Our OKC Adventure

Arik and I had a rough time getting to OKC. Originally our plan was to stay overnight in Salina or Wichita KS, but low and behold, some baseball tournament was going on IN OKC, and caused every single hotel within a 400 mile radius to be booked -_-.  We ended up having to drive straight to OKC, arriving by around 5am, and attempting to sleep in the car in a Bass Pro shop parking lot until 11am.  The volunteer ended up running late by about 90 minutes, which admittedly did give us a chance to walk around the downtown OKC area with the dogs. They seemed to enjoy this and had a nice time:

Posing with pink flowers

Posing with red flowers...

And then, finally, at around 1:30, we got to meet Ahri!  She greeted us by running up and sitting, and then flopping over for a belly rub. Within a few minutes of having her meet Winry briefly before being lifted into the back with her, we were off again, back to Colorado.  We made stops every few hours, and eventually made it back by just about midnight.

Needless to say, we are TIRED, and it should take a few days to fully recover from the adventure.  The whole ride, we kept saying, "Poor dog...we'll have really high expectations of her after going through all this trouble...she better be worth it!" Fortunately, as will be discussed in the next post, she really has been above and beyond our expectations!

And while OKC was nicer than I thought it would be, I'll have to keep these photos for memory, since I doubt we'll be going back maybe ever again!

The first "Ahri" pictures!

A New...PUPPY?!

Sometimes life can surprise you!

Since moving into our house, it's true that Arik and I had been looking at adopting a third dog, and we'd talked about it for many months prior. As I've mentioned many times, I love my greyhounds, and expect to always have at least one around in the future :). But for an all around family dog and for me wanting to potentially get back into recreational training, we were hoping our next dog would be some sort of low-medium energy mutt with working lines.  A less fragile, fine with everything the future will throw at us, easy-peasy dog slightly more inclined to enjoy recreational obedience.

We had initially applied to a rescue group called Big Dogs Huge Paws that operates out of CO, TX, NE, KS, OK, WY, and UT. While I wasn't initially searching for a "giant" breed of dog, we were actively looking for a lower energy dog and thought we'd be more likely to find one if it were mixed with a "giant breed" but still being of similar size to Ferguson at 80ish pounds.  The group had a lot of promising dogs within their foster homes, so we inquired about several once we were approved and had a home visit conducted.  Comprehensive evaluations done on each dog we inquired for were sent to us, and we got learn even more in depth about the dog's personality and behavior traits within their foster home. We had gone through a few, and none seemed quite right; some were very high energy, some had possession issues, some were barkers, and some had separation issues (NO MORE PLEASE!).  We were fine waiting for the right dog though, so were not trying to be impatient.

We had looked through most of their dogs, and on a whim, I saw the youngest dog they have in rescue, with a pretty typical bio about her general behavior (essentially that she is learning positive behaviors in her foster home and has a good attitude). She was listed as a "Maremma Sheepdog", which did make me apprehensive; that breed is one of the rarest in the world, and is not known for being a particularly good pet due to their overpowering drive to watch over livestock, roam, and bark.  However, understanding that this is a rescue and they are likely doing their best to "guess" her breed, I decided to inquire further about her and request her formal evaluation, since she had no obvious deal-breakers listed for us.

Her eval was fairly impressive. Her foster home sounded like they were doing a good job of being consistent and that she seemed fairly low energy for a 6 month old pup.  We decided to request an interview with her foster mom to get an even more comprehensive profile.

As it turns out, "Sophie" sounds like quite the opposite of a "Maremma Sheepdog," and to me, sounds much more like a Golden/Samoyed/Pyrenees/St. Bernard cross (which is great, as I enjoy both of these breeds!). She is just 45lbs, described as being extremely low key and mellow, and the easiest pup her foster mom has fostered over the course of several years.  She said "Sophie" is very submissive and wonderful with her older great danes, and very respectful of boundaries. She LOVES her crate, and just likes to be nearby, but is rather humble, yet friendly and affectionate to everyone she meets.  She spends most of her time lazing around, but is always open to play if you start it.  Apparently, no one knows why exactly she is so sweet, gentle, and easy-going for her age, but she's had a clean bill of health and is ready to go to her new home. It might have to do her background of being dumped in the middle of rural OK, being covered in 100+ ticks, and found at the age 4.5 months (also making me doubt that she's this 8k priced, rare breed of a dog)  Who knows what happened to her before then, but she was certainly a dog in need of rescuing!

So, after some discussion, we decided we'd like to move forward with "Sophie's" adoption.  Unfortunately for us, she is being fostered in OK City.  The group does have volunteers that would drive her a few hours, one at a time, to get her to us in CO, but to do would take another two weeks in trying to coordinate.  Arik, very excited at the prospect of our new little one, said, "Well, I'VE never been to OK! ROOOOOOOAD TRIP!"

We leave tomorrow evening after the hounds have been walked and fed, in hopes of making it to Salina KS by 1am. We'll then make the rest of the drive Saturday morning, to pick her up and head back to CO and get there by midnight, and have Sunday to recover!

What a whirlwind!

We'll be sure to post some great photos of our trip, as well as our new addition as soon as we have them :). But, here is a photo from her profile, as a preview:

Look at that smile! 

So Far So Good!

I'm pleased to report that Ferg and Win continue to settle in very well!  They've enjoyed getting to burn off any extra energy frolicking in the yard, have gotten to chew some natural bones (not previously possible in our apartment), and are over all adapting quickly!

I've worked hard to keep our routine very much the same.  We still go for a mile long power walk in the morning before breakfast, and before I go off to work, and they are still muzzled when unsupervised.  The house has made us make some adjustments as well; initially we weren't sure on whether to give them full run of the house or not (which admittedly, it's not a huge house!) during the night or when we're away, but have currently settled on having them confined downstairs during the day while we're gone (kitchen, dining room, family room...it's all one large room), and have let them have free access at night, also being able to access the loft and two bed choices up there if they wish.  Surprisingly, Ferguson actually chose to stay downstairs last night (not sure he realized the gate at t he top of the stairs had been moved, but he didn't really bother to look or try). Winry has so far ALWAYS been glad to stay downstairs, as her favorite bed currently resides there...my easy pup!

It's actually very lucky Ferguson chose to stay downstairs, as his stomach got quite upset in the middle of the night and caused him to vomit twice at 4 am.  I've noticed that he's been able to handle raw meat not nearly as well as he did when he was younger, so am not sure if that set him off.  He also has been eating a lot of grass lately, as we've been in the process of trying to mow down some higher, stubborn spots on the lawn's edge that the dogs are like magnets too.  Winry, happily, has had no issues at all the last few times they've had anything raw, which is funny since she's usually my sensitive stomach pup!

Ferguson did eat his half-portion breakfast this morning, and had formed stools, so I think he'll be bounced back in no time.  Arik reports he's not gotten sick and seemed fine the rest of this morning too.

That's a bit of a dilemma, as both LOVE raw meat/bones, and the marrow bones we got them were very affordable ($1 a bone, about) and entertained them for a total of 2 hours.  I know it also does miracles for their teeth as raw items tend to, so perhaps we'll just continue giving them as a monthly or bi-monthly treat, and only on weekends so I can catch up on my sleep schedule or take an afternoon nap during the day to make up for any late-night awakenings. And perhaps his stomach will re-adapt to the raw...he used to do wonderfully on it!  Maybe it was too much grass, or a combination of the two. Who knows?

More updates to come!

Fenced yard play!

First Visit to the House

I'll admit I was a bit nervous to bring Ferg and Win to the house for the first time.  I wanted to be sure they didn't feel any anxiety and that they generally had a good experience over all from the get-go.

To prepare, I packed up their ex-pen and had set it up in the family room with blankets before their arrival.  I also had ordered Ferguson a pheromone soothing collar for him to wear over the next month (supposedly it lasts 30 days) as we continue these adjustments.

Fortunately, everything went quite well!  Both dogs seemed very happy about the space, enjoyed exploring, but didn't seem at all insecure. They were all smiles, but still listened very well when corrected (like to not go into the master bedroom).  While we were unpacking things in the master, they actually chose to go lay down in the guest bedroom across the hall on the floor, seeming to be totally content :).

They both seemed to really be happy about the yard space!  The grass is in desperate need of mowing, but they had a great time frolicking around and sniffing. They kept coming back to me with a happy look on their faces, as if to say, "This is great Mom! We love our yard!"

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera at the ready for every picture, but I did catch one of Ferguson being used as a butt pillow. He has a miserable look on his face, but I can promise he was actually quite happy and laid there pleasantly as we unpacked many, many boxes.

"We're good here, Mom! You just keep unpacking all our stuff!"

More pictures to come soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Winry