Exercising Pearl

Poppy is disabled and has trouble walking. A solution to exercising Pearl is using a Lunge Whip with a plastic bag cut in strips on the bottom as a lure for Pearl to chase. Pearl loves it and it really does exhaust her.



Other things that help exercise and tire out Pearl and any other dog are retrieving toys in the yard and taking part in a training session. Mental exercise can be just as tiring as physical exercise!

Obedience 101 for Becca

Becca and Donna "officially" started obedience training recently as they enrolled in a formal class. Becca has been trained in some basic obedience since she was a teeny, tiny puppy as were all her siblings--sit, down, come, etc.--but she will now start the road to competitive obedience. Here are a couple of recent photos showing her getting a head start with the training. She should be a lot of fun to train as she's quite intense about some things, is very curious, and seems to have unending energy!! Now if all that can be channeled towards obedience, she should do well. This will be Donna's first puppy to train in obedience; she's trained other Greyhounds to their titles, but they were adults when she started their training. A new experience for both of them!

Gentle Pearl

I have an IG named Bug that I got at 3 years old (she just turned 6). She is a puppy mill rescue and was treated horribly before I got her. It took 11 months for her to willingly approach me to be touched. The first two years that I had her she never played with toys or got off of her bed except to eat or - unless approached and then she just ran away.

Pearl has changed all that. Pearl taught Bug how to play and now Bug thinks that Pearl is her very own play toy. Pearl is so gentle with Bug even though she outweighs her by about 55 lbs. Although Bug only has three teeth, she is not afraid of Pearl and loves to attack her. Bug also comes to Pearl for love and attention.

Interestingly, Bug was not that way with my male whom I had when she came and is a year younger. Bug just ignored JD (a retired racing greyhound) or would sit on the edge of his bed but not play. The beautiful thing about Pearl is that she knows to be gentle with Bug but she will go all out with JD and rough house to her heart's content.



Bug’s life is so much richer now that she has a friend and playmate. It took a gentle young lady named Pearl to show Bug that there is true joy in life. Thank you.

Sing-A-Long with Morgan

All the puppies love to carry and play with toys. Their uncle Morgan(Lyric’s brother) goes one step further-he sings with the toys. In one of the videos his brother Walker is included. Walker is learning to sing from Morgan but it is not as pronounced.

Here Morgan sings with his Hedgehog.



Here he sings with his screaming monkey.



In this last video, Morgan sings with his kitty.



Perhaps we should all buy hedgehogs, monkeys and kitties to see if any of the Lyric pups have inherited Morgan's talent?

Western Washington Hound Association Show 2009

Tanner went up to the WWHA show in Auburn, Washington last Sunday. We were very excited about this show because the judge was Espen Eng who is a well respected greyhound breeder (his kennel name is Jets) and judge from Norway.

Ring time was at 8AM for sweeps and 830AM for the regular classes. Since it is a long drive from home, Tanner and I drove up on Saturday and spent the night with their good friend Jane. At Jane's house, Tanner quickly made friends with all the hounds and commenced playing with Reid, one of Jane's greyhounds who is close to his age.




In the morning it was up early and an hour drive to the show. Tanner showed well and the sweeps judge liked him but gave the honors to another dog.

As the youngest dog in the regular classes, Tanner went in first. For the most part, he acted like a pro. He held his stack, gave ears, and gaited well. It was nice and cool so he did give in to some puppy antics while gaiting but quickly settled down when asked.Mr. Eng was complimentary of Tanner when he gave us the ribbons for the 6-9 month puppy dog class. When we went back in for Winners Dog, it was evident that he meant what he said when he put us in front and gave Tanner the win for a 3 point major!

The most exciting part of the morning happened when we went back in to the Best of Breed ring. There were a couple of nice specials at the show and I wasn't sure if Tanner would continue to keep his positive attitude up since he had already been in the ring 4 times that morning. I wasn't really nervous but I wanted Tanner to look good and be happy in the ring so I knew I needed to work hard. I shouldn't have worried, Tanner did everything I asked of him and showed very, very well. I could hardly believe it when Espen pointed to us and gave Tanner the Best of Breed win! It is not often that such an honor is bestowed upon a young dog like Tanner. Needless to say, I was very, very happy! This also meant that Tanner beat more dogs and ended up with a 5 point major! Very nice indeed!

Tanner and I are very fortunate to live in the Pacific NorthWest. I count my fellow greyhound competitors that were at the show among my best friends and they were genuinely happy for Tanner. Thanks to all of you! Some pics from the show are available from Helios Hounds Photography, you can see them here.

Of course, winning breed means we had to hang out and wait for groups at the end of the day. We hung out with our friends from Bantu Basenjis and Ridgebacks. Thanks to Shelby, Jennifer and Chris for the shade and entertainment!

Tanner had to go back in the ring twice more in the afternoon. Once for the regular hound group and one for the puppy group. As a puppy in the hound group we weren't optimistic about winning anything. However, Tanner stayed cool (it was pretty hot by this time) and showed well.

We didn't get pulled for the hound group and we took a break to get Tanner cooled off and let him rest while we waited for the puppy group (this is something they often do at specialty shows and not at normal dog shows). Tanner was very tired and very hot by this point. I kept his cool coat on him as much as possible and encourage him to lay down while the judge was going over the rest of the group. Our judge for this special group was Espen Eng again. Tanner did pretty well despite being so tired and hot. We were very pleased when we were pulled out and awarded Puppy Group 3!

Thank you Mr. Eng, for recognizing how wonderful my boy is and for giving us this nice win and great memories!