Preparing for the dog....

Hi there,

We are now busy preparing the house for the imminent arrival of Blonde Boy Jay. We are picking him up at 09:00 AM on saturday. We still have to get quite a few things. When we lost Mickey we got rid of most of the stuff that reminded us of him. So now we need:

• A new dog pillow (large, as he is a greyhound and they spread)
• New food bowls (On a stand, greyhounds can't eat of the floor because of their long necks...)
• New extendable leads
• New name tags with phone number and address
• Dog food (Mixture of what he is eating now and some new stuff)
• Dog blanket for the car (They are messy buggers...)
• Dog chews
• Dog toys (Balls, squeeky toys etc...)
• Dog collars (Greyhounds wear special ones, otherwise they slip out of em...)

(If there is anybody that is getting rid of stuff and lives in or around Suffolk drop me a comment and we'll come to pick up whatever you need to get rid of.)

So as you can tell we are getting quite exited about our new addition. The Retired Greyhound Trust has decided not to do a home visit as we are already registered with them. So all is clear for the fun to start on saturday.

And it could be fun as this is a greyhound that has not lived in a house before. He will not have been exposed to normal house noises and probably is not used to getting 2 good walks a day. When we first got our first greyhound we didn't realise that they are short distance sprinters but not the greatest distance walkers. The first few nice walks in the countryside that we did with him always ended up with him laying down after half an hour walk and refusing to move until he had gathered his breath. That did get better after a few months and after a year he could walk as long as you wanted him to.

Another thing he will not be used to is living indoors and having to indicate that he needs a piss. But as most racing greyhounds are housed in kennels this normally means that they don't mess their kennels as they have to sleep in it. So that should be straightforward.... we will see...

As you can read we are getting exited now and can't wait for saturday!

More later,

Cheerio,

Alex.