Pupdate

Yes, I did that... "pupdate". I've been keeping a log of Mordechai's progress and I have to say, he settled in so much faster than I thought! One of my main concerns was that greyhounds have never been alone in their lives. When they aren't racing, or training, or being turned out of the kennel, they are surrounded by other greyhounds and are never alone. So I wanted to make sure he would be comfortable in our home, alone, when we go to work. We started "alone training" by leaving the house for 5 minutes, 15 minutes, and then 30 minutes on the second day. Within a few days we got up to 3 hours, which is perfect for our work schedules. One of us will come home for lunch break to walk him after 3 hours of being alone, and then I get home 4 hours later and he's been so good! I come home and he's sleeping to the sounds of NPR on the radio. He is such a sweet boy, and cute too, but I'm bias.

Alone training the first few days with him was harder on me than it was on him. All I wanted was to spend time with him, keep him company, make sure he was comfortable, but I had to leave and find something to do, sometimes for 2 hours at a time! That was a good excuse to go shopping...

He only has interest in one of all the neighborhood cats (yay - low prey drive!) and immediately wags his tail whenever a stranger walks by or a friend comes over. Even on the second day he started having interest in his toys, showing his playful side. He sleeps through the night and is curious about everything. Nothing seems to startle him while he is awake, only when he is sleeping.

Things have definitely changed. We can't keep our cheese and crackers on the coffee table without a curious sniff. Once he gives it a few sniffs, he usually is good and lays down without begging for food. And now, when we travel, we have to think about accommodations for him too! We have a wedding this October to attend in NYC and have made arrangements for him to stay with a woman who boards greyhounds. She came recommended by the organization we adopted him through. She volunteers with GPA GO and has actually met him before while he had a broken leg! I'm so glad he can stay with someone he is familiar with, and we even have a grey-play-date scheduled so that he can meet her own greyhounds.

Erin said that once we brought him home, that it would feel like he was always here. And it really does. Taking care of him fits in with our normal routine. Walking him is an excuse to get outside, even if just for a few minutes, to enjoy the neighborhood and be surrounded by greenery. We've already scouted out some small local parks that are dog friendly, so we can walk him there on cool weekend mornings for a change of scenery.

On walks he's met a few breeds of dogs that are totally new to him including a fluffy white dog, a boston terrier mix, and even my dad's chihuaha! Mordechai was so good, just a little curious with smelling. They even played with toys together and that was most definitely the smallest dog he's ever seen!

I apologize for the photo overload, but I am so excited to have him as part of the family! We are so excited for the weather to get cooler and to show him our little town. For now, he's getting used to his surrounding and every day it seems he feels more and more at home.