It's hot out

It was hot out earlier this week. It was in the high 80's. Rio wasn't too excited about the weather.

Neither was this fellow.

Photo credit: Grant

All Curled Up

After dinner snooze.

Pink Snow

Our tree in the back yard is starting to loose it's petals in the wind.

Needless to say, Rio is bringing them in on his paws. So are we, for that matter.

Grass

If you'd rather not read a posting about what comes out of the hind side of a greyhound may I suggest you head over to www.cuteoverload.com where you can read about such lovely things as silly kittens and cute puppies. You see today's post is about some of the lesser known details of greyhound ownership. Things people don't tell you about when you adopt.

If you are still here I'm guessing you don't mind reading about dog poop. If you do, it's not too late to click over to Cute Overload. I won't mind. Really.

We call Rio our cow dog because his coloring resembles a cow a bit. Big black spots on speckled white fur. It seems he has a little more in common with a cow than we thought. Rio has a taste for grass.

I'm not sure why he likes eating grass so much, but every once and a while, when we're on our walks, Rio will start pulling blades of long grass to eat. Sometimes he looks up and there's grass between his teeth. Being the nice people we are, we kindly remove it for him. It wouldn't do to have a stranger point out that there's something green hanging out of his mouth.

The past few days Rio has been experiencing another side effect of eating grass. I'll get to that in a moment. Dogs are carnivores and opportunistic eaters. Other than grass, Rio doesn't eat too much vegetable matter. He's a meat kind of dog. And bread. He likes bread. And pasta. But not fruit and veggies.

His teeth are designed to tear into meat, and make it small enough to go down his gullet. He doesn't have the grinding teeth that herbivores have. He also has a short digestive system, which doesn't do such a good job of breaking down cellulose.

The result is, well, interesting. Still not too late to go over to Cute Overload.

The past few days when Rio has been pooing he's had something hanging out of his butt. At first I thought he had eaten string. Upon closer inspection I discovered that he had undigested blades of grass hanging out of his a$$. Couldn't leave the poor fellow like that, so I had to pull them out myself. They don't tell you about this part when you are thinking about adopting.

I'm sure it must have felt strange to Rio as well. Perhaps he eats grass as a form of canine Metamucil.

Now, if you need an antidote to this charming tale I really do suggest you head over to Cute Overload.

Rio, Anekin and Friends

Photo is by guest photographer, my dad, Nicolay Timofeeff. He took this picture a few weeks ago when they were visiting.

We met up with David and Anekin Skywalker. The leashes were constantly getting tangled up as the dogs moved around. Rio always enjoys meeting up with other greyhounds.

Just a few weeks later and the trees in the background are now blooming.

April's Buena Vista Walk

It was a warm, but overcast day on Sunday which made it a perfect day to walk up Buena Vista street. This time Grant joined us. When we do the walk next month we won't be able to see much of the city because the trees will all have leaves. I guess we won't be seeing the view until the end of next fall.

Shedding Season

Rio has been loosing his winter coat for about a month now. Sometimes when we brush him we could make a sweater out of the fur that comes flying off of him. Grant is giving Rio a good brush outside with a soft rubber brush.

My black jeans can look gray at times. It's not too bad, until he brushes up against us just before we have to go out somewhere. Hopefully it will stop soon.

What are you up to?

What are you up to?
Originally uploaded by LydiaL

We just came in from our morning walk after it had begun to rain. This face was looking up at me with his wet nose.

Too cute for words.

Spring Blossoms

The trees have been going gang busters here.

Seen on our walk in West Park.



Close up.

Happy Camper

We took Rio to Camp Bow Wow on Saturday because we were going to be out of the house all day. Rio loves camp. He tugs the leash to get inside.

While I was taking care of bill paying, etc. Rio's teeth were chattering so hard I thought I was standing next to a woodpecker. He was so excited to be there.

When we picked him up the camp counselor said every time she went near him he stood right by her waiting to be petted. Sounds about right.

He was so tuckered out when we got home. He fell fast asleep after dinner and didn't move until the next morning. Grant tried to wake him up for a late evening turn out but Rio gave him such a "why are you bothering me? let me sleep" look.

Happy, tired camper.

Camp on Saturday

Our new found dog walker/neighbor is not available on Saturday when Grant & I are going to a Bible seminar. Drat. So we are dropping Rio off at Camp Bow Wow to spend the day. He loves Camp Bow Wow.

If anyone wants to keep an eye on him they have a web cam. Let us know how he's doing.

Bunny!

We've always wondered how Rio would react to seeing a bunny. I found out the other day when I was taking Rio for a walk with my nephew, Andrew. We were walking by the side of the National Aviary when we saw the little fellow.



I was amazed to watch the bunny hop closer to us. A little voice in my head said to the bunny, "Beware! Greyhounds chase bunnies at the racetrack."

Rio gave the bunny his full attention. He was interested but he didn't tug at the leash. I suspect if he were off leash he would have gone after the bunny.

So bunnies are interesting. Not as interesting as cats, but interesting none the less.

Whew!

Sorry about not posting. The past 2 weeks have been busy with family visits. First my parents visited us then my brother's family visited. Rio calmly watched people flow in and out of the house.

Now the house is quiet and I'm on load 4 of laundry. Rio has a vet visit Wednesday for acupuncture. I'll try to get something posted soon.

Rio v. Cat

Rio is listed as not cat safe by the adoption agency. We've notice he is extremely interested in them whenever we encounter them on our walks. I finally saw how interested he was on Monday when we were coming home from a morning walk.

Next to our house is a community garden that is transected by a path from one side to another. We often use it as a short cut to our back yard. As soon as we entered the garden Rio became very interested in a bush. Since people grow their vegetables in this garden I don't want him doing ANY business here.

He was staring intently at one bush. I though he had gotten a scent of something. Just as I noticed a small gray ball at the base of the bush Rio lunged at the cat. The cat attacked back as it exited and knocked Rio on his rear end in a perfect sit. Rio looked a bit startled. The cat escaped by climbing over the fence into our back yard. Rio, having regained his composure, was ready to take off after the cat and kept looking for him. Normally once I get into the back yard I let Rio off his leash, but because I wasn't sure where the cat was I kept him on leash until we got into the house.

So Rio is definitely NOT cat safe, which means we can't bring him anywhere there is a cat. Either the cat or the bush gave Rio a small cut on his neck which drew some blood. I guess it is a war wound.

Spring is blooming

This post should come with pictures but I haven't downloaded them from my camera yet. Spring is breaking out all over. Rio, Mom and Dad and I went for a neighborhood walk today and saw the following blooming:

forsythia, hyacinth, daffodils, tulips, magnolia, cherry trees, other flowering trees. The grass is emerald green.

We are starting to have daffodils in the back yard. Rio is doing his best to anoint them. Needless to say I won't be bringing any into the house in case they have that certain odor.

Sometimes I wish I was a dog

This is a late post because most of the day I was glued to CNN watching the tragedy of the shooting in my home town of Binghamton, NY. It is hard not to be stressed out by the tragic events.

Rio is blissfully unaware of anything other than his immediate world. Sometimes I wish I were as blissful.

Heartworm & Lyme Disease Test Negative

Since the specialist visit I've been wondering if Rio had been bitten by ticks which may be causing his limp. I put two calls into the specialist but he didn't return them. So I called my vet's office. My vet wasn't in but another vet talked with me. She didn't think his limp was caused by Lyme Disease but said I could come in to get him tested.

I went in this morning and had the test results within 10 minutes. Fortunately they came back negative.

Rio was full of pep this morning. I gave him a 2nd dose of the gabapentin last night and will repeat that tonight. Maybe all he needs is more pain killers.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Rio really really really doesn't like to go out in the rain. It was raining this morning so I put Rio's coat on him and sent him outside with the instructions "Hurry up" which means do your business.

Rio took two steps into the back yard, paused, spun around and headed back into the house. No way was he going out into the rain. He'd rather hold it than get wet.

Finally at the end of the morning the rain let up and we went for a walk. Wouldn't you know it started to rain again? Poor Rio.