Happy Sixth Birthday, Luna!

Today is Luna's sixth birthday! 

Mike and I can't believe that she's already hit the big sexy six.  She looks great and is in fantastic spirits.  Unfortunately, today is a very busy day with work and graduate school so we will have to save our celebrating until this weekend.  I'm planning to take her to the pet store for her to pick out a bully stick.  We'll probably stop by the ball field or dog park for a run.  Today will have to be a bit boring, but when I get home I'll be sure to sing "Happy Birthday" and give her the nearly empty peanut butter jar to lick.

Birthday girl being sassy.

Silly Face Contest

Husky's Life is hosting a Silly Face Contest so of course Luna had to enter her most silly picture.  I know Luna is a very beautiful dog and most of the pictures I put online make her look fabulous, but we have captured a few less-than-perfect shots.

Here is our entry:

Fingers crossed that our entry makes it into the competition on April 1st.  Please visit Husky's Life to vote for us. :-)

If you're interested in learning more about the contest or entering be sure to visit before March 28th.

St. Patrick's Day Party

As I mentioned in my last post, we hosted a St. Patrick's Day party over the weekend.  Luna and I came home from the Meet & Greet where Symphony was adopted and immediately went to work cleaning up the house and decorating.  Luna helped by staying out of the way.  I'm sure she was exhausted from the Meet & Greet.

Once guests started to arrive, Luna became playful and was very entertaining to watch.  She happily squeaked her toys and tossed them in the air.  She also enjoyed pouncing on them.  A few times she pounced on a toy that was sitting on her pillow which sent it flying.

Killing the white fox toy.

Yes, I am taking pictures of you being silly.

What are you going to do about it?

Is bark at me your solution to everything?

I was surprised by how many people showed up for our party.  The house went from cozy to tight in just a matter of minutes.  To make more room I put Luna in her crate in the kitchen.  This way, she could stay out of trouble (no chocolate or alcohol for puppies), stay out of our guests personal space (which was limited), and keep an eye on the party.  I felt bad that she was in the crate for most of the evening until Mike admitted to me that he was feeding her treats every time he went into the kitchen.  Now I don't feel so bad.

I think Luna had a good time, even if it was a little too crazy.  Thank goodness we still had the crate up from Symphony because it gave us a safe place to keep her comfortable.

So Long Symphony

Saturday was the big adoption day for Flying Symphony.  I'll admit that I was pretty sad to see her go.  She is not my first foster dog, but she was one of the best ones so it was hard to take her to the Meet & Greet knowing she was not coming home with us.  Her new dad and sister, Flying Lovable, meet us at the farmer's market.  I was so pleased to see Symphony go right up to this new person and dog and wag her tail.  I couldn't stop talking to the new owner about how wonderful Symphony is and sharing some of her funny stories.  He promised that he will be at the next greyhound picnic so we will be able to catch up on how the family is doing.

New family!

Last picture of Luna and Symphony together. 

Once Symphony was on her way home, my attention turned back to Luna (no, I did not forget about the princess).  Luna quickly became the star of the farmer's market as she dazzled the crowd with her plethora of tricks.  One young couple who is considering adopting a greyhound asked how you go about training a greyhound.  I immediately showcased Luna's best trick, dumbbell retrieval.  They were very impressed.  I told them that greyhounds, like all other dogs, need the right training style to be successful.  Greyhounds need tasks broken down to their most basic level, they need to be set up for success every time, and they need a lot of positive reinforcement.  Negativity in attitude, voice commands, and body language will shut a greyhound down and prevent them from learning.

By the end of our short time at the Meet & Greet, Luna was helping a young girl learn how to be a good trainer by attentively following her commands.  Sit, spin, speak, and dumbbell were her favorites, but she was good enough to do our two newest tricks, "through" and "bang".  For "through", Luna weaves between my legs (tricky for a tall dog).  For "bang", Luna plays dead, but boy does she have the slowest death scene.  We'll have to get these new tricks on video soon.

We had a fantastic time at the Meet & Greet, but we had to head home early because we were hosting a St. Patrick's Day party at our house that evening.  More on that next time.  We're so glad that Symphony has a forever home and Luna is thrilled to have all the pillows to herself.

Luna and Symphony

Things have been crazy busy this past week (don't I say that all the time?).  There have been so many wonderful moments between Symphony and Luna, but just not enough time to capture them all here.  I'll try to sum up what we've experienced in just a few short notes.

1. Symphony loves to be as close to Luna as possible.  You've seen the picture of her using Luna as a head rest.  One night, Symphony decided Luna would also make a good bed.  Luna was very tolerant, but looked at me pleading with her eyes for me to get Symphony off of her.
2. Luna came to work with me this week and really enjoyed the one-on-one time with me.  I appreciated having a dog in the office that knows the routine so well that I don't have to worry about her.  The teens I met with that evening loved seeing Luna and gave her plenty of attention.
3. Symphony has been playing with the squeaky toys more and more.  She especially likes a small toy that rattles and squeaks.  
4. Luna has been trying to get Symphony to play with her in our tiny yard.  When Luna has the zoomies, she wants Symphony to join in.  A few times she has mouthed Symphony's neck with no response from Symphony.  I think if they were both off leash they could really be fun to watch, but the opportunity to do so has not come up.
5. I previously wrote about Symphony's first day at work which was both stressful and fun.  Today, I brought Symphony in to work again, but this time it will be her last day at work because...
6. Symphony has been adopted!

Tomorrow, I will be taking Symphony and Luna to a Meet & Greet where she will be adopted by her new family.  If all goes well (and I'm sure it will), Symphony will be going off to live with a very nice man and his 11 year old male greyhound.  In addition to adopting Flying Symphony, the new owner will be adopting Flying Loveable, a black brood mom from the same kennel as Symphony.  

Mike and I are so excited to see her go to such a fantastic home, but we will miss her.  In fact, during the phone interview the adopter asked me if we were planning to keep Symphony.  I think he sensed that we really love this girl.  While we think Symphony is just a fantastic dog, it's a little too crowded in our home for us to all be comfortable.  Until we move to a bigger place, we will be a one dog family with the occasional foster.  She is going to make her new family's life so wonderful and we look forward to seeing her at all the greyhound events.

What a Pair!

I had a feeling that Luna and Symphony would do well together, but I've been surprised at how well they've been getting along.  The two of them have tolerated close contact in the car, shared their pillows well, and shown no signs of food aggression (although Luna would prefer that she got to eat everything).

It has been fun watching Luna interact with Symphony, but we are all looking forward to Symphony finding her forever home.  Hopefully, another family will realize how wonderful she is and adopt her soon.  Until then, Luna and Symphony will continue to make a great pair.

Lookin' sharp on our walks.

Symphony is loving the sunshine.

Luna: "I'm not a head rest."

Pair of knuckle heads.

First Day of Work

Luna was nice enough to let Symphony come to work with me on Friday so she could meet my co-workers and volunteers at a late night meeting.  It was a great opportunity for me to see how Symphony reacts in new situations including an office setting, young kids, and a husky puppy (Stormy).  Luna took the day off at home with her treats, kongs, and sunshine.

"Ready to go to work?  How about a belly rub first."

I was impressed at how well Symphony did on her first day at work.  She handled our incredibly long staircase without any trouble.  Unlike Luna who likes to leap up and down stairs, Symphony is very careful about placing her feet on each and every step. 

11 steps to the landing.  Then 11 more to the second floor.

A quick evaluation of the steps and then she's ready to go.

Symphony also did well with Stormy.  Luna had to put Stormy in his place a week ago when he was bugging her for some playtime.  He seemed to remember that greyhounds don't play the same as huskies because he kept calm and gave Symphony plenty of space.

In the evening, we had a meeting with some of our 4-H club members, leaders and volunteers.  The kids LOVED Symphony and she just loved their attention.  The parents couldn't believe how wonderful she was with the army of kids petting her constantly.  I think she would really like to be in a home with kids based on how much her tail was wagging.

As fun as it was to bring Symphony to work, it really made me appreciate how perfect Luna is at work.  I don't have to worry about Luna if I leave my office for a moment.  She's very good about staying close to me when we go to the printer and visit co-workers.  I can get a lot of work done with Luna around because she knows when to settle.