[fatesrelease]

This is my new girl Sarah! I adopted her from MGPS yesterday. (my 21st birthday!!!) She is a silly playful little girl, just two and a half years old. She was actually the last grey I met out of the five. She loves to dance and is always wagging her tail!
She had a lot of new experiences yesterday. She tackled her first set of stairs! Mommy and Daddy were very proud. She's still getting the hang of them of course, but she's doing very well! She also got to meet the cats yesterday, but she doesn't really care about them. All she really cares about are her stuffies. She is a very good walker, and did very well sleeping in her crate last night, although there were two times she cried to go out, and we only let her out to go outside after she quieted down for a few minutes. Still hasn't gone poopy yet, and is having some gas, but that's ok! After we took her for her morning walk she didn't want to eat anything, so we took her food away and attempted to go eat something but she wouldn't have it. This was still about 8 am, and she was howling so loudly. We live in an apartment building so we aren't quite sure what to do about that, so even though it was probably NOT the right thing to do we let her out of her crate and sat on the couch to eat while she lay on her fluffy bed muzzled and leashed next to us. So overall I am very proud of my special new girl, although I'm really going to have to figure out what to do about the howling, since we do live in an apartment building and would rather not get evicted because she's crying when we try to sleep, eat, or have to eventually leave.
So we've had an eventful day! (She's only been home since about six yesterday afternoon.) And we look forward to the rest of our lives together!
Love from: Christine, Jonathan, and the lovely Sarah.

P.S. Better pictures soon to follow...it was too dark to take any decent ones last night.

This post has been edited by fatesrelease: 29 March 2009 - 01:57 PM

[koolaidnconner]

Congratulations Guys!!! She is beautiful!!

[MerlinsMum]

Christine, I saw your other photo test thread before this one.... so you can ignore my comment on it. Hooray for you!!! Congrats!!!! Oh and also, Happy Birthday!!

Can't wait to see more pictures.

About the howling: have you or Jonathan been able to arrange to take some days off work to be with her and help her acclimate? Always a good idea with a new grey. Monitor the howling, everything is VERY new to her, but you might have to do some alone training with her. Hopefully she's just howling because everything is so unfamiliar and she's a bit insecure about her new surroundings...

This post has been edited by merlinsmum: 29 March 2009 - 01:49 PM

[HeidisMum]

Congratulations!!!! She's beautiful!

[greytkidsmom]

Congratulations! Sarah is beautiful. You will have so much fun helping her adjust to retired life.

[fatesrelease]

koolaidnconner: Thank you so much! I think so too!

Kerry: Hehe thank you! And thank you again!
howling: Yes, I have till Wednesday off. I know this probably sounds stupid (I'm going to call Mary later and talk to her about how to deal with it, but until then) but how would you suggest I get her to stop? I know she wants attention and is nervous when we leave, but I know it isn't smart to be like "no." "ah ah Sarah." because then she is getting what she wants-our attention. So I'm not quite sure how to get through to her that howling is not ok. We just recently moved into the new apartment and our landlord lives in the same building, and I'm worried because all the tenants have dogs and they can hear her crying. I don't want any complaints! And of course I want her to feel safe and comfortable too. I just don't want to talk to her when she's doing that because I don't want to baby her.

[MyCutie]

Congratulations!

[greyhound1]

Congrats!

[PrairieProf]

Congratulations! She looks like a beautiful girlie! Can't wait to see more pictures. It sounds like she's doing great overall. I got my dog Beth when she was 2 1/2 too, just this past Labor Day.

I bet the howling will die down pretty fast -- it just sounds like a response to newness and confusion to me. Beth didn't howl when I brought her home, but she whined some. I wouldn't worry about speaking to Sarah when she howls at this early stage; she's probably a bit anxious and needs to hear your voice. I would speak reassuringly but firmly to Beth, sort of "It's OK, now settle down." And when she is calm, lies down, etc. at a time she sometimes howls, reward her! (And yes, do work on the alone training starting in very short bits today, with the Kong and PB!)

[cbudshome]

CONGRATULATIONS

She is beautiful!!

[TheUnrulyHound]

More pics!!! What a pretty face!!

[CDNgreys]

What a lovely birthday present!! She is just gorgeous

[GreytHoundPoet]

Congrats!!!

[Heehoo]

Congratulations, love those black doggie dogs! !

[widowcali]

It's probably just the strangeness. Cali didn't eat the first day I brought her home, had massive gas (really wish they had warned me about that one ), and had a couple of accidents in the house after our walkies. She also paced a lot the first day. She wasn't a howler while I was at work those first days, of course my neighbors on either side of my apartment were in their 70s and deaf as posts so she might have, but she did have a couple of Big D incidents and more gas. It took her a few days to acclimatize, and I was almost military in my scheduling so she had some consistency. Widow was the same, although her intestinal issues were more food allergy related. But after awhile, they got to the point that they didn't really care about being in the apartment.

I also stopped crating Cali after the first couple of months, and never crated Widow. I kept Cali's crate available for her, and she stopped using it by the end of the first year.

For any seperation anxiety issues that might have cropped up, I used peanut butter kongs, left the tv on a soothing channel (they like Food Network), had a DAP diffuser, and left lots of stuffies on the floor for them. I eventually started phasing out most of that, except the stuffies and the occasional kong, and they do wonderfully left alone. Most of my neighbors didnt' even know I had dogs until they saw me walking them (I moved around a lot due to work).

Once your new baby gets used to the house and the house rules, she should settle down. Lot's of patience and a pretty regimented schedule should help. Even on teh weekends, teh girls still get up at the same time for their first walkies. Their second walkies may be a little later than usual, but that is generally because I am doing homework, eating a leisurly breakfast, and straightening up. But their afternoon walkies is the same time, dinner is the same time, and their nighty night walkies are the same time. Keep things on schedule for a bit and baby will get used to it and start feeling more secure.

[Downtownhoundz]

Awww, what a beauty you have there, she'll settle in. Congratulations and happy b-day to ya!!

[snakes]

Whenever i have had a new dog in the house and i am worried about howling ect, i leave a note for my neighbors in their mailbox explaining that i have a new dog and that although they may be howling/crying they are not in pain and are being taken out and that it should die down in a couple days. i also encourage them to come see me if it is disrupting thier sleep/lives (we all have different schedules). I find most people are much more relaxed if they jsut know wahts going on and know you are making an effort and considering them as neighbors.

[Honeysmom]

She's a beauty!! Congratulations!!

[AbbyGirl]

Congrats! She is very pretty and petite looking in the photo.

[greytluck]

Congratulations, she is a beauty.