Happy 2nd Year Adoption Day, Toby

Wow! We've had Toby for two years, and it seems like only yesterday that we brought this super sweet pup home with us from MGPS. We hit the jackpot when adopting Toby, and we couldn't ask for a more lovey dovey Greyhound than him. We are in love....

Rainy Day Toby

What's a dog to do on a cool, rainy Sunday in July? Snooze away the day, of course!

This is Toby, about five times a day!

Throwback Thursday

Google Photos put this video together--I guess it is faded because it is so old! This occurred in September of 2012 when Veronica brought Blue & Bettina over for a play date.

Happy 3rd Year Adoption Day for Lady Flame

Original photo from the pet finder site on July 21, 2012

Today is Lady Flame's 3rd year with us. It seems amazing that we have had her for so long. 

Look at those worried eyes... Our girl will always be afraid of the world...

It is silly how pleased I get when she dares to come over for me to pet her. 

Look at her drippy nose. She was nervous having her photo taken at the kennel on her intake.

Today, I actually got her to loosen up her lips a bit as she was being pet, because usually she has her mouth clamped tight with nervousness. Tiny, baby steps toward progress...

Lady Flame at the Pond

"Does this dock make my butt look big?"

We had a busy day...followed by a walk to the pond where Lady tested out the new dock.

"Dad, what's that croaking sound at the water's edge?"

She then proceeded to enjoy listening to frogs calling. (Click on either photo for a larger view.)

Toby's eyesight update

A lack of eyesight leads to a pup who loves to smell the flowers.

 Toby visited the vet today and there appears to be only one blood vessel left in each of his eyes, so his eyesight is certainly continuing to deteriorate. You wouldn't know it around our house, which is his familiar territory, nor would you know it when we take him to familiar places for daily walks. We were hoping to visit Campobello next summer, with both dogs, but that might be too dangerous for Toby. We can only wait and see... BTW, Toby will be 4 years old in October. Click here to read about Progressive Retinal Atrophy.

There isn't a flower that Toby doesn't enjoy giving a good sniff to!

Throwback Thursday

The Bowdoin Greyhound Playgroup, November 24, 2012 (Before Toby).

This is one of many "Creations" automatically generated for us by Google Photos. Surely reason enough to upload your entire photo collection to Google!

Low hound activity

Just an update to let you know that we are all just hanging out for the summer. With the high heat (at least for Mainers), the pups are not very energetic and tend to want to laze around in the basement where it is cooler. Thus, not many photo ops of late. We are in desperate need of a play date if it would ever cool off! Although, 9 am play dates would work as the temp only rises into the upper 60's to low 70's by that time. Any takers?

Fighty-Bitey Face

When Toby awakens from a nap, he often gets a bit fighty-bitey and rambunctious. Here are a few of his fighty-bitey face expressions. 
(Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Fireworks are go, and hounds say, "No!"

I tried to be Lady Flame's personal storm defender, as I held her close, throughout part of the fireworks displays that were going off around our neighborhood. My goodness, we have a lot of patriotic folks in Midcoast Maine. Unfortunately, Lady Flame was not feeling very patriotic as she was shaking, panting, and drooling her way through the evening. This is the first time she has shown fear of fireworks in the three years that she has lived with us. I think she would have crawled inside me if she could have. I finally turned on the ceiling fan to dampen the loud booms a bit, and Lady retired to the dog bed, although, as you can see, she remained on alert with a bit of panic in her eyes. BTW...Toby slept through it all... (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Ticks in unlikely places...

Neighbor Carla and I took the pups for a walk. Our last stop was to sit at the picnic table next to the pond. While we were lounging around, Toby started paying way too much attention to his weewee ('tis a family website and we don't use the "p" word), so I decided to take a look. Low and behold, there was a tick trying to lodge itself in right near the tip of his weewee. Yuck! Toby gladly allowed me to rid him of this unwelcomed pest. The upshot of this story is to check your male dog all over, even around his weewee, after he's been peeing on the tops of grasses and small roadside plants.

New Pillow...Me No Like...

Toby has not taken a liking to his newest body pillow. I guess it has too much stuffing for his taste. Drew had to throw out the old one as it was so worn that it didn't provide any cushioning for Toby's bony rear end. Unfortunately, Toby mostly thinks of this fuzzy new pillow as a chew toy. So, this morning I found him in this configuration. At least he is using it, sort of...

Toby misses Drew

Poor Toby...he misses his dad so much. He has been moping around since Drew left for Florida, and is even vocalizing with a short whine periodically. Lady Flame, on the other hand, has no concept that Drew is gone. Each day has been business as usual for her, although I bet she'll run a victory lap when Drew arrives home.