Fancy

GCNM has a tremendous amount of information on their website about greyhounds in general, their health, needs, precautions, behaviors, etc.  Before we could adopt a greyhound of our own, we had to read all of that information.  GCNM wants to make sure that any potential adopter understands exactly what they are getting into, and that the adopters are willing to make a lifetime commitment to their new pets.  This is quite different from bringing home a shelter or pet shop animal.

When we adopted our first greyhound, Schroeder, he was such a delight, and he made an excellent companion and playmate for our boxer, Rose.  This year, Rose lost her battle with cancer.  Schroeder really needed another companion.  At the time we were considering another adoption, we found out GCNM had a group of greyhounds coming in from Arizona.  We wanted a female, and were fortunate that they had Fancy and several others available.  Judy at GCNM told us Fancy could be ours if we wanted to adopt her.  Of course, we jumped on the chance.

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Bringing home a greyhound is like, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, “a box of chocolates.  You never know what you’re going to get.”  You can make some predictions about greyhounds and their behavior, but each one is going to have their own personality and their own peculiarities.  The first time we met Fancy, we knew we had made a good decision to adopt her.

 Before each animal is bathed, they are thoroughly checked for ticks, fleas, wounds, old injuries, and any anomalies.  The bath is done in a specially built room in Judy’s home, complete with a raised bathtub, floor drain, and hand-held shower.  Each dog is shampooed and their coat is conditioned.  Then they’re thoroughly towel-dried.  After her bath, Fancy fell asleep leaning against a wall.  It had been a long day by that point.

When we were ready to head home, we loaded Fancy into the back of our SUV.  She immediately settled onto the bedding we had put in for her and settled in for another ride.  We brought our other two dogs, Schroeder the greyhound and Jake the Pomeranian, out to the driveway to meet Fancy and go for a short walk together.  Schroeder was very pleased to meet Fancy, and she reacted well to the other two dogs.  After a brief period outside together, we all came in and Fancy stated her exploration.  We had already learned from Schroeder that a home needs to be thoroughly greyhound-proofed.  That means anything edible, chewable, or interesting to a dog must be moved above their reaching level.  The trick is figuring out what each animal will consider interesting – plastic daily calendar, wrapper from a magazine, anything leather...  We didn’t realize that Fancy would be a climber, so many things had to be moved even higher once she arrived home.  She doesn’t necessarily climb onto things, but she loves to get her paws up on the countertop to see what else is there.  Although not the tallest greyhound, Fancy can easily extend herself to five or six feet high by standing on her hind legs.  Anything she finds that looks interesting goes right into her mouth.  She’s just like a toddler, only she can reach up to chest height.

Although she’s two-years-old, Fancy’s previous life did not prepare her for life as a pet.  There were many things she had to learn.  But she’s a smart one!  We have a dog door, and it took a bit of coaching, but within a day or two, she had that down pat.  More troubling, at first, was her lack of understanding of “why” she should use the dog door.  Instead of going outside to relieve herself, Fancy liked to urinate on the floor rugs.  She was so consistent that we believe she had been trained to go on a pad or mat.  The first night, she also left a sizable “deposit” inside the house for us.  You can’t get mad at the animal, she doesn’t know any better.  It’s up to us, as humans, to teach them the proper behaviors.  With simple positive reinforcement and successive approximation, Fancy quickly learned that she was guided outside if she started to urinate in the house, but that she got a lot of praise and vigorous petting if she did it outside.  Every dog wants to get praise, so it’s pretty easy to use that drive to change their behavior.  Again, within a few days, there were no more housetraining issues.  The same procedure of reinforcing appropriate behavior has enabled us to teach Fancy simple commands like, “Leave it!” This is a bit more of a challenge because she’s more stubborn than Schroeder.   

One thing Fancy didn’t have to learn about was dog beds.  Greyhounds love to be comfortable, and that means they love to have beds around to lounge and sleep on.  Fancy found that there are beds in every room of our house, and she quickly claimed one in our bedroom as her night spot.  During the day, she discovered the futon in our office.  It took her a few days to realize she could also get on the couch in the living room.  The same day she discovered that, she also realized she could get on the “big bed” in the bedroom – our bed.  Thanks, Schroeder, for demonstrating that!

Schroeder loves his toys, and we wondered if Fancy would, too.  She really likes chew toys, and rope toys are fun to chew on.  She’s not as enamored of balls or squeaky toys as Schroeder, but she’s happy to shop in the toy box and find things she wants.  She takes the toys from the living room into the bedroom.  The other night, we counted 19 toys scattered around one of the beds.  Not her sleeping bed, either, but her new “toy bed”.  It’s hard to know what makes greyhounds tick, but Fancy loves to grab her toys and run them into the bedroom.  You have to be watchful, though, because you never know what a greyhound will decide is a “toy.”  One night, Fancy discovered eyeglasses.  I don’t know what it is about them, but she likes them.  Given the chance, she’ll relocate them from wherever we’ve left them to her toy area.

Greyhounds are not commonly vocal dogs.  Schroeder verbalizes his excitement at my wife’s return, and he barks to get your attention if he wants to play, but he doesn’t bark any other time.  Fancy has vocalized a few times, but they’re very few and very far apart.  However, she has an incredibly expressive tail.  When she’s happy, that tail goes in every which direction, whipping back and forth at incredible speed.  It’s a beautiful thing to see, but it hurts to be within range.

We didn’t know what we were going to get when we opened this particular box of chocolates, but we got very lucky.  Fancy is a wonderful girl, and she brings so much to our family.  We’re so happy to be able to share our home with such a loving and caring animal.  We couldn’t have asked for more. 

Greyhound Companions of New Mexico