Meet Dixie

[MerseyGrey]

12 minutes ago, FiveRoooooers said:

While I’m on, does anyone else’s dog lick the inside of your elbow and hump the air at the same time?!?! 

I’m on my own here, aren’t I?

[FiveRoooooers]

43 minutes ago, MerseyGrey said:

I’m on my own here, aren’t I?

You never know but I'm afraid you might be 

[EllenEveBaz]

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When we had Buddy I thought that we might venture into lurcher ownership one day - having fallen totally in love with greyhounds I didn’t want to steer too far, and thought that a lurcher, who could join us on longer walks, might suit us as well, if not better than a greyhound. 
This particular lurcher is nothing like a greyhound!

That's why I got Milo.  I had one elderly and one exceptionally lazy greyhound at the time, and I wanted somebody with more energy.  Milo started thinking about calming down a little about age 6.  

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I’m on my own here, aren’t I?

No takers here    

[FiveRoooooers]

It's been almost two hole months without a Dixie update. 

eta, Ahh, it's September, vaca time?

Edited Tuesday at 11:58 AM by FiveRoooooers

[MerseyGrey]

On 9/16/2024 at 4:15 PM, FiveRoooooers said:

It's been almost two hole months without a Dixie update. 

eta, Ahh, it's September, vaca time?

Sorry! I didn’t realise it had been so long. Time flies when you’re pulling your hair out and being outwitted by a clever dog  having fun!

She is still with us but is still a foster and is going to stay that way until she’s adopted. The last two months haven’t been easy and although I think she is making some progress, I feel like we have reached a plateau and we are not going to be able to help her much more. It’s become evident how restrictive she is going to be for us, and this is something that I wanted to avoid with having a dog which is why we didn’t commit straight away. We are on holiday next from Friday and we know that we won’t be able to go to some places and do some of the things we wanted to do because of her. We are going with Dan’s parents and I’m worried that they won’t do the things they want to do either because they will feel like they have to do things with us because they are such lovely people. So I think it’s going to be a little tense and stressful at times. They keep offering to look after her so we can go out but knowing how fast and strong she is, I can see at least one broken hip on the cards so we are firmly declining!

Other than that, what has she been up to? Her reactivity to horses and reduced but has been replaced by aeroplanes. This is completely bonkers and I can’t explain it at all. We live on the flight path for a small airport so it’s not ideal. She’s become a bit more cuddly in the house and will often rest her head in our laps when she settles for the evening. These quiet times are blissful and we are all very happy when they occur. The squirrels in the garden are busy preparing for winter and are driving her insane! Most of the barking in the house is in response to them now. I’m thinking of buying a catapult. She’s started to ‘report’ more when we’re out on walks and we see a dog, but it’s early days for this and she frequently lapses back into being a ‘reactor’. This is a little unpredictable and can happen after a few near perfect walks. One such event last weekend reduced me to a blubbering, snotty mess at the end of a walk, partly due to frustration and probably partly due to my age. She still won’t let me trim her back nails but I’ve managed to do the front ones and she lets us brush her now and then (but only with the zoomgroom- not with the Furminator knock-off we have).

Even though we know we don’t want to keep her,  the one that both Dan and I agree on and consistently return to is that we don’t want her to go back to kennels. Although we both feel like we aren’t doing enough for her, we don’t want to send her back because it’s too hard for us and she’s not perfect. She is happy here, even though some days she seems to want to be angry and shout at everything. Her happiness is obvious from the back garden zoomies, the spinning that she does on my bed and the joy she gets from having someone to play with. 

On that note, we bought her a flirt pole to try and tire her out a bit. She caught the lure and chewed through the cord on about the second time playing with it , but I’d already decided I wasn’t a big fan when I lifted it up to waggle the lure at her and she flinched and cowered away from me . She does something similar when we are playing tug o’ war and I lift my hand to tuck my hair behind my ear. I don’t want to think about why.

The rescue have said that she hasn’t had even one enquiry made about her so we are doing the right thing and are going to get her a winter coat. We just need to pick a fabric .

[Remolacha]

You are wonderful people for giving her her best life. She doesn’t sound like a bad dog, just a difficult one that has had a hard life 

[FiveRoooooers]

 What Jan said. Every day and quirk that you hang in there with Dixie is an opportunity for her to become her best self. Thank you for helping her. 

Thanks for updating! *Enjoy your vacation*!!

[GreyPoopon]

You're giving her the best possible life and lots of education while she awaits her family.