! We are having a quiet night here at home, enjoying the time with the hounds. 

The most noticeable change in my greyhounds this past year was in Maddy.  She hasn't had a panic attack for many months now and I have hope she has finally gotten over whatever "ghost" that was stalking her. 

Who knew that last May when I ventured into the blogging world, I would meet such interesting people and their dogs, make some very good friends and enjoy myself so much.  I really, really never thought anyone would be interested in what some crazy lady with 3 greyhounds in Atlantic Canada was doing, but I was pleasantly surprised!  

We have been blessed with relatively healthy hounds this past year, and my heart broke for each blogger who was not.  I hope next year brings you peace, joy and good health! 

Christmas Break

Today is a day just for the hounds...After all the holiday stuff was done,  I decided the laundry and dishes and all the other things that build up could wait a few hours and we would just have some fun.  I felt a little guilty about the time they spent alone over the weekend, usually we are with them most of the time on the weekends so I'm sure they had a little cabin fever.  We went for a walk and then I let them off leash in the back yard.  Only Maddy really let loose and went for a run but I wasn't successful in getting a good photo of it... I did get a lot of pictures of nothing, because she had already ran through the frame before I snapped it.



You got Zuke's in your pocket, don't you! I'm not leaving your side.




Maddy, pretending she's a pointer.




A happy hound.



Now they are all crashed out in various places around the house, and I guess I have no excuse for not doing those chores that have to be done, except they can look so comfortable it kind of makes a nap sound good too.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and got to do fun things with those you love most!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to All!

Miss Veil here again ... I want to wish everyone in Blogville a very Merry Christmas and all the peace and joy of the season.  I am a very lucky little hound to have found my family and I know there are lots out there who aren't so lucky yet.  Let's hope 2012 brings them what  is really important - to love and be loved and the security of a happy home. 

OK, now... here is a picture on me and my big brother Beckett in our Christmas coats...

And one of me, relaxing after a hard day of relaxing...

And one of my sister, Maddy, not looking happy about wearing the hat.  She is not a fan of wearing anything on her head, including her coat hood.

 Mama said to thank all the bloggers out there who have been so nice to us this year, as we learned our way around. We all appreciate you taking time to check in with us!

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa...  Miss Veil here...Just wanted to say that I hope you don't mind that we only put up two tiny trees this year since Maddy has a habit of stealing **oops, I mean, borrowing** anything that looks like a blanket, so Mama was worried about the tree skirt being tempting.  I hope this doesn't get Maddy on the naughty list, 'cause I'm hoping she shares her toys and treats with me.  But if it does...instead of taking her stuff back...you could just add it to mine if you want. Just saying.

Merry Christmas!

Maddy **  That is not funny, Veil - we will see who shares with you now.

Thanks Declan!

We recently found out that Miss Veil and Maddy are related to the handsome and hilarious "Declan" from Declan's Dogs Blog which was exciting on its own and then Deccy surprised us with a Liebster Blog Award! If you haven't already checked out his blog, we thoroughly recommend it!  You never know what he will be up to and whatever it is, it will be entertaining!!

Liebster means “dearest” in German, and the award is intended to help up-and-coming blogs get the attention they deserve. As with any award, there is a bit of ceremony involved. In order to accept the award, we must do the following:

1. Copy and paste the award on our blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave us the award

3. Pick our five favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs

It is so hard to pick just five blogs and I tried to go with ones that might not already be on your list because if you are like me, it's always nice to find a new one.  So here are my five picks, go check them out!  
A Dog's Journey
Luna's Life in the Garden State
The Rescues
Tricks for Treats
Crafting 4 Greyhounds

Thanks again, Declan!

Where are my Ears?

Beckett: OK, now I know why Veil and Maddy disappeared when the boxes marked "XMAS" came out...

I helped supervise, so I had to wear the hat...

Mama finally started our Christmas cards, but may be experiencing techincal difficulties in the printing department. We hope to get them done tomorrow. 

The Birthday Hat

Today is Maddy's 4th Birthday!  She wasn't too impressed with wearing the hat for today's Daily Dog Photo Challenge - she looks like she saying "after this there had better be CAKE!".

The Fun Police

Miss Veil here today...
Apparently it is not OK for me to be the "fun police".  I thought I was being pro-active, trying to keep Beckett in line.  Sometimes he can get a little rowdy with his playtime and I was only thinking about his safety ** ha ha**;  Mama said I was not the warden and if I nipped him again, the trusty pink basket muzzle may appear.  He's such a mama's boy, I hardly touched him.  But I got the memo so I will try to hold off on policing his fun.

Wordless Wednesday

Finally Free!

Veil here.. 

Not that I don't enjoy a good hike, but sometimes a girl just wants to run leash free! Please ignore Mom's previous post - she said she would try to remember we were built for speed!!

Worry Wort

I was invited to join a group on Flicker called Daily Dog Challenge.  Where you are given an "assignment" for a daily photo of your dog and I have to say it is a lot of fun.  Todays assignment was an action shot.  I've seen some beautiful photos of dogs running and having a grand time (see Bunny at Tales and Tails and Zoe at Dogs Rock! and many others) but this is where I get, shall I say, paranoid.  I don't know how it happened, but I seem to be turning into one of those over-protective "mothers" that I always made fun of.  I can come  up with any number of reasons throughout the day, why they can't go for a run in the back yard.  I know some of them are reasonable - like they just ate or they are going to eat soon - but when the list starts to grow to:
Too many leaves
Too wet
Too cold
Need their nails cut first
Have to find a bumper to put around the well cap
Maybe we should put foam around the deck supports
Have to check for twigs
and so on;

Of course, these are all things that could be taken care of in short order, until I come up with something else to worry about.  I think I need to lighten up and let them do what they love. 

I think some of it comes from Beckett having a limp every so often, but he really loves to run and here is proof that I used to be a much more fun "Mom".

A Gentleman

Beckett has such good manners -- One morning this week, as I was getting ready for work, and Beckett was in his usual spot (right beside me), he took off out of the room like a shot.  As he got to the hallway, I heard the tell-tale "pfffft, pfffft PFFFT" of the greyhound gas machine going off.  Then he came right back!  I know it was a fluke and he didn't really leave the room just to leave his odorous emmission elsewhere, but it made me smile. 

Wordless Wednesday

Lesson Learned

Every once and awhile, just when I think I have it all figured out, I get shot back to the reality that I really don't.  This week had one of those days in it.  One of those days when you think, "why did I do that, I know better".   Oh well, I learned my lesson and the lesson was, don't walk two high-prey drive girls together after dark past a house with a small white dog outside. To say it was embarassing is an understatement.  They squealed, they howled, they lost their minds...certainly not a good display of canine etiquette. So, now we work on the "pass-by" and the "leave-it" commands and try to do better next time.

When we got home, the conversation went like this:

Me - well, I hope you two are happy with yourselves!

Veil - I don't know what you are talking about...we didn't catch that little white thing.  You know I was trained for that.

Me - Veil, you only raced in 5 races AND you are retired!! AND it was not a fake rabbit!!

Maddy - You seem upset, maybe you should take some of my herbal calmer. 

Me - Maybe so, Maddy, maybe so.  Ok, so we all learned a lesson here right?  You don't act like hyenas in public and I won't put you in a situation you can't handle.

Happy Birthday, Miss Veil!!

Happy 5th Birthday to my beautiful girl, Miss Rogue Veil!

Miss Veil - Three Years Ago Today

Miss Veil here ... Three years ago today I was adopted. 

 I was a little bit on the skinny side...

 Everything was new to me,

I spent a lot of time in here, just hanging out and watching what went on it this new place. It didn't take me too long to find out that being cute paid off and how to work on Mom and Dad with my soulful eyes.  To all those hounds out there still waiting for a home of their own...don't give up, the wait is sure worth it.

365 Cherished Days

 Today is Maddy's Gotcha day.  One year ago tonight, we picked her up on load day to be her foster family.  We were told she was submissive, but what she was, was terrified.  When I got her out of the crate at the adoption group, she immediately was overwhelmed by the noise and people and flopped down on her side and shut down.  I knew she was going to need a lot of patience.  Especially when it came to men.  Darren worked hard at getting her to let him sit near her, finally being able to have her take a treat from him and let him touch her
without cowering ... by that time, we knew we weren't fostering her anymore, she was home.

 The first day at home.

It wasn't always easy and truthfully, there were times when I wondered if we were going to make it through, although I would never have said it out loud.  I find that even her looks have softened over the last year.  The distrusting look in her eyes has been replaced with happiness, most of the time.  She hasn't had a fearful "episode" in months and when she does have one, it's much shorter in time and lessened in severity.  Maddy, although the youngest, has become the leader of the pack too, she is Veil's hero for some reason and they have made up little games with apparently very specific rules that don't include boys, but she and Beckett like to play biteyface together.  She is like that little girl who everyone wanted to be friends with and was as comfortable playing with dolls as she was riding dirt bikes.  She is also that "rare" greyhound who barks loudly and looks after the household security. 

 Happy Gotcha Day Maddy!

Gurgling going on!

Hi all! Beckett here...  Mama has been trying to give me supplements called green lipped mussel and glucosamine to fix up my joint pain. She SAID they would make me feel better!! Since I have started taking them I had tummy trouble.  Yesterday I had a really bad tummy ache and lots of gurgling going on and I didn't eat all day.  I blame it on those supplements and Mama says she won't make me take them anymore, for a while anyway, til I get back to normal, digestively.  It sounds like I ate a squaking little animal down there!

Fallen Leaves

Looks like we have some work to do! 

If you would like to come visit, feel free to bring a rake.  Leaves will be supplied.

or maybe we can just wait for the wind to take some of them away.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love the fall colours.  It seems to make the perfect background for photos. Veil, Beckett and Maddy hope everyone gets out to enjoy the day! 



 The trees on our road and around our house are beautiful right now.  I don't enjoy them as much when they have to be cleaned up though...

 Maddy shows off her sit.  She is the only one of my greys who actually is comfortable looking when she sits.

 And also the only one who would lay down on the ground...

The neighbour's dog seems to have decided to take himself for a walk... he didn't decide to stop for a visit.