[Simonie]

Hi!

I am reading this forum almost every day and I thought it would be nice to introduce myself!

I thought about adopting a greyhound when I saw one at my Uncle's place at Christmas 2008. The dog was there for a short period since the owner was on vacation. My boyfriend and I fell in love with him. He was calm and quiet even with 30 people in a small house.

The following weeks we search online and reading about that breed. We have never though about this kind of breed thinking he needed lots of exercise and was a hyper type of dog. Well, we found out it was the contrary! We continued our search to get us informed more and found a non-lucrative company near that was doing adoptions. So we emailed, met and signed the adoption papers! 2 weeks after, they went in the US to get our dog (and some more for other owners) and came back to give him to us.

His racing name is Drift into View and now renamed Conan (like Conan the Barbarian!) He is 3 years old and will be 4 in July. He is a 74 pounds, white and red beautiful guy!

I really liked the idea of having the dog directly from the track to us. Having no fostering in between does not allowed the dog to have habits from previous "owners" that you do not really like. But that's just my opinion, I know a lot of you are fostering people and I do not want to offend anyone!

Well, that was 3 weeks ago and all I can say is that I think I got the perfect dog! Seriously! He was calm in the car when we were returning home, He was excited when we arrived and very curious. We only had one accident and that was the first night we got him. He got the stairs the second time we tried. He is not bed/food/sleep aggressive. He tells us when he wants to play with rooing and barking. He does not have Separation Anxiety and so far, my cats are doing okay if he is not near them. My cats never saw a dog, they stay always inside and are 14 and 8 years old. We are working on both the dog and the cats to make them go along fine. At night, he sleeps from 11pm to 7am-8am without waking us up and is doing that since we got him.

So far, we have no problem at all and I love him so much!! I knew I would like to have a dog. I mean, since I'm like 4 years old I want a dog but my dad never wanted. He allowed cats only. To fulfill my desire of having a dog, I red tons of books about everything dog related. It's like having all this theories but never applied them.

I am very happy so far and I will probably another one in a couple of months when the cats and dog will get along with each other.

He's a pictures of him the day we got him:





Thanks for reading and looking!

Sorry for the long post

[twhitehouse]

Welcome to Greytalk! You'll love it here!

Conan is very handsome and I'm glad he's settling in well.

[3greysinPA]

He is really handsome.. i love the markings on his face...
Welcome to GT.. I'm new here too.

[HeidisMum]

He's very handsome. Congratulations.

[PrairieProf]

Welcome to you and Conan! I'm glad your adjustment is going so well. Beth is my first dog too -- I've found learning about dog training really interesting. I have a senior cat too, and she did adjust fine, though it took a few months for her to really be comfortable. I hope you'll post more updates on and pictures of your sweet boy!

[CDNgreys]

Bienvenue!!!
What a gorgeous hound!!!!

[Simonie]

Thank you guys so much for the warm welcome!

The only thing I worry about is my cats. I do not want them to be best friends but at least to be in the same room and not having Conan go see them everytime they move!

I know it will take more then a month and I need to be patient. I hope they'll do okay because for now, the older cat is really stressed out and growls at Conan! Poor cat The other one is more adventurous and let the dog be around but as soon as he's near more then 1 foot, my cat let him know he's not welcomed!

Off course, muzzle everytime the cats are around and put them in the same room often so they get used to each other's. Treats are also a big motivator when the dog behaves as we want.

How long did it take for your dog/cat to get alone fine with each other?

[PrairieProf]

I'd say it took about 2-3 months. My cat is quite assertive and confident, and had lived with dogs when she was a kitten, but not since then. One thing that seemed to help was feeding the dog and cat in view of each other, with the dog behind a babygate -- it helped lure the cat out more and I thought it would help them associate positive things with each other's presence. I did not force the cat to be in the same room otherwise -- I figured getting more comfortable had to be on her terms and timeline. I did lead the dog by her on leash periodically. They're not best friends now (I think my cat prefers people to other animals), but they coexist very happily, for instance both lying with me on the bed at the same time.

This post has been edited by PrairieProf: 19 June 2009 - 07:23 PM

[Simonie]

Great news PrairieProf!

I'll try feeding the at the same time behind baby gates.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Shirley44]

From Rimouski
if you ever down this way don't forget to stop.

Your boy is beautiful

[PhillyPups]

Hi from Philly

Conan is stunning - no advice on cats - I'm allergic so adopt "cat zappers"

[koolaidnconner]

COngratulations!

[KahluasMagic]

Conan is stunning !

[2hounds]

Welcome! Conan is stunning!

[BellesDad]

Felicitations from fellow Montreal GTer

[robinw]

Welcome from lovely Kitchener! Conan is a real cutie

[BrucieDad]

Felicitations from a fellow Canadian (went to school in Montreal - love it!). Sounds like you are off to a wonderful start. All the pets will probably just need time to get acquainted with each other and then you won't even remember these days. Looking forward to updates over the coming months!

[Josie]

Bonjour from Montreal (Verdun)!!!!
Conan is real handsom!!


great to see other Montrealers here!!!
when you get enought posts we could talk via PM (private messages)

[greg1229]

Welcome from sunny Phoenix, Arizona..and welcome to the Darkside..

Greg

[Simonie]

Merci à tous
Thanks everyone!

I'm not really from Montreal to tell you the truth. I am from Sorel but it's easier to say Montreal! However my parents live there.

Tonight we tried to have him in the living room with a baby gate, his crate open and his bed/toys. He did fine for the time we were not there. He was laying down in his crate even though the door was open.

I will update often

I'm gone to watch the box fight (Diaconu vs Pascal).

Have a good night!