Fall Picnic

Do you remember when I said summer was my busy season?  Yeah, I think my life is a busy season.  I've been so busy lately that I completely forgot that this past Sunday was the fall picnic for the greyhound rescue group we got Luna from.  Luckily, Mike remembered so we were able to go.

We met up with our friends Brian and Michelle and their dog Renny.  Luna sported her fiery chili pepper bandana and Renny had on his hamburger collar.  They looked very nice together.  We even got both dogs to sit for a picture.  We looked very silly trying to get both dogs to sit nicely, look at the camera, and take the picture, but it was totally worth it.  Both dogs got their nails clipped and Luna actually did very well.  She was a little nervous towards the end, but it was over very quickly.

Cute puppies.  Renny is rocking his funky smile.

One of the founding members of the adoption group had recently passed away so we blew bubbles in her memory.  We tried to get Renny to blow bubbles, but he wasn't interested.  The day was wrapped up with a group roo.  Now that Luna can "speak" I expected her to participate in the rooing.  Instead, she seemed concerned about the situation and did not want to bark.  Maybe we'll get her to participate next time.

It was a nice day and I'm glad we were able to go despite our crazy schedules.

Check out that goofy face. :-)

Luna sits pretty for her treat.

Renny...just wants the treat.

Brian blows bubbles for Renny.

Out for Lunch

It's pretty clear that Luna has it good right now.  She has been accompanying me to work for the last few weeks.  She is obviously a favorite in the office.  I think my co-workers are more excited to see her than they are to see me. :-)

Today we decided to go out for lunch at Panera which has outdoor seating.  Luna joined us for lunch and was very good.  She stood quietly while we ate and did not beg for food from anyone.  Ok, she begged a little, but she understood when we told her no.  People who walked by commented on her beauty and smiled as they passed by.  I think Luna does more than brighten my day when she comes to work with me.  She definitely makes everyone's day better.

"Do you need me to finish that salad for you?"

Paycheck Cookies

Over the summer I wasn't able to bring Luna into work very often, to the disappointment of my co-workers. Now that things have settled down into some kind of a routine, I've been able to take Luna to work about once a week.

Most of the time I pick Friday or Thursday because there are fewer people in the office.  She has a bad habit of walking out of my office to greet someone in the hallway.  Usually she does this when I am on the phone.  If I know I'm going to be on the phone for awhile I will use an old accordion gate to keep her contained.  

Bambi eyes hard at work.

Today, there were only three of us in the office for the morning and two in the afternoon.  Luna had a lot more freedom and she was more than happy to help out in any way she could.  Generally, hanging out at the office is pretty boring for Luna.  On the plus side, she gets way more cookies on a work day than if she stayed at home.  As a result, Luna loves going to work and will eagerly run up the stairs, turn the corner down the hallway, and find her "desk" (a blanket on the floor) in my office.  I'm glad she enjoys coming to work as much as I enjoy having her here.

"Anything there for me?"

Totally Worth It

Today started off as a pretty crummy day.  I have been working on a project for several weeks and was trying to finish it up, but things kept going wrong.  To add to my frustration, I have a co-worker who is driving me up the walls.  It's hard to explain what she does that makes me so crazy, but in a nutshell she does not pick up on social cues and does not always respond appropriately to stress.

After beating my head against the desk when I ran into another road block and my co-worker wouldn't stop talking to me I escaped to the kitchen for a late lunch.  Luna snacked on her Kong full of peanut butter and treats while tried to calm down.

My mom has told me that it is important to have something in your life that makes the hard days at work totally worth it.  Sometimes it's just a pair of nice shoes that helps keep you from going totally crazy.  As I was eating lunch I was trying to think of what I have in my life that keeps me happy.  I looked over at Luna and realized she fills that need.  At the end of a hard day, Luna is always there to greet me.  She is always happy to see me, gives me plenty of love, tolerates/enjoys me dressing her up, and plays our silly games.  I'm so lucky to have her and even luckier that I can take her to work with me.

My Lovebug.

After my lunch break I felt a whole lot better and I was able to go tackle the rest of my day.  Good girl, Luna.

Be Prepared

September is National Preparedness Month.  It is a great time to stock up on all the things you'll need in case of an emergency.  Having grown up in a house that constantly flooded in an area that would cause us to be snowed in after just a few inches, I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what you need in case of power outages, no heat, constant wetness, and overall troubles.

One thing that I am not very prepared for (and thankfully this has never been a problem) is general first aid.  For the most part, we've got the basic drugs and a few band-aids, but we should probably stock up on some gauze, wrap, and other more serious injury supplies.  When it comes to canine first aid our supplies are beyond sorry.

The other day I was clipping Luna's nails.  She is good about letting me do the job, but she is more resistant than my last greyhound.  Luna's tolerance is much shorter than Eris' was so she starts pulling her feet away from me before I've even finished the first paw.  She will also yelp if she pulls her foot and I don't let go causing her to fall off balance.  On top of this, she is not afraid to give me a warning nip if she is really stressed.  It makes the whole experience more stressful for me than it ever was with Eris which I'm sure Luna picks up.

So there I was clipping nails as quickly as possible when Luna started her foot pulling routine.  I clipped, she pulled, and she yelped.  Blood was instantly everywhere.  I can count the number of times I have clipped a dog's quick on one hand, all of which were extremely minor.  In the big picture, this was also a minor cut, but the blood flow would suggest that I had taken off half her toenail.  They always say greyhounds are great bleeders. Case in point.

I caked flour on the nail and instantly we had solid blood to stop the flow.  I was worried about Luna's nail bleeding again while she was in the house.  Since we didn't have any bandages or wrap, Mike and I improvised with a paper towel, band-aids, and saran wrap.  It barely stays on when she moves, but it's the best we could do.

Luna doesn't like modeling her new accessory.

The moral of this story is to celebrate National Preparedness Month by stocking up on all first aid necessities. 

P.S. Luna was fine, although this incident is probably going to make nail cutting in the future even more fun. :-(

Neighborhood Doggie Friends

Living in a townhouse/condo complex gives Luna plenty of opportunities to meet new doggie friends.  Now that she's been around for over a year, it is easy to see which dogs she considers her buddies.  She is always happy to greet another dog, but there are a few that she will drag me across the street so she can say hello.

Luna likes our next door neighbor's beagle, Sadie.  They will occasionally bump into each other if their potty breaks match up.  I think Sadie is a little nervous saying hello to a big dog, but Luna's gentle nature helps Sadie relax.

Another neighbor we usually see walking in the cooler weather owns a black rough collie named Wolfie.  Wolfie was one of the first dogs Luna met when we adopted her and she was very scared of him.  As far as I know, Luna had not interacted with other breeds of dogs before living with us.  She was scared of dogs bigger than a whippet.  Wolfie's fluffy, black coat probably didn't help much.  Over time Luna became more confident and appreciates Wolfie's laid back attitude.  Now she will prance over to him when we see him out on a walk.

We also see two Italian greyhounds out on walks.  The two iggies happily dance around Luna and reach up with their tiny noses to sniff her great big face.  Luna will stand very still so as not to step on the small dogs.  Her tail will wag constantly as she leans in to say hi.  One time, Luna got the zoomies while saying hello to the iggies which got the two iggies riled up.  The three dogs happily spun, play bowed and danced while we just laughed.

Like most greyhounds, Luna is biased towards her own kind.  We have three other greyhounds in the neighborhood; two chocolate brindle females (can't remember their names) and one fawn male named Vinny.    Vinny lives the closest to us so we see him almost every morning.  When Luna sees Vinny she perks her ears up, wags her tail, and starts pulling me towards him.  Vinny has been sick for a long time so he isn't as animated as Luna, but he definitely perks up when she's around.  Luna also gets excited for the two females, but only one of them gets excited back.  The other is a bit reserved about who she accepts in her pack.

It is nice to see Luna interact with the many different breeds in our neighborhood and I'm glad she has picked out her buddies.  It is always a special treat for her when we see them on our walks.

Scaredy Cat

Luna can easily scare herself when on a night time walk.  Her reaction is usually to get low and sprint towards me.  This usually ends up with her taking out my knees from behind or stepping on my flip flops.  It is really annoying especially when we are walking near traffic.  She is also able to spook herself on the most insignificant thing.  Here is a list of things Luna finds scary and things that should be scary, but she doesn't care about.

Scary things Luna can ignore:

1. Lightning/thunder
2. Motorcycles
3. Cars backfiring
4. Bicycles/Fast moving people
5. Loud, unexpected noises (crashes, chainsaws, etc.)

Scary things that Luna reacts to:

1. Weird shadows
2. Unheard sounds
3. Unseen movements
4. When she trips
5. A parked, unattended motorcycle

After an incident this past week we will have to add cats to the list of scary things.  We have a neighbor who owns a very friendly cat.  Luna and the cat have met a few times before and enjoy sniffing one another.  The cat actually will rub up against Luna if she will stand still.  On our walk we saw the cat and decided to stop to say hello.  

When it was time to get going I called Luna, not realizing that the cat was between us and Luna wasn't watching where she was going.  She stepped on the cat which caused the cat to hiss (and probably swat, but I didn't see that).  While the cat was hissing, Luna was screaming/yelping.  You would have thought these two were in a fight to the death.  

To make matters worse, we were in an area that sounds echo off of the buildings so the whole ordeal was very loud.  More than a few neighbors stuck their heads out their windows to see what was happening.  I just kept walking in the hopes that I would not die of embarrassment.  "Nothing to see here.  Just a silly dog stepping on a cat."  Both animals totally overreacted to the incident.

Neither the cat or Luna was hurt which is good, but I'm sure they will keep their distance for awhile.