Greta my greyhound

I did my research before choosing to adopt a retired racing greyhound, filled out an application, sent it to Greyt Expectations Greyhound Rescue, and waited...impatiently... Then came a description and photo! A small, red brindle, "spitfire"! Wait, spitfire? What happened to the stereotyped 40mph couch potato?

So we picked up Greta on a glorious July day in 2004. 3 1/2 years old and small...well, short, anyway. 62 lbs is not tiny for a greyhound, but she is definitely very short at only 25 inches.

My reading indicated that greyhounds are leash trained at the track. Someone forgot to tell Greta, and it took me 2 years (including an obedience class early on) to convince her that not hauling on the leash really works just fine while taking a walk!

Turns out, Greta is not a "typical" greyhound in some respects. She is more assertive, curious, and energetic than average. She is also not very intelligent for a dog--she exhibits some behaviors that thwart her own goals and it can take her a very long time to change them.

Soon after I got Greta I made a lure for her to chase--here is a photo of her catching it! She loved this toy for several months and then lost interest. She discovered squirrels and no inanimate toy could compete...

I haven't figured out all the ways to post here--or to add more images, yet.

Before we got Greta, squirrels wreaked havoc in the vegetable garden, and she quickly realized that we didn't want them around and began chasing them.

(I want to note here that Greta obviously had NO IDEA what squirrels, rabbits, or cats were before I got her. She lived a very limited life in the dog racing world, and had never before seen any animals except humans and other greyhounds.)

She quickly developed a high prey drive, and even became obsessed with patrolling the yard after she caught a squirrel (it did not survive). I had to do some work to relieve her obsessive patrolling by going out in front of her and patrolling the yard myself for several days. It worked great--as long as someone was in charge of the situation, she was happy (it didn't have to be her, but it had to be someone), and I only had to do it those few days for her to respond.

She has since caught another squirrel and a young woodchuck. All of the animals fought back and all bit her face and mouth, but that only caused her to chomp harder. This reaction (and a similar one with a cat--neither was injured) is not the most common in dogs, but my vet says it's not abnormal. Some dogs just won't back down when threatened or attacked. And that's my Greta! It means I have to be alert, and I have trained her to look to me for instructions and not chase anything when on leash.

Her relationship with rabbits is different--so far. I'll write about that next time.

When I first got Greta, neighbors would say that all the wild rabbits must drive her insane, but, in fact, she had no idea what they were and could not even see them if they didn't move. Greta treats rabbits as curiosities that she never quite catches up to. They are smart enough to stay out of her reach without triggering her predatory instincts.

This is a funny anecdote that illustrates this--the diagram will help:
One morning just before dawn I let Greta out into the backyard. It was still almost dark, but a balmy winter morning, so I walked to the far end of the deck to look over the backyard as Greta did her ritual charge to the far corner of the property before relieving herself. As I got to the railing I heard her galloping back toward me, but surely she wasn't finished? Just then I noticed movement below me and saw a rabbit bounding along. It went around the end of the vegetable garden and into the screened-off compost area with Greta loping along behind. As soon as Greta was out of sight behind the fence, I heard her slow down and figured the rabbit had gone to ground in the clutter of stuff back there. Sure enough, Greta trotted out the other end with her head up sniffing and looking vaguely around. Just as I saw her, I glimpsed movement to my left, and there was the rabbit sneaking step by step back toward the deck where it squeezed through the lattice to safety underneath.

This is one of the many baby rabbits we have in the backyard this year! I found it on top of the compost pile when I pulled the tarp off.

Art by Jane Walker
I have goldfinch photos, a variety of black-eyed-susan florals, decorative calico cat motifs, and kaleidoscopic element madalas.