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.