Missing the high energy of the Trio...

Sugaree, Trouble, and Lady Flame romp in the snow (2016) 
Oh...my... I awoke this morning missing that which was... 

youngish, mighty pups playing hard. 

That rough and tumble world kept us laughing...

And, kept us in constant wonder at the roughness of the play.

The hard core unity and friendship of this trio was amazing.

Sugaree and Lady Flame were fast friends. Having them both cross the bridge within a year of each other was devastating for us and for Trouble...

Trouble seems to have developed a sense of fun to make up for the loss of his buddies. But, he is still Trouble and he is the last of the trio to survive. He still has some serious spunk! We Love You, Trouble!

Toby has fun with his buddies

 

Toby had such a great time with his new buddies. Rarely is he in the thick of things when we have other dogs over, but today was different. He felt safe enough to be part of the fun, and we were so happy to see his enthusiasm. He seems quite silly, but remember that he is blind. He cracks us up!

Play Date with Odin, Bear Bear, Dennis, Juniper, and Toby

We had the best Play Date Sunday in a long time! It was so wonderful to have all these hounds together for the first time. In order from left to right: Odin, Toby, Juniper, Bear Bear, Dennis.

Odin met Juniper for the first time. Odin only has one eye, and he isn't two years old yet. Bille got him as an 8 month old pup. He is so sweet.

Speaking of Juniper, she laid claim to Drew right away as he was somebody familiar to her. Although, she does seem a bit flirty!

Then, she spied Bille. She had a new person to give her all the attention she deserves! While this little love fest was going on...

Dennis and Bear Bear were posturing to each other. A few growlies ensued as Dennis tried to figure out how to play with this new guy on the block!

Dennis really seemed to be feeling his oats. He loved playing with all the male pups at this play date.

Actually, Dennis seems to have a man-crush on Bear Bear, and vice versa! We think that they are going to be great play buddies in the future.

Then, Man Around Town, Bear Bear, found Juniper.  She tolerated him just fine, but was really in the mood for another human hug.

So, back she went to Drew with Bear Bear in tow. Odin joined in the mutual admiration group for some loving as well!

The pups didn't want Bille to feel left out, so they gravitated over to him. "Hey!" said Toby... "How's about a little romp and rumble? Enough with all this standing around!"

And, he did a play pose to get the ball rolling...

The guys were hard to wind up as they were in the "getting to know you" phase of this play date. So, Toby gave Bear Bear a nudge.

And, that led to some roaming around with a few sedate jogs.

Even Juniper was able to tear herself away from humans to play with the guys for a few minutes.

Toby got all worked up and had to be leashed for awhile since having all these dogs around was very stimulating for our blind pup.

Then, after all that exhausting "work" of milling around, it was time to lay down and chillax.

And, Bear Bear, who I have a crush on, posed for me. He is one gorgeous hound!

Bear Bear really knows how to work the camera;-) He has gorgeous ears and eyes!

Dennis found a nice sandy spot to enjoy during the latter part of the play date. I loves me some Dennis!

When the humans had carrot cake, Toby decided to try to wheedle some from Carla. First, he figured he'd win her with his beautiful, soulful, sightless eyes. But, that didn't work.

So, he decided to try his signature "Sit" trick which usually garners him a snack on the spot. Still no response from Carla. "Why, oh why, can't I have some cake?" he wondered... We're lucky he didn't do his "crawl" trick across the yard, like he did during Trouble's birthday party, for a pup cake.

Oh well, at least poor Toby did eventually get some lovin' from Carla, which would have to suffice. He and his buddy, Dennis, got some quality pets in before the play date ended... Such a fabulous day with greyt friends!

Play Date - Juniper and Dennis meet Cherise and Trouble

Now that we had met both Cherise and Juniper on separate occasions, we decided that these two feisty, sweet hounds should meet, along with Trouble, Dennis, and Toby. Look at Toby's smile. He loves all of his friends!

Due to both girls having hookworms, we have kept everyone apart, but decided that they have been on the meds long enough to be safe (with immediate poop pick-up in the yard.) It was nice to have the Bowdoin Greyhound Gang together again with the new additions.

Trouble is a ladies' man, and he was excited to meet Juniper!

As soon as we got into the backyard, Cherise and Juniper got to meet each other off leash. There were relatively few growlies, and the girls seemed to hit it off.

Then, the ball play began, with muzzles of course! Cherise is an old hand at ball play so she decided to show Juniper how its done;-)

Juniper knows that she is as fast as a speeding bullet, so she decided to join in along with Dennis.

Well, Juniper was surprised at how fast Old Man Dennis was. She felt as though she was standing still as he raced by with Cherise hot on his heels!

Whoo! After that run, both girls headed for the pool.

After they vacated the pool, Dennis hopped in, and Trouble joined him a few minutes later. Dennis was okay with sharing, because "sharing is caring..." Such good boys!

Of course after you cool off in the pool, you must always lay in the sand. So, that's what Trouble did because he is a good boy who follows the rules!

Since Trouble and Dennis are buddies, Dennis followed suit and got all sandy as well!

Then, it was time for a bit of a run again. But, this time, since Dennis is such a gentleman, he got to go muzzle-free. Who's a good boy? Why, Dennis is...

Juniper needed more Drew time, so she invited Cherise to join her for snuggles!

Whaat??? How many people and dogs can fit into a kiddie pool???

And, Trouble says..."Let me in!" And, Dennis says, "Dude, we've already been in this pool together today. Geesh! I just want it to myself!"

After Trouble wanders off, Dennis finally gets the super dirty pool to himself. Ahhh, life is grand...until...

"Mom, what are you doing in my pool! You're ruining my Zen time! No way...now you're stomping the water! Why can't a guy just have a little peace?"

Now, for a peaceful moment...nothing better than a good, old-fashioned tummy rub on a hot day... Oh wait, maybe there is! 

Trench digging is the best thing in life! Cherise lays down next to her trench. But, she has just begun because it needs to be deeper and longer.

Whoo... satisfaction is being in the Guinness Book of World Records for the deepest and longest trench dug by a Greyt Greyhound! Yay! Best Day Ever!🐾🐾

Play Date with Juniper and Dennis!

Yay!!! Toby finally got to meet Juniper in our yard for a play date. Veronica kept her muzzled, and will do so until we feel confident that she will maintain her good behavior. Toby can be a total pill as he gets enamored with the ladies;-)

Dennis immediately gravitated to Drew for some guy time. They have been good buddies from day 1...

Of course, where Dennis goes, so goes Juniper. She loves attention to the max and she is not going to let any other pup get more lovin' than she can get;-)

Juniper had to check out the entire yard, of course. We think she found it to be satisfactory.

Then, Drew enticed Juniper to run around the yard a bit which made her so hot. I do believe she runs hotter to the touch than even Lady Flame or Bettina...

This meant that it was time to go into the pool with her big brother. By the way, Juniper did not show any hesitation about getting into the pool.

After cooling off in the pool, Toby decided to try to entice Dennis to play.

But, Dennis indicated that it was just too hot outside...Toby was happy as could be just to have his buddy over, so that was okay.

Then, Toby spied Drew and Juniper and decided that they might want to play.

He bounded over to where he thought Juniper was, and almost ran into her.

She glanced at Toby and continued to follow Drew. Toby let out a bit of a yip of excitement, but she didn't want to play with him.

And, that is okay because Toby can't see, so he really can't play with other dogs as he bumps into them and steps on them. Drew made sure that Toby didn't bump into Juniper.

He hugged Toby for awhile to give Juniper time to get out of the way, because sometimes other dogs get a bit irritated with Toby's attention on them.

Toby decided that if nobody was interested in playing with him, that he would relax in the cool sand next to the deck.

Dennis thinks that he is a guard dog, so he ran to the fence to watch our neighbor out back in the woods. Juniper watched him and perked her gorgeous ears up.

She has beautiful brown eyes and a lot of black hairs mixed in with her red ones.

Dennis decided that our neighbor wasn't a threat, so he decided to cool off on the deck while getting attention from Drew.

Finally, Toby followed Dennis up on the deck and tried to cool off a bit before going inside. We are hoping for many more play dates in the near future!