Zap's Third Day at Home
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:45 am
Zap is getting used to the family routine.
I am waking him up 10 minute later each day to go outside, because I don't enjoy waking up at 5:00 a.m. He is doing well. He hesitates before going outside in the dark, but will go if I go. He is getting braver and will run around the corner where he can't see me.
In the morning he seems like a little race horse, because he races back and forth across the back yard before he does his business.
He seemed upset yesterday morning, because I changed the routine. Instead of walking him after I dropped the girls off, we went back inside for a few minutes, before I had to take him to the Vet for a well-dog check up.
I think that they don't have a lot of greyhounds in their practice because all of the vets and techs came out to feel his muscles. They were joking that it looked like he was on steroids.
I was very proud of his behavior at the vet because even through there were other dogs there and they were barking, he stood at attention next to me, rather than trying to get into a fight.
After the vet visit, I took him on his walk and he was content.
He doesn't like to eat too early in the morning and I am a bit worried about him because the vet has said that he lost a few pounds. I've discovered the he likes his food mixed with water in a ration of 2 cups of food for every cup of water. The water has to be pretty warm and he seems to do a better job eating when I nuke the water, then stir up the food for a long time.
He had to get used to me leaving him, so I left him alone with Jeff while I got his tags made and went shopping. Jeff said that he whimpered a little, then settled down. I brought him home a new purple hippo and he got really excited, so much so that he jumped on my living room couches for the first time and then was startled when I screeched at him to get off my couches.
In the afternoon, we went on our 1:00 p.m walk. He is very interested in our Postal Carrier, a very nice woman. She drives a truck and the first day he was shy about going near the truck. On Friday he finally got enough courage to go near the truck for petting. She oohed and aahed over him and then gave him a dog cookie and he was very happy.
He seems to be calming down a lot more. Towards the afternoon, he started laying down in whatever room I am, rather than standing at attention and waiting for some sort of command.
He is also getting better with the cats. The first few days he had to be restrained by his collar when he saw one of them. Now I can do it with a verbal command. I was folding laundry yesterday and Lily was marching back and forth in Maddie's room and he never got up from his sleeping position, though he knew she was there.
In the afternoon, at the time I take him to the park to pick up Emma, I took him on a walk instead. (She had a dance to go to.) He started walking but then he realized he was tired. We stopped the walk and he came home and planted himself on the landing. Uncle Marc was there, but he seemed more interested in sleeping than meeting new people. He did the same thing when the Grandparents came over. (All his activity finally caught up with him.)
Eventually we got him outside to go to the bathroom and when he came in, he settled himself down on the futon. I was feeling guilty because I knew that I had to leave him alone for three hours to go see Maddie's play (a Mystery Dinner theater) but he didn't seem to care. We shut the door and he slept while we were gone.
He was happy when we came home and didn't seem upset that we left him.
He does really well at settling down for the night. We put his doggie posturepedic bed in the corner of our room and he did a great job of going to sleep, even though the girls were watching TV.
I need to remember to take off his collar at night. He got a second tag yesterday with his name and our address, so it jingles with Hemopet tags in the middle of the night.
I am waking him up 10 minute later each day to go outside, because I don't enjoy waking up at 5:00 a.m. He is doing well. He hesitates before going outside in the dark, but will go if I go. He is getting braver and will run around the corner where he can't see me.
In the morning he seems like a little race horse, because he races back and forth across the back yard before he does his business.
He seemed upset yesterday morning, because I changed the routine. Instead of walking him after I dropped the girls off, we went back inside for a few minutes, before I had to take him to the Vet for a well-dog check up.
I think that they don't have a lot of greyhounds in their practice because all of the vets and techs came out to feel his muscles. They were joking that it looked like he was on steroids.
I was very proud of his behavior at the vet because even through there were other dogs there and they were barking, he stood at attention next to me, rather than trying to get into a fight.
After the vet visit, I took him on his walk and he was content.
He doesn't like to eat too early in the morning and I am a bit worried about him because the vet has said that he lost a few pounds. I've discovered the he likes his food mixed with water in a ration of 2 cups of food for every cup of water. The water has to be pretty warm and he seems to do a better job eating when I nuke the water, then stir up the food for a long time.
He had to get used to me leaving him, so I left him alone with Jeff while I got his tags made and went shopping. Jeff said that he whimpered a little, then settled down. I brought him home a new purple hippo and he got really excited, so much so that he jumped on my living room couches for the first time and then was startled when I screeched at him to get off my couches.
In the afternoon, we went on our 1:00 p.m walk. He is very interested in our Postal Carrier, a very nice woman. She drives a truck and the first day he was shy about going near the truck. On Friday he finally got enough courage to go near the truck for petting. She oohed and aahed over him and then gave him a dog cookie and he was very happy.
He seems to be calming down a lot more. Towards the afternoon, he started laying down in whatever room I am, rather than standing at attention and waiting for some sort of command.
He is also getting better with the cats. The first few days he had to be restrained by his collar when he saw one of them. Now I can do it with a verbal command. I was folding laundry yesterday and Lily was marching back and forth in Maddie's room and he never got up from his sleeping position, though he knew she was there.
In the afternoon, at the time I take him to the park to pick up Emma, I took him on a walk instead. (She had a dance to go to.) He started walking but then he realized he was tired. We stopped the walk and he came home and planted himself on the landing. Uncle Marc was there, but he seemed more interested in sleeping than meeting new people. He did the same thing when the Grandparents came over. (All his activity finally caught up with him.)
Eventually we got him outside to go to the bathroom and when he came in, he settled himself down on the futon. I was feeling guilty because I knew that I had to leave him alone for three hours to go see Maddie's play (a Mystery Dinner theater) but he didn't seem to care. We shut the door and he slept while we were gone.
He was happy when we came home and didn't seem upset that we left him.
He does really well at settling down for the night. We put his doggie posturepedic bed in the corner of our room and he did a great job of going to sleep, even though the girls were watching TV.
I need to remember to take off his collar at night. He got a second tag yesterday with his name and our address, so it jingles with Hemopet tags in the middle of the night.
