Excellent news!!! The folks who adopted Bella last summer have greyhound fever. If one greyhound is nice....two greyhounds is WONDERFUL!!! The lucky pup who will join their family is Chopin!!! He will start his trek towards home this week end. Anyone out there heading from Missoula to Billings this week end? Contact Judy and/or Trish if you are willing to do part of the transport.

We are also celebrating the news that Lead On (Now called Leeta) has been adopted! I had a feeling that anyone who fostered her would be signing adoption papers quickly. That was part of the reason I was anxious to get her out of here :>)

Tomorrow is my dogs Tigger's 14th birthday...it is also my Aussie girl Izzy's 13th. There will be a senior dog party going on here tomorrow. Today I am busy making dog treats and toys for the pups and food for the people. My friend the photographer is coming out to get some nice shots of the seniors. It should be a fun time to celebrate the old guys.
P.S. If anyone wants to come and surprise us....it is 1 PM....my place.

Good news for you procrastinators (like me) The deadline for donations for the Belle Toll has been extended. So if you were going to do that but haven't yet....there is still time.

There was a black masked red girl returned in Billings. Zora is being evaluated. Trish reports that Zora is comfortably settled into her foster home and there have been no problems. This is a picture of her taken a couple of years ago before she was adotped.

Here at Hot Cha the dogs get to go out in the mornings when the ground is frozen and back in before it turns to a muddy mess. Baghira did do a little digging and let herself into the next paddock. I need to go out tomorrow and fill in that hole...I keep a small pile of dirt and a bottle of cayenne pepper for such occasions. Layering dirt with healthy sprinklings of cayenne seems to reduce repeated digging. On a non-greyhound note, I ended up rescuing a nice Australian Shepherd boy whose owners had taken him to the vet to be put down. Poor guy didn't do anything wrong....just acting like an aussie. Fortunately the vet is a friend of mine and called me to come meet and evaluate the dog. Really a nice dog....handsome blue merle, has some obedience and a great temperament. I could not walk away from him and let him die. He will get a second chance at happiness in a home better suited.

By now most of you know this is the winner of our Valentine photo contest. What you may not know is there is ANOTHER photo contest right on the heels of this one. St. Patrick's Day!!! You can get details on the regular web site. So plan your pictures and get your little greyhound leprechauns ready!! Here is a note from the Sweetheart winner's "mom"

I am humbled and proud, with all the outstanding photos submitted, to have Sail the Winner in the Valentine Contest.
Thank you Irene & Amber for spear heading this Contest - creating fun and enjoyment with our greyhounds and family taking these photos!
A Greyt big Thank You,
trish

This week has flown by. Baghira is now really settled in and doing well. She is such a happy girl. Chopin is asking for more attention. He often is bumping my hand to get some loving. Waldo had to go back to boot camp this week. He decided he would try growling at the other dogs at dinner time. Sargent Joni helped him see the light and he is now being rewarded for waiting his turn. Funny how pups will try stuff just to see if they can. Today is really damp and verging on cold. The dogs will only go out for a short romp.

I got word from Lance's home. Here is a quote from her note...

"HE LOVES THE SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
He and I run and run and run, then I stop and watch him RUN AND RUN AND RUN in the snow. He is just super fast on three legs.
We are going on a trip tomorrow to see my sister! She has a half Whippet half Greyhound dog they got from the pound years ago. So she is excited to see if Lance can run as fast as Trigger. They have lots of land and great fields for running.
Lance loves the car so hopefully we are great for a 20 hour car ride!!!
Again, I love Lance and He is amazing. He went with me to get my pay check today and just loved all the people and ran around. So he goes to work with me some days! How great is that.

I Have to thank you so much for the gift you have given me. I love him and I would not be complete without him. I could not imagine my life without Lance!"

So Baghira is a little on the hefty side...but look at that elegant and intelligent face!!! Her past owners report that she affectionate, easy to handle, likes all people and can live safely with small fuzzy animals. She has been living with rabbits, cats and other dogs. So you may ask why this perfect little girl was given up....well her owners had a life change which made it impossible to keep all their pets. We are sure it won't be long before Baghira is snuggled safely into someone arms and heart. She is a gem!!



Funny story, or at least I thought it was funny. When Judy and I were taking pictures of the new dogs. We had finished with Chopin and she was swapping Chopin for Baghira who was in a paddock. One of the dogs in the paddock jumped up on the fence and splashed two paws full of dark spring mud on Judy's face. Hoo hoo hoo you should have seen her grimace!!! If I hadn't been busy trying not to fall down laughing I should have gotten a picture. Dogs sure are glamours. Speaking of "glam", in case anyone is interested. Monday and Tuesday is the Westminster Dog Show in New York. It will air on USA channel. Oh and tonight is the AKC Agility Invitational on Animal Planet....My Australian Shepherd girl, Sage has a brother who will be running. I don't know if they will show him or not but he is there. Their mother was in the shelter ready to have her pups and I thought if the pups were going to have a chance they needed to be born somewhere other than a shelter. So I brought this sweet Aussie girl home to raise her pups then had them all altered and placed into great homes. Watch for Heather and her dog Forrest, registered name is Moldy Bred...which is another story.

Here is Chopin...Pannie to his pals. After a week he is relaxing into the routine. He gets plenty of exercise and seems to be blossoming. He is a great boy. Happy, sweet and with perfect little white bobby socks on all 4 feet. He has a friendly face and personality to match. I have been trimming his toe nails back and and his feet look stronger already. I know many of you hate to trim nails but it really is important to the longevity of their feet. Short nails help the dog to move correctly and to maintain a tight strong foot. Chronic long nails cause the feet to spread and eventually the toe knuckles will flatten. When this happens the foot loses its compact shape and is more prone to injuries. Not to mention the balance of the dog changes. Think about when your balance has been effected by a foot injury...pretty soon everything hurts, back, hips, shoulders, neck. nail trimming is more important than just cosmetics. I do my dogs by knowing what is right for that dog. I use a mental picture of their trimmed nail and then take off the excess. I can pretty much do them by memory. Nails are not all the same. Some quicks are long and you just can't get the nail nice and short. But even if you can't get short nails keep them trimmed up. In the Spring nails grow like crazy and you will find yourself trimming every 7-10 days. So check those nails my friends...spring is nearly upon us.

I won't attempt to hide my glee that Lead On went to a new "foster home" today. Glee because their track record of fostering has been....well...in a word, failure. Most fosters end up staying. I hope the trend continues. It has been about 3 hours since she arrived in their home, I am sure she has them wrapped around her little paw by now. HURRAY for Lead On!!

The paddocks are mud holes again. Not only from the thaw but it has been raining and foggy. YUCK! I let the dogs out to play yesterday and Waldo and Lead On both got baths last night. A minor break through with Chopin, he offered me a little grin today. Lets me know he is settling into the routine and is doing well. I know it was really hard on his family to give him up. It was kind of hard on him too. Once dogs get over the sadness, dogs who were really loved do much better in new homes. I am sure he will fit seamlessly into his next home. Judy reports we are getting another return. We should know more in a few days. It is a black female that was placed near Deer Lodge a couple of years ago.

Now back to our regularly scheduled Greyhound foster blog :o)
Fizz is on her way home even as I write this. She and Abby seemed to get along fairly well. Fizz can be a bit of a stinker about her toys so that will have to be watched. Congrats to Cliff and Vicki on not only their twin grandbabies....but now they have nearly twin fawn greyhound girls. I took a couple of pictures of the 4 of them with Vicki's camera but she promised me pictures which I will add as soon as I get them.

The girl with the best smile in the world is Lead On. What a super cool senior girl!!!

It was really warm here which translated to MUDDY. The dogs all got to spend many hours out in the paddocks. They are messy but happy. Chopin seems like he is relaxing and finding the routine here. He is getting lots of exercise which always helps a dog settle in. He is starting to smile more. Chopin (Pan or Panny to his friends) arrived with a sight sore spot in his back. Likely due to a long race career and some age. We are going to get him in for a general wellness check up this week. Since he is a senior we will use some of the money from the Belle toll to help him be at his best. Belle Toll fund in action. While we are talking about that....Judy brought some food out for the foster dogs yesterday. She bought up that now there is a Pay-Pal button on the web site for donations. So making a donation to the Belle Toll just got a little easier. Be sure you ear mark it if you want it to go into the Belle Toll or it will go into the general fund.

Whew a lot going on around here and not much of it greyhound related. Darrin is away and our 6-week Korean house guest is gone. I am two days into a three day weight pull being held at our place. I am pulling only one of my dogs. Dusk my handsome Australian Shepherd boy. Today he finished up his Champion Weight Pull Dog Excellent title. Dusk is the first Montana dog to earn this title. I also found out based on points earned in 2006, he will be invited to a big invitational National All-Star Weight Pull to be held in Kalamazoo, MI. I can't imagine going but it is a honor to be invited. BTW Dusk successfully pulled 1080 pounds today....he weighs 47 pounds.

One of the gals at the weight pull offered to do a Canine Good Citizen Test. It was a rare opportunity for me to have my own dogs tested so I jumped at the chance. Usually I am the evaluator at these tests. Most of my dogs have CGCs but all were done years ago. I tested all of my dogs except the new kid Tava, I even tested my Aussie foster girl. Everyone passed. I received some nice remarks about my dogs obedience skills. The Evaluator joked that maybe it was too easy for my dogs. Many of my pack have obedience titles of some kind or are in training. The most touching moments were when I decided to try the test with Tigger, my dear 14 year old greyhound girl. I really didn't expect anything from her but I knew she would like a few minutes in the lime light. Her sit and down were a bit slow and shaky but she passed the other skills nicely. The evaluator gave her a passing score and said although she was rusty, Tigger was very willing and showed a desire to please me, which in her opinion was more important. I was very proud of Tigger. About 3 PM I finally came in for some lunch, left over stew shared with my good friend Sally Z. and a small scoop for Dusk.

Waldo did get to go on an adventure today. Irene and Amber picked him up on their way into Missoula and dropped him off with Judy. Waldo accompanied Judy on the "Greyhound Walking Club" walk. She reported that he was really good and she was pleased at how nicely he settled down in the house. Once she told him what she wanted, Waldo was happy to hop up on the couch and snuggle in for some movie watching. Waldo was passed out in the back seat when Irene and Amber dropped him off. He didn't even raise up when the car stopped. He had a big day!! Waldo at under a year old is often labeled a puppy...which often translated to "headache". But Waldo is proving to be a nice combination of silly, sweet and easy going. To top it off he is cute as hell :o)