Yesterday I was out in short sleeve scrubbing out crates with all the doors wide open and the sun streaming in...today we got snow. I kind of love the fickle ways of spring.

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I have gotten to meet some of the new greyhounds. I helped take them to the vet this past Saturday and get the girls spayed and ready for adoption. Ringer is a sweet and silly dark brindle girl who caught my eye right away. Thankfully she is spoken for. April is a very pretty black as she can be, dainty but fun loving girl. She has those fun fly away ears that never seem to be in sync. Little Ann is so pretty she takes your breath away with her shiny eyes and black mask on her fawn coat. Since they all had healthy teeth we were able to take them to the low cost spay clinic. We can get all 3 done for about the same cost as for one girl at other vets. The catch is of course that you have to be your dogs nurse. You monitor them during and after the surgery. We take advantage of them being knocked out and clip toenails and clean up teeth a little before they really come around. After the girls were done we loaded them up in Tripps truck and headed home with them. Peeking into the back of the truck it looked like some sort of slumber party gone wrong. The greyhound girls raise their bobbing heads and peer with half open eyes. They recovered nicely and are now waiting to be spoken for. I also got to meet Buster...I could have fallen in love with him. He is very pretty and has a sweet way about him. He is a smaller boy and seems like he will grow up to be laid back and have that easy to love greyhound temperament. He is another great dog from Nitro kennels.

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Perhaps the prize of all the available dogs is Pokey. He is a nine year old black boy who was handed over to us when his owner had a life style change and moved east. He had great care during the 6 years she had him. I am sure it was heartbreaking to let him go. Carol brought him over and we took some pictures of him. While playing with him he showed us that he knows some obedience. He walks on a loose lead. You ask "sit?" and her parks it. You say "down" and he plops down eyes bright. You say "treat" and he almost bursts with excitement. This boy is a GEM!! Here is a picture of him "working" for a treat.
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My pup Tilly is becoming the darling of Hot Cha. It amazes me that such a young soul can work such wonders with my old broken heart. She has brought back a lot of joy that has been on hold since Izzy died. What is better is everyone seems to adore her almost as much as I do. Dusk doesn't always like other dogs, but he has been quick to become the pup nanny. He plays with her and lets her climb all over him and chew on him. She uses the dog door and if she goes out Dusk follows her to keep an eye on her. Even Darrin seems smitten by her. I took Tilly for her first herding lesson. We put her on ducks. You start pups with ducks because they move easily away from the dog and because they won't try to intimidate a youngster. At this point we are just checking to see if she has any natural desire to herd. Tilly did really well for her 9 weeks of age. When one duck went the wrong way she surprised us by going back for it and putting it with the others. It is so cool to watch a dog do what it was bred for.