Wednesday, November 3, 2010

More on Oliver

Okay folks.  I suppose sharing pics of the dog but no real info on him was a bit unfair.  Here he is. SAM_0388.JPG (image/jpeg) 318K Oliver has had quite the life.  He was born in 2003 and has just recently turned seven in August, which is middle aged for Greyhounds.  I've been wanting to get a dog and have always felt that adopting a dog from some sort of trust or a pound would be the best thing to do as there are tons of them out there.  Greyhounds seemed a good choice because they're pretty lazy sleeping up to 18 hours a day and ones for adoption generally come fully potty trained. 

Oliver originally raced in Great Yarmouth.  After racing for 3 years he was dumped on the Retired Greyhound Trust in Yarmouth.  The RTG homed him with a very elderly man who he did fine with until there was an incident where a Jack Russell got in his chili and he didn't know how to react and bit it fairly badly.  The police were convinced by the RTG to not put him to sleep if they removed him from the area so he was sent to the Suffolk RTG.  It was at this point that his name was changed from his former racing name, Dicky Doo Daa, to Oliver where he lived quite happily next to another Greyhound named Twist.  Due to the incident in his past he was overlooked by many potential adopters because there are plenty of other dogs that haven't had any incidents before. 

When we( Annabel and I) went to check out dogs at the Suffolk RTG I had pretty much decided we were going to get a black one or one that had been there the longest.  Black Greyhounds are the least adopted for a reason that I can't seem to figure out because they look amazing and all have really nice coats.  A lot of people also apparently just go and decided one day they want a dog and adopt.  We decided to go for several weekends and walk as many as we could to try to get to know them so we could decide on the correct one.  After we walked Oliver we knew he was the one for us and had been there for quite some time. SAM_0283.JPG (image/jpeg) 297K We went back for 4 weekends and continued walking him so he would get to know us.  Took him for a few rides and he instinctively jumped right into the Land Rover without hesitation so I knew he definitely was the one.  He's the most affectionate dog ever and is incredibly polite.  He won't beg you for your food but he's always thankful when he gets it.  Loves to eat seafood.  Is super excited to see you when you get home and likes giving hugs.  Which I haven't been able to get a picture of yet, but he'll politely bring his front paws up to your shoulders and bury his head into your chest while standing on his hind legs. 

So Oliver was brought to the new place and has fit in very well.  I'm living in a small village north of Bury St Edmunds now.  It's near tons of open space and loads of fields and paths and national forest area.  He's getting used to doing normal dog things like chewing on smoked pig ears.  I walk him in the mornings before work and when I get home.  When I'm not able to Annabel does it and everything works out fine.  He's had zero problems since we've had him though he does get excited when he sees other dogs and wants to say hello and smell them. SAM_0448.JPG (image/jpeg) 270K

Testing pictures.

Just testing pictures cause I never did this before and think it'll be easier than linking to my photo albums.