Our new addition

It's been a long time coming for this update. It took us a few months of deliberating but Don finally gave in and decided we should get another rescue greyhound. Our lab, Bailey, is getting on in years and had gotten quite dependent on Seymour to be her ears as she is really hard of hearing now. It was obvious that she missed him when he passed away last August. I did my best to spoil her rotten and got in the habit of taking her everywhere with me so that she was only alone when absolutely necessary. After 3 months, I finally convinced Don that getting another dog would help cheer Bailey up. I contacted our rescue group's president and told her the good news and almost immediately she told us she had a match for us. On December 11, 2010 we put Bailey in the car for a meet and greet with the possible match. Shortly after we arrived at the vet's office, Judi (the group president) brought in Ike. He and Bailey immediately started sniffing each other and wagging tails so I knew it was good. I, of course, fell in love with him instantly. He adopted us on the spot and we took him home. He had a hard time getting in the car, but once in was a good passenger considering he had no idea what was going on. When we got home, we put the dogs in the back yard and they started running around and Ike peed everywhere he could find to pee. Here is a picture of them nose to nose in the back yard together for the first time.



I couldn't believe how well they hit it off. It was almost instant. Ike was 2.5 years old when he came home with us. We were glad to have a younger dog, hoping that he will be with us longer than Seymour was. We thought about changing his name but decided to keep Ike's name. It was tough at first trying not to call him Seymour. We still catch ourselves sometimes. Ike's personality is completely different than Seymour's and for that I am grateful. Ike is playful and very outgoing. He loves doing meet and greets, sniffing kids' faces and pretty much all dogs. There doesn't seem to be much that phases him either. We've already had fireworks and several bad storms and he doesn't react to them. The biggest challenge with him was house training him. For a while, we had to go home during the day to let him out because he just couldn't hold it. He's only had a couple accidents since he's gotten over the hurdle of holding it all day.

Here is a picture of Ike and Bailey snuggling on his first day at home with us. They actually snuggle quite a bit and Ike doesn't mind sharing his bed with Bailey at all. Seymour was always very spatially aggressive towards Bailey so they never snuggled on purpose.



The only time he seems to get anxious is when one of us leaves the house with Bailey. He actually acted out last week when I took Bailey for a walk and peed a lake in the dining room. Otherwise, he is a very smart, lovable, playful boy and we love him to death already. He's already had his first "extra" visit to the vet because he broke a toe nail down past the quick playing in the yard. Here are a few more pictures.

Ike at the Buffalo Home & Garden Show meet and greet.



Ike with his friend Rocket at the Knox Farm park (he learned how to sit pretty quickly).



Ike (in his new Steelers coat) and Bailey in the snow. He LOVES the snow.



Ike just chillin' out.

 

Nice pics a great looking dog.. I had a Borzoi that use to always rip his dew claws out while out playing around in the yard ...

 

Cool!

 

awesome stuff. great addition!

 

Very nice

 

Good doggies.

 

Thank y'all.

 

Good looking doggies!

 

Congrats on the new addition Jess. Glad to see my buddy Bailey is hanging in there.

 

Hey Jess!

Congrats on the doggie. Are you able to let him run off leash? I'd love to see him run at full speed.

 

Great story, and great pics. Buuuut Ditch the Fanny pack

 

Nice Jess.

 

Thanks! We love him. Only in enclosed areas such as our back yard and the dog park. He's really not that fast, compared to Seymour. He's like the Doyle of dog racing...hence why he retired at such a young age.

 

Hahaha. I gotta keep the dog biscuits somewhere. Pockets in women's jeans aren't that deep.

 

Thanks Scott! Yeah, she's doing good. Moving a lot slower these days, just like her Mommy.

 

<Like>


good lookin' doggies.

 

Thanks Eddie!

 

Hate.

 

You know you love me Mr. Iwillnotuseanemoticon.