Weekend Update

We attended the PAWS meet and greet on Saturday, and Sid was quite popular. Yes, we are calling him Sid again because the general consensus was that Sid is a cooler name. He doesn't know either name very well yet, so I do not think he was very confused at the shift.

Other exciting events over the weekend:

1. Went on a walk to the River Park Dog Park where Sid and Lacey ran around and played with each other. Sid did well off the leash, and was more interested in hanging by my side. He did bark at some runners and another dog being walked outside of the park, and given his love of small critters, I believe a 6 foot fence would be necessary for him to be safe running free in a yard.

2. Sid is a smiler! We found this out yesterday when we called him over, he walked towards us wagging his tail and curled up his lips to reveal his beautiful? teeth/gums. His smile is not as maniacal as our dog's but still pretty impressive. If you see this, do not be alarmed, he's just smiling.

TGIF

No beds anywhere!

We like posting pictures of Monty, but we realized that they are all of him lying down. We promise, he does more than just lie around, not much, but he does stand up, move around, and play from time to time. By greyhound standards, he is very playful. At least this picture is a little more interesting than the others because he is lying on the bare floor...which took him about 5 minutes of pacing back and forth before finally deciding on laying down...hard floors are just not that comfortable! I really sympathized with his agonizing decision to lay on the floor, and I could tell he was not happy about it.

Monty's new thing is playing with his squeak toy. He has been playing with it twice a day since discovery its entertainment value:

1. After we wake up, he runs to the living room and immediately runs and grabs it for playtime.

2. After we get home from work and let him out of his cage, he does the same thing.

He knows this toy is OK to play with, although he sometimes mistakes non-toy objects for acceptable playthings (blankets, pillows), but he drops them immediately upon correction. On a similar note regarding his mischief, he has made a few attempts at drinking from the toilet...we are teaching him not to.

He is getting better at going to the bathroom soon after going outside, so extremely long walks are not always required to get him to pee (although he does enjoy them).

I will try to snap a picture of him while he is standing up/doing something funny to prove that he is not permanently comatose.

Reminder: Monty will be at PAWS tomorrow from 12-4pm, all are welcome to come meet him.

Wednesday!

Yet another picture of Monty enjoying his rented bed

So today was an exciting day...by dog standards. After his typical day of hanging out in his crate, we had exciting walk that included Monty getting his paws muddy, which gave us an excellent excuse to give him a bath. The bath was a rousing success, he stood there patiently (maybe because he was totally confused?), and even sat down at one point (maybe because he was totally confused?). After his bath, he turned into a wet noodle when we tried to get him out of the tub, and laid down on the floor as soon as we got him out. After that, he spent a good amount of time doing the full body greyhound shake to get all of the water out of his ears, it was very entertaining.

Monty also experimented with a squeeky toy after his bath (see stuffed cow toy below). He enjoyed playing with it and remained interested in it for quite a while...then in typical greyhound fashion, he abruptly lost interest and laid down for a nap.

It is now almost 11pm, and Monty is out cold, I guess the walk, bath, and playtime really wore him out...He's really getting used to life off the track.

Don't forget, Monty will be at PAWS this Saturday from 12-4pm for the GO meet and greet. Come out and meet him!

More Info

So we had a couple questions about Monty:

1. Is he housebroken? He is completely housebroken at our house and has had no accidents while staying with us. He had an accident in the short time he was with his new-temporary family, but that was surely due to him being nervous in the new surroundings. Given his general disposition and confidence level, I do not believe he is prone to repeated accidents of this type once he gets settled in a new home. As an FYI, he also seems to have an incredibly resilient bladder, and has been "holding it" for a full work day, and the better part of a half hour walk....pretty impressive. He is also crate trained, and does well in there while we are at work.

2. Is he up to date on shots? Monty is up to date w/ his rabies vaccination, was tested for heartworm (negative), given an intestinal de-wormer, and got his teeth cleaned! I think there are other shots he is current on, I just don't have his vet info handy right now. More on that later.

If you have any questions about Monty, or want to know a time that you can meet him, please post a comment or e-mail me at ross.ratajczak@gmail.com

Come See Monty at PAWS (on Clybourn) this Saturday, March 6th from 12-4pm

Sleeping Dogs (Lacey and Monty).

If you are interested in meeting Monty, he will be at the Greyhounds Only meet and greet THIS SATURDAY, MARCH 6th, hosted by PAWS - Chicago at the:

PAWS - Pippen Fasseas Adoption Center

1997 N Clybourn Ave.

Chicago, IL 60614

http://www.pawschicago.org/

He will be there from 12-4PM along with other adoptable greyhounds, and the resident adoptable cats and dogs (of various shapes and sizes).

This is a great setting to meet these dogs. Come on out, we hope to see you there.

Here is a picture that really accentuates Monty's mohawk. And yes, that stuffed cow was planted under his arm for this photo. :)

Meet Monty! He's available for adoption.

Monty, a handsome, almost 4 year old, red boy greyhound is available for adoption in the Chicagoland area through Greyhounds Only, Inc. It is with great reluctance that I have to admit he is a recent return through absolutely no fault of his own, having gone to a home that was simply not ready for the responsibility of owning a dog. After fostering Monty for the week leading up to his original adoption, I can tell you he is an amazing dog that will make a wonderful companion for a loving family willing to give him a home.

After that introduction, it is probably appropriate to delve into Monty's personality, so you can get an idea of what kind of dog he is. Better yet, before that, let us address his physical attributes, most notably, his preposterous mohawk (picture to follow), which makes him resemble a rhodesian ridgeback, or a disaffected youth... more so the former. In his racing career, he was known as "Sid Vicious", which is very fitting given his unique hairstyle, although it certainly does not describe his personality. If a would-be adopter wants to revert to his original name, I am sure he wouldn't mind being known as Sid instead of Monty, he's flexible. He also has very endearing "dipped" paws, and a "dipped" tail.

As for his personality, Monty is a super friendly dog, and is very happy and playful. He likes getting his ears rubbed and will stand there all day while you do it. His other favorite thing is when you wake up in the morning, as soon as you get up, he will greet you with a wagging tail, and bows, and will run into you so you know you are supposed to pet him. He is also a good eater, but will sometimes take his food "to-go" and leave a trail of kibble between his bowl and whatever it was that distracted him during eating, but he seems to be doing that less and less. We had people coming and going throughout the week at our house, and he greeted all of them with a wagging tail and an invitation to pet him.

Monty walks well on a leash after his initial excitement of getting outside, but has some issues with walking straight, and may veer in front of you. This is easily correctable. My lovely petite fiancee, Emma, has no problems controlling him on the leash, so you don't need to be a big burly guy to walk Monty safely.

Small dogs are a very skeptical maybe (probably depends on how small), and he cannot live with cats, but he does great with our greyhound, and was very gentle with other big dogs he met on our walks. He also gets fixated on critters when we are out on walks (he would love to catch himself a squirrel).

Monty is doing well with his crate, but may take some time adapting to life as an only dog, and being crated alone, if he goes to a first time adopter, or a home without other pups. This is normal for greyhounds, since they spend their entire lives around other dogs and people, and have never been alone before. His adopting family would need to be patient with him, and employ the very effective separation anxiety strategies that are presented at the time of adoption.

This post was meant as an introduction, so I hope you feel like you know him a little better, and will consider adopting him, and giving him a great home. He's definitely a keeper.

-Ross