 (Photo: Dasher at 7 months together with Magnus.) Dasher's Italian Greyhound blog 2010 |
This is the story of Dasher, who we collected from his breeder when he was 9 weeks old.
The latest "happenings" will always be put on
at the top at frequent intervals, so the story unfolds from the bottom and up!
He lives with our two Whippets: Magnus 9 years and Timmi, 7 years, from Kennel Vibe. |
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Last entry in 2010: December 22nd December 5th I never get tired of seeing the completely crazy positions the dogs lie in when they sleep! Timmi HAS to be under a thick blanket at all times and is good to burrow underneath it - here is what I saw mid-morning!  December 4th Dasher in his December uniform!  December 2nd Yesterday I got good news from the hospital Dr. that my leg is healing well so it was off with the awful heavy support boot - after 10 nightmare weeks! I can hardly walk (it's agony!) and must use a crutch and there will go many months - but I am on the way to recovery! Unfort. a snow storm has snowed us in and we couldn't get out to my physiotherapy appointment - so I must work on my foot myself! Here is Dasher in the snow waiting for the laser light to come on! Note snow all over his face from running through snow drifts after the light! 
November 29th Ha, ha, a large, fat Blackbird took up residence in the cycle-basket-feeder this morning. Surrounded by fresh food, it enjoyed eating, preening itself and having a rest. There's a stiff gale wind blowing snow all over the place and the basket is swinging around! After about 5 - 10 minutes where no other bird could feed, I decided to take a photo through the window. The flash scared him off and in moved the Bluetits and - oh no, he's back again as I write...oh well, I will be enjoying his beautiful song all spring and summer next year! 
November 23rd |
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Sunday November 21st. A grey, misty and depressing day, so Svend takes Dasher on his morning walk with the mission to make people smile, be a little bit happier and think of Christmas cheer! 
 A kind elderly lady that Svend passes nearly every day on his doggy walk, photographed him out with the Whippets one day about a month ago - and gave him a print! This is a photo of the print! Pity about the children's playgound giving him a "hat"!!! November 16th It is hard for me not to be able to walk my dogs because of my broken leg. I long to get out. Especially now as "Santi's mom" last December, very kindly sewed a wonderful and fun Santa Claus coat for Dasher as I had admired Santi is HIS last year! I have been looking forward the whole year to walking out with Dasher wearing this outfit. It makes everyone we meet smile or laugh and children LOVE to see him! (Plus cars have nearly crashed as drivers and passengers stared so long!!) Everyone is just a little bit happier seeing him! So Svend walks him instead - and has all the fun! This morning he walked as usual past the Retirement home and there was a whole crowd of the "inmates" standing outside waiting for the bus. Everyone exclaimed, laughed and commented and he left them all smiling and cheered! All part of the Christmas spirit!  Santi last year in HIS Father Christmas outfit! You can see Dasher just below, when he wore his to Lure Coursing. |
November 7th Dasher goes to coursing again! Hard frost - but a beautiful sunny and windless day! A good chance for Dasher to show off his Santa Claus coat! Dasher runs well. Santi learns to run again after a few times going on strike and sitting down letting the others do all the hard work!! - and Vincenza runs really well for for the first time for a while and without any owner help! A great day out! Video her: www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5LVtw8elyw  .  |
November 6th Timmi - as spotted on the sofa by our youngest son:  Dasher rests his feet on my walking frame:  |
November 1st October 10th October 8th Evening time and Dasher knows that Magnus will not sit beside him, so he turns on all his charm. Magnus understands, but gets down as he wants total peace when sleeping and no disturbances from that idiot breed called Italian Greyhound!  . .
October 1st I am hopping around on one leg and managing, after the circumstances, fine. Svend takes the Whippets for their morning walk, but due to a bad knee, he cannot take Dasher as well. But Dasher gets extra runs after the laser light in the garden, so he's pretty tired most of the time!!!! - and all dogs are happy so long as they are by me. Dasher had a bit of an event yesterday: Svend took him to the vet. for his yearly vaccination cocktail. Also, as I simply cannot cut his nails standing on one leg and holding the walking frame with one hand (!!) we asked the vet. to do it. This went well - with plenty of bribery! This breed does well on plenty of treats (which we call bait) but if you are not willing to pay for your orders and wishes to be carried out promptly, they can easily go their own way and ignore you! We were prepared for him to feel a bit poorly and have a painful lump on the neck, like the Whippets often do, but no, he was so pleased to be home and full of beans as usual! Not a sign of any discomfort. No photos, as I wouldn't ask Svend to use my camera - just that he didn't let Dasher leap down from the vet's high table or get bitten by another dog in the waiting room, was enough for me! YOU can read the whole story here - if you have time, as it is very long - and of course, fully illustrated ha ha!!!! See: www.sighthound.net/theaccident.htm September 24th Slight hold-up in this blog! I have been in hospital for a few days as I have broken my lower right leg - both bones - and now have metal bars screwed in to hold it all together! See the stitches here - there's another row just out of sight round to the right! See the whole story on: www.sighthound.net/theaccident.htm  . The dogs were SO pleased when I got home again! Here they are lying on the guest bed behind me as I work on the computer. September 14th September 2nd Three days ago we were to dinner with a friend completely dog-free except for her dogs. I made a little video of the evening's entertainment - apart from the super food (as always!) good company and many good laughs we had! See the extra entertainment here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=osQLzzq6jL0 
August 28th and we go to Gisselfeld for three "Country Days" together with our coursing friends to give the general public a demonstration of Lure coursing! Read: http://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gisselfeld - unfort. only in Danish.  We walk for nearly a mile to get to the coursing area and I have made a little video of it all see here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdQtihJjZms Gisselfeld castle has such beautiful grounds with two big lakes and some small ones, woods, very old trees and beautiful old gardens, that it is a sheer pleasure to be there. Here is Dasher watching some other dogs run. He loved every second and was greeting every dog that cared to meet him and preferably play with him! Plus there were SO MANY good smells! All my filming is done with my unpractised left hand and him prancing around on the other end of the leash - not easy!  |
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Memphisto, a new beginner of 13 weeks - an up and coming coursing star? He was very keen when he got a chance to run a few yards!
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August the 22nd - a fun day in Tivoli. Once a year Tivoli opens it's lovely gardens to all dogs that can creep or crawl - and the Danish kennel club has several shows and a "Dog parade" which we usually take part in each year. This time Dasher is fully grown - he was just a puppy last year. He thoroughly enjoys all the sights and smells and is good to greet just about any dog there! I photo'ed under great difficulties with hands full of dog and umbrella and it rained at intervals, ending with a torrential downpour with thunder! Here are a few shots - a few video clips here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-sCxI48R4c  . Dasher's sister Chilla who has turned out the most beautiful little Italian girl! Unfortunately, no good photos of her. We should have met up later but couldn't find them.  . Two lovely Wolfhounds and to the right, a friend's Whippets, Emmy and Minna. See more on the little video link above!  Dasher whispers secrets to a patient saluki!  |
Winter is on it's way so remember to order your IG clothes (and collars!) from Helen Lister, an English IG breeder of Cruft's winners (who I have known from our first IG over 20 years ago, so I can recommend her things. Explore: http://www.togsfordogs.net/ August the 21st August 11th 2010 Dasher and Timmi relax lying behind me on the guest bed! Timmi was 8 years old on the 7th of August and as beautiful as ever! 
August 5th 2010 Nothing whatsoever to do with Dasher or dogs, but we went to Næstved Familie Zoo to meet Craig Busch "The Lion Man" known all over the world from his tv series about his big cats and he has "a way with them"and a natural talent that is wonderful to see. He lives in New Zealand and founded "Zion Wild Life Park", but a series of financial and personal crisis have gone all wrong for him, so he is no longer in charge there, but he owns the animals and wants to come back and continue his work for theses threatened species. Visit his site and help him if you can, these animals are all threatened - by stupid mankind! See my video taken yesterday evening at Næstved Family Zoo (a great place for children, as they can go in to many of the animals), where he "excites" the tigers and they have to work for their food! The huge male is the only white tiger in Scandinavia, (they are very rare) and his mate is very light coloured so they think she carries the gene for white tigers. She is due to give birth in a few weeks - although one can see nothing, they are hoping. So keep an eye on their site too, there are links to them from the YouTube video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZ95zjYvQlk August 4th 2010 The 3rd of August: 30th of July the 26th of July the 25th of July The 22nd of July July 20th. and more photos from yesterday. 19th July 16 - 17th July 9th July 2010 Dasher's gloomy attitude when he realises we have dressed up to go out for the evening and he is not going with us! 
8th July 2010 5th July 2010 3rd July 2010 2nd July 2010 Tuesday the 29th of June Sunday the 20th of June June 17th June 16th June 14th June 13th June 11th June 10th June 9th June 8th June 3rd May 30th May 28th May 20th Dasher at the vet's puppy playground again! Once again he couldn't find anyone special to play with tho' he played with a variety of puppies it was only for a short while - and he found one for the first time that he did not like. The tan smooth-haired young dog seen below right for some reason made him feel aggressive.  .  .  .
May 12th Yeah yeah, Dasher is fine, just not done anything remarkable, puppy playground closed and no new photos. However, on Saturday one of our sons took funny close-ups of Timmi! Here are two - really weird!  .
May 4th. DASHER IS 1 YEAR OLD!!! Here he is at 9 weeks, one of the first photos I took when we got home with him. He is watching the two Whippets have a pee in the garden, it was late evening and he barely knew them. The next picture is Svend petting him whilst watching tv on the evening of the 4th - age one year! How time flies. I must do better than this...  .
May 2nd. MAGNUS IS 10 YEARS OLD!!! Here he is relaxing in the evening in his favourite position - and underneath, my favourite photo of him taken in 2007.  .
The 1st of May Dasher and three sisters plus Vincenza and Santi all meet up to coursing today! Never before have we been so many IGs together - and Santi raced with Vincenza - they ran SO well. No photos I'm afraid as it rained or drizzled and I am afraid my camera will be ruined. Here's one of the few photos I took, with Dasher straining after Zoe and Sally. I videoed Zoe's first run, but it's not worth putting on YouTube. (The quality, not Zoe's fault!) She ran well, faltered to see where her dad was, he encouraged, so she ran on to the finish! Sally was like a pro.!  The 29th of April Dasher meets up with a "relative" Vincenza and both run perfect lure coursing rounds of 423 m - twice in one evening - and they were not even panting afterwards like the bigger breeds!  . Left: We try to get them to pose together - impossible! Right Vincenza and owner just before the off! See the video on YouTube of Vincenza's second run of the evening: www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmEza9pEZ7c The 27th of April We visit the beach at Kobaek Strand for the last time - dogs are forbidden on Danish beaches from May to September - but poor Timmi hurt his toe all over again so had to be left behind. Such a shame when it seemed to be getting better at last. A stiff cold wind was blowing - hence the winter coats.  .  . A dead bird interests them. To the right, evening on the sofa with Timmi and Dasher! The 24th of April Dashers sisters Zoe and Sally needed looking after whilst their owners were at a special birthday party and they had a great time chasing Dasher around his own garden! He had a hard job managing the two girls! They will all sleep well tonight! See the wild racing around in our garden here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=wazaiZ9jgek  , Left: Sally is the spitting image of Dasher! Right: Sally takes a siesta in Dasher's favourite bed whilst Zoe uses her own.  , Dasher is very keen on big sister Zoe and the feeling is mutual - but she knows how to keep him from being TOO familiar!!! The 23rd of April  We had a wonderful day with lunch at our friend who has Kris and Nardo - after a lovely long beach walk. Dasher was an angel on the beach, coming to me all the time, getting praise and a tit-bit and then running off again. He is getting used to having his freedom and relaxing with the experience instead of playing hard to catch! It was bitterly cold and no sun so he wore his "Togs for Dogs" coat - the other two are more used to it as it's "their" beach and they walk there every day of the year! www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae73LVlzQ9Q The 22nd of April The 16th of April Yesterday, Dasher played at the Puppy playground again that our local Animal Hospital holds. There were plenty of playful dogs of all shapes and sizes and he had a VERY good time. Here are some photos and a short video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnXODuneSwE  .  . 
The 11th of April Yesterday evening, two beautiful prinesses came to visit Dasher and Whippets!  . The scene later on the sofa!  |
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The third of April 2010 |
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March 30th March 27th Lure coursing March 21st March 20th March 19th March 18th  Dasher standing with his back curved. I think he has a bit of a straight back normally and I like the English dogs with the "whippetty curve" over the loin and many Danish IGs have a straighter back, but here, he's listening intently at the mud room door and his back is quite curved. He also has just about the longest tail I have ever seen on an IG - and I love long tails - far too many IG's have a short tail that is way too short in my eyes, but this normal for the breed.  The first snow-drop to open - hurrah, spring's on the way! March 17th Had a bit of excitement Tuesday morning! We drove the dogs to Egerup Strand again and this time it was sunshine and and beautiful weather apart from a stiff wind that was just above freezing! Since Dasher doesn't worry about keeping near us, I put an extra RED coat on top of his ordinary one - a very old coat from my previous IG - so I knew I could see him at all times! (Had toyed with the idea of attaching a balloon to his back, but I thought this might excite the Whippets too much!) This time I had cheese cubes as "bait" and whereas the Whippets immediately kept even nearer to me, Dasher wasn't impressed - this new place was far more exciting than even a whole chicken! (His favourite meat.) He dashed around and had a great time. The Whippets seemed to spend more time eating unmentionable things and rolling vigorously on two dead bird carcasses! This time I was determined to go a little further, the beach ends at some point and there are giant cliffs impossible to climb. However, crossing the beach ahead of us was a fast moving stream of fresh water some 4-5 feet wide and coming from all the nearby fields where the melting snow has waterlogged everything. There was a way round, jumping over small "estuaries" but Dasher, with the typical IG mentality “nothing stops ME!” took one quick look, sized it up as “just water” and starting to march out into it! (He’s got amazingly tough this winter. After screaming in pain at his first snow experience, he thinks nothing of standing in snowdrifts up to his belly or walking about taking his time to sniff whilst knee deep!) He soon could hardly reach the sandy bottom and his coats flopped up and down in the water and he was now more or less swimming and I was screaming his name, as weighted down by TWO winter coats, I had visions of him drowning. I have had two bad experiences of rescuing a dog that had fallen through thin ice on a lake near us and I know the total AGONY of the knee-deep (luckily not more!) icy cold water and a quarter of a mile walk home on feet I no longer could feel, they were entirely numb!!! He reluctantly turned around and “swam” back, heaving himself out of the water as the coats weighed a ton and I shouted to Svend and the other two dogs that the were going back to the car at top speed! Dasher was soaking – and soon covered in sand but even this didn’t stop him racing around enjoying himself and he was SO disappointed at coming home again! Phew! This breed can put years on its owners! Of course no photos of Dasher swimming determinedly in two coats, I didn’t have time for that – only these long distance ones before his swimming exploit! First photo shows Dasher as a red dot on extreme right - see how important it is that he has a RED coat!  .
March 14th Just as we thought spring was on the way, a terrible snowstorm with really big flakes hit us this afternoon. About 1/2 an inch fell - just as all the snow from the past 3 months was melting and we were looking forward to spring.  . The sunset afterwards as seen through our neighbours's house!   The snowdrops next morning! Yes! Our early spring snowdrops are just about to flower, so I hope I will win in a little competion with two others spread over Denmark as to who has the first snowdrop to open! Mine just need sun - and we have that today! Dasher kept getting in the way - I was photographing after his morning walk - so here's one where he decided to pose beside the little snowdrops! Anyone else want to contribute?   Photos taken 10.30 the 13th March.
Wednesday the 10th Tuesday the 9th We take the dogs to a lonely beach! Although Dasher is clinging and never lets me out of his sight if we go anywhere, when we gave him his freedom this morning, boy was he relaxed and casual! I have constant contact with the Whippets and they come immediately if I call and keep an eye on my every move, even at a great distance, but Dasher, just like my first IG, just was so taken up with exploring, that we all ceased to exist! He wasn't interested in the tit-bits I have either! Of course he has a lot to learn and we must take him more often now the snow has gone. Egerup Strand is right off the beaten track with fields all around and you can see for miles. 
Saturday 6th New photo of one of my favourite views during a dog walk. Plenty of snow still around!  ...and below, my snowdrops, the first spring flowers, bravely struggling with the worst winter since 1986.  .
Friday the 5th Thursday the 4th Wednesday the 3rd March The view from a path from the dog walk this morning. There's a farm right below us in the distance and very, very tiny...  . Underneath: Dasher with a new toy he holds i his paws like a monkey!  .
Monday the 1st of March - hooray, spring's on the way! I felt a bit of an idiot today! I’ve noticed for some weeks that Dasher sometimes has a small, soft swelling on one testicle. You can see it as a light area on the video of him playing with the yellow activity ball: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OS3pfuKYiCw Some friends even noticed it last week and they weren’t even specially looking! So today, I made an appointment to see the vet. (In the meantime I had Google’ed it and found that tumours had to have a biopsy to determine if malignant etc. and I was prepared – well nearly – for him to have to have an operation!) It took the vet just a couple of minutes to tell me, (with a big, highly amused smile) that Dasher was perfectly normal and the small “lump” is just an epididymis – yeah, go look that one up on Google! Bet you haven’t heard of it either! Problem is, that with this breed, the skin is so extremely thin you can see everything, even veins. Sighthounds, are so slim and narrow, that their testicles are not “side by side” but one on front of the other. The vet also said that it is EXTREMELY RARE that an epididymis can ever been seen with the naked eye. Only he, used to feeling for tumours etc. would be able to detect it with his trained fingers. We had a good laugh over it and I said I would have to dash home and revise, (with Google’s help) my knowledge of the male anatomy! So I now have the vet’s word for it, that Dasher is a VERY healthy dog indeed! Saturday 27th Feb. For the last three days we have been painting the lounge and kitchen for a friend. She is moving in to this really nice little old "double" Danish house and it badly needs re-decorating all over. (As you can see from the photos). It has a lovely garden to the right out of picture with wonderful old trees.  We don't like to leave "live wire" young Dasher for too many hours, whereas the two whippets are fine for say 5-6 hours - or more in the evening, Dasher comes with us. He is perfectly house-trained and with chew bones and toys he passes the time and even supervises our painting! Our friend meanwhile is re-decorating the little rented house she is leaving! Yesterday and today, he decided to see if he could go up the twisty staircase. Good excercise. He got up, and then couldn't get down! With a lot of encouragement and tit-bits, he managed and now there's no stopping him!  . To the right: "How do I get down, Mum?" He has a jacket sewn in England for warmth as it's chilly here! See "Togs for Dogs": www.togsfordogs.net/18.html  Doing it on his own! Thursday 18th Feb. OK, OK, we have been very busy, so no photos for some days, now we are looking after our grandson in winter school holidays  .  Inspired by the two cute girls seen below, our Grandson also wanted to try out Dasher's cage for size! Here are 2 photos of the latest snowman - but due to a blizzard outside right now, we are planning a much bigger and better one! Dasher could see that it was HIS squeeky bone used as a mouth!  .
Wednesday 10th Feb. Yesterday we delivered Kris and Nardo back to our friend (and had a delicious lunch).  . Kris and Nardo on their own sofa again (Dasher is off playing with one of their toys) and Svend looks at a map and hears all about the holiday in the Canary Islands! They are badly missed. One can't help getting a good, loving relationship with the dogs one looks after. Italian greyhounds are the most extreme of all the sighthounds. Extreme elegance that everyone can see on first sight, fantastic movement and gymastic abilities that never cease to delight and entertain me and there's horse blood in their movement too, ha ha! Kris showed me that he could do the elevated walk that dressage horses do where the rider gets them to switch front feet so that first the left front leads, then right front leads - anyone know what that exercise is called? Kris had a knitted sweater on, (knit is not good for short haired dogs as it rides down their backs and can't go back up due to the direction of the hair), so he itched badly on his back and and he threw his head up and did this wonderful dressage walk so I just laughed out loud. They also have the most extreme minds! Very lively and very intelligent right up into old age they do all the tricks in the book to get the best out of life and squeeze the most out of their harassed owners! Always wanting more and also much more active by far, than whippets and other sighthounds! So we have both been very highly entertained by having three IG’s literally running circles around us. They have taught Dasher a thing or two about good dog behaviour, as he is a bit of a spoilt brat! The Whippets have been angels about the whole thing. Extremely tolerant and have permitted “silly” behaviour they would murder a Whippet male for taking the same liberties! They too, to a certain extent, fall for the Italian charm! What other breed can allow 2 male dogs to just move in and live in harmony with 3 other males in a strange home? This breed has a talent for "all getting along just fine!" Perhaps because they all "speak the same language" - in that degree. Dasher is depressed and clinging today – he must miss them badly.  This is one of many foot paths that are so high we can view 10 kilometres of farmland and rolling countryside to the sea. Dasher walks on his own now. I feel that it is wrong to have just one dog. Dogs need to be several and interact, play and sleep together and two dogs is perfect. One is just as “tied down” with one as with two. Also, it's terrific FUN it is seeing two dogs living their lives together, playing crazy games, communicating, exercising and entertaining each other. Just one dog is NOT the best for either owner or dog – unless of course it’s a service dog, and they lead very different lives.  Dasher has a last game with Nardo on Manday. The "prey" is a knotted rag! No need for expensive toys! Sunday 7th Feb. I tossed a Brussels sprout for Dasher to play with! He loves new "toys" - but whereas it took 7 days for Kris and Nardo to discover the joys of Chinese cabbage, it amazingly only took them only 7 seconds to know that Brussels sprouts were edible and so all dogs had a couple with enjoyment - and Dasher hastened to eat his before the others took it! 
Saturday 6th Feb. A bitterly cold wind today. Here you can see Kris eating Chinese cabbage. After 7 days of seeing my three eat it with great enthusiasm, Kris and Nardo are finally convinced that there must be something in it and they have a go tonight.  . Right: Kris dozing. Below: all dogs waiting for Svend to come home! They heard the car... 
Friday 5th Feb. 9am on the morning walk, here you can see the depth of the snow, cleared on some of the footpaths round here. One of the two children's playgrounds can be seen upper right. To the right, Kris and Nardo relax after a lot of racing around followed by a tiny lunch - they look like two bookends!  .
Thursday 4th Feb. 9.30 pm: Kris and Nardo say goodnight after a very busy day! They've chosen one of the Whippet's beds - again!  I am amazed! Dasher has progressed from playing with a piece of Clementine peel to asking for and getting, a small piece of the flesh, which he eats with enjoyment! Yesterday, I squeezed several Clementines so we could drink the juice and I gave him a squeezed half, still with some flesh clinging to it. He then carefully gnawed it all out and ate it - see photos of before and after. He knows not to eat the peel! He took it inside his cage, scared that the others might want it - but the others were unanimous: This was definitely NOT dog food, no way!!!  . See him enjoying it on YouTube! www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIcbJTc2RLQ "Freezing fog" this morning - very pretty on my two doggy walks. Here's a couple of shots. Usually from here I have a view of the sea and the island of Fyn that is 10 kilometres away - we are so high up in this part of Denmark.  .
Wednesday the 3rd Feb. Another heavy fall of snow - we really can't take any more! Here are photos from the morning doggy walk, at least the sun was shining. Oooh, roll on spring...  Our house extreme right behind carport/workshop. This is the state of the road!  .  Above: On the walk, we wait for a car to pass. Below: The dogs get plenty of exercise running in the "racetrack" we have dug out for them all the way around the house.  . Left Dasher and Nardo at full speed. Right Nardo and Kris who are last each time so no Whippets in sight, they are always first!  All out for a quick pee! Today we cut Kris and Nardo's nails and I'm quite proud of myself! I set it up the way I descibe below (see the new picture below) and they gave no trouble at all. Nardo's were a bit "criminally long". Dasher didn't want to be left out, so we did his as well - he ASKED to come up and have them done, ha ha! Then the Whippets, shut in the hall so they didn't disturb us, cleaned the entire box top better than any washing machine - ready for next time! My way might seem mad - but it works a treat!  Nardo after a run and then his little lunch! (But before his nails were cut!!!)  Dasher enjoying the sun. Tuesday the 2nd February Monday the 1st February 2010 Terrible amount of snow and more on the way. I had taken the Whippets for a walk, then took the three Italians and it went really well! All three were on their best behaviour. The day-care mothers who we met with their cute children all thought they were seeing double, or rather triple, and were amazed the breed was not bigger. Actually Dasher is the smallest, (and there's me thinking he was big!) and he's just about fully grown at almost 9 months!  . They get along very well, although Nardo has "fallen in love" with Timmi, who just ignores him, and "docile" Kris turned really nasty over a chew-stick - so no more chew sticks, although there are old bones all over the place! Otherwise Dasher keeps them constantly on the go - which they are not used to, being as they are "elderly gentlemen" now!  . Dasher alternates between lying together with Kris, as in the left photo, or lying with Nardo - but so far not all three together. To the right Kris has sneaked in to sleep with Timmi. Timmi has a plaster on the tip of his tail. Somehow or other he has cut it, and blood poured out all over the snow, so a plaster was needed! I'll leave it on for a day. Sunday the 31st January 2010 Despite high snow drifts and even more heavy snow, our friend's IG's Kris and Nardo made it to our house where they will stay for about 8 days. The Whippets recognised them from the summer and are really kind and putting up with the typical Italian liveliness, whilst Dasher is in his element with - at last - two friends of his own breed who "speak the same language"! Tonight, you'd think they had always lived with us! Typical Italians, they all get along together just fine. I have never seen them fight, they can growl, and threaten with a look, but they work it out between themselves with no problems. Here are some first photos - no good ones yet...it's not easy to photograph such lively souls!  . All out in the snow!  . Making themselves at home and right, a funny shot - see Nardo's paw around Dasher! They all want up on my lap! 30th January 2010 This is Dasher paralysed in the deep snow that fell last night. We have never had so much and huge snow drifts everywhere. There is a flower bed around this tree marked out with boulder stones - but not a sign of any of them! The time was 7 am - and it was minus 8.9 degrees! Brrrr! At 11 am it is minus 4.3 in the sun! But keep an eye on this space! Tomorrow and for 8 days, we are looking after IG's Kris and Nardo, (seen twice in last year's blog) so I am expecting piles of funny photos and several videos to come out of what will be some hectic and fun days! 
23rd January 2010 Can you see Dasher? This is Dasher on the sofa late last night! Look carefully! (It pays to always have one's camera at the ready!) 
21st January 2010 HOW TO CUT YOUR IG's NAILS!!! I used to quite successfully wait until Dasher was tired and wanted to sleep, then slowly and carefuly cut his nails with Svend's old nailclippers. (He's got a new pair!) Now Dasher is older and cleverer and he makes it very difficult for me.  So here's how Svend and I got his nails cut this morning. I've just invented this new way of doing the deed! You might like to copy the idea as it works well, the dog's happy about it and you get the ghastly job done! Step 1: Prepare the table. Cutting nails at table height is best. Put a folded blanket on the table to prevent claws from scratching it. Find something that can function as a little table for your dog to eat off - that is at the dog's head height. I used a cardboard box, weighted down with some large onions put inside (!!!) and then smear something delicious like liverpaté, cream cheese, even butter will do, all over the top. I used the Danish "leverpostej" (Liver paté made from pig's liver, not goose.) Anyway, it wants to be "lickable" and take time to be removed from the surface. Not just a blob of something, but a large area! See here:  Put this box on the table beside the blanket. Step 2: Prepare the dog. Put collar on the dog with room for a hand to hold firmly so there's no chance of the dog falling on the floor. Put a good winter coat on the dog, preferably one with a chest piece. The coat makes it easier to hold the dog as they are as slippery as eels!!! We have not yet bought a lure coursing muzzle so Svend put on leather gloves as a precaution against biting. He was my "dog holder"! (The "holder person" so has his/her work cut out that it would be impossible to give treats at the same time. My way means the holder person is free to just concentrate on their big responsibility!) Step 3: Lift the dog onto the table and the "holder person" puts left hand inside collar and holds it with a death-lock grip and right arm around the dog's chest and squashes the dog tightly against him or herself - so this dog isn't going anywhere! Dasher, who had been quite excited at all the preparations, was amazed at being lifted up onto the table! But he immediately spotted the delicious treat of liverpaté right on nose level. He had a choice: Make a fight and try to get down or lick up the liverpaté and concentrate on that. He couldn't resist the liverpaté so he got started licking whilst I, with reading glasses firmly perched on my nose, got on with the cutting! It worked a treat! These nail cutters are better for small dog nails than proper dog clippers. Dasher thought it was a great idea and we were so relieved at how well it went! 19th January 2010 A tip: Dasher loves to play with SMALL things, from a pea, a hazelnut (which he cracks open and eats), table tennis balls, piece of orange skin, a laser light, small ball of silver paper, tiny piece of carpeting, a leaf, a small sock with a knot, a small plastic bag knotted up (rustles attractively!) a dice, a child's wooden bead and so on - so instead of buying dog toys for him, I buy cat toys! Big success! Thought I'd pass on the tip! January 15th 2010 I have been expecting for this day! Four neglected horses live in a field just one small field away from the road that I walk down with the dogs every day. Their wooden fence has been slowly falling apart during the nearly two years we have been here and this morning finally, they have realised that they can step into the next field and enjoy the long, untouched grass (even though it’s under snow, they kick it away) and even an old, half-rotten bale of straw left there from last summer. In their own field the grass is eaten down to the roots and their own bale of straw is long gone.  Dasher was totally fixated with the sight of them so near us, so I went over with him. The horses were very interested in us (they see us every day from a distance) and probably hungry for treats but dog biscuits are probably not suitable. Dasher was paralysed with fascination at seeing them and refused to eat any biscuits - offered to ensure he would not bark - and sure enough he DID bark and so we beat a hasty retreat. They will be kept from the road by two thin wires, (no electricity), which I could see they had observed and respected. So they are safe – and enjoying the extra food.  You can see their own very narrow field and fence in the far distance. January 11th 2010 I have many ideas to entertain the dogs inside while the winter is so cold. Here is one: I got an old shoe box, cut a hole in the lid and showed them that I dropped some small dog biscuits inside. (Actually I use their own dog food - it's healthier!) The lid was NOT taped down. They were mystified, but I know they have a recollection of the plastic ball one can buy in pet shops with a small hole where biscuits fall out when it is rolled around the floor. So they set to work. Dasher seems to want the others to solve the problem for him, later he’s a bit scared as the box is often sent spinning towards him and hits his paws! Timmi gives up pretty quickly then Magnus moves in and gives it all he’s got and succeeds in turning it over – and he gets all the tit-bits in the end! You might like to try with your dog? www.youtube.com/watch?v=zngjPNfyYcA January 9th 2010 January 4th 2010 Dasher is 8 months old and suddenly, out of the winter gloom, he was posing in a shaft of rare sunlight so we could see that he has become very beautiful indeed and definately up to show standard, despite his height now knocking 41 cm - where 38 cm is the ideal in Europe! I will have to take some good photos SOON, so watch this space!! There are now 18 videos of him on You Tube which you can find if you ask for "sighthounddotnet".
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BACK to CHOOSER page My email: janetfm@sighthound.net |
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