A note from Pearl/Bryn

Hello Aragon Greyhound fans!

My name is Bryn (aka Pearl and aka Blueberry). I, too, am 16 months old.

Until early April, I was in Virginia with Poppy and JD, my longtime playmates and friends. But I am now in cold and wet California. I’m told it will warm up.

My new playmate and her son picked me up on Tuesday, April 6, at Fremont, Ca and we went for a ride to Arbuckle, California. Whoever heard of a place called Arbuckle?

Two guys who were very excited to see me greeted me at the door. We jumped and played all the way through the kitchen and living room and out to the back yard. Then I had a chance to prowl around and take a look-see.

Nice! Someone is feeding doves- lots of fun to be had there. The boys, who are 7 and 8, are a lot of fun. Gator looks like me- a blue brindle. He’s 7. The other is white with red brindle. I guess that’s parti-color like JD. His name is Soda Pop and is 8. He is more laid back than Gator. I had to beat him on the head with my Frisbee in order to get him to play with me.

It seems I am going to be in a show-whatever that is. So my human playmates took me to an agility show last Saturday. My sister was there and we played a little, but we didn’t want to distract the dogs that were working! There was a lot of activity and people running from one place to another. I was tired when I got back to the car and slept all the way home dreaming of running and jumping.

Tonight, I am going to school- a conformation class. Is that good or bad? Gator and Soda won’t tell me anything. I already know how to sit, lie down, eat, run, fetch, retrieve, shake toys, get on the bed and be an all round happy puppy. What else do I need? I’ve heard new words like “stand, stack, come, go back” So maybe that is what this is all about. I’ll find out tonight and let you know. Oh! I need to go out and chase some birds.

When I wake up.
Bryn

Greyhounds Are Versatile Part 2

Darby loving the snow



Becca imitating a giraffe.



Then there is Pearl. Pearl is my girl.






She is not lucky enough to be in dog shows. I am disabled. She has a yard to run in with her pal JD. It has taken a whole year to get JD to play tug of toy with her but Pearl finally taught him. Even though JD and Pearl don't get to run in the highlands or go to shows, they exercise each other and have a great life. Greyhounds will exercise themselves in whatever space they have - they will run a track of their own making in a small or large yard. Of course the track always varies and is a lot more fun when there are two or more greyhounds chasing each other

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Greyhounds Are Versatile Part 1

Poppy has been a long time friend and owns Pearl(Aragon Mystic Pearl). She has known me through my original greyhounds and all subsequent generations. When I first met Poppy she owned Weimaraners and Beagles. Owning a greyhound wasn't something she had considered. Through our friendship she learned about the breed. She has helped raise and socialize litters, helped through their illnesses and puppy placements. In fact when I think back through my years with the dogs, Poppy frequently comes to mind. Many years ago she moved across the country to be nearer to her family. When she lost her last greyhound Angel(Aragon Shimmering Mist) she was on the list for another puppy from Lyric. Below is her story of her involvement and thoughts on greyhounds.

Greyhounds are wonderful dogs. A lot of people think that greyhounds need a lot of space to run all of the time but that is not always the case. Some get to run in the great outdoors, up hill and down dale. Lyric(mom),Whisper(cousin)and Dede(friend).





Jesse(aunt) and Merlin(father)




Some have their own sand pit to play in at home - Lyric, Whisper and Apollo.



Beautiful and lucky greyhounds have families that work a lot with them and take them to dog shows and show them off and get their championships with them. - Lyric, Darby Crash, Echo, Tanner, and Becca.



Some are lucky enough to sleep on the furniture. - Tanner and Ember.



To Continue in Part 2

Pearl and Poppy

All of Lyric's puppies are natural retrievers. Sometimes it comes in very handy. It must have come from Lyric's side of the family since Merlin hated retrieving. Teaching him to retrieve the dumbbell in Open was an ordeal. His motto was "You threw it You retrieve it"

Below is Poppy and Pearl's story

It is a bit of a challenge to keep Pearl exercised. You see, I am disabled. One day I picked up Pearl's cousin Angel's ( she died three years ago at age 10) frisbee and threw it off of the deck. Pearl went flying off the deck after it. The game has begun. Pearl chewed a hole in one side of the middle so that she could flip up the frisbee over her snout and eyes and wear it like a kind of hat as she runs. I get the biggest kick out of her when she does this.

Since stairs are a challenge for me. I wait until Pearl is at the bottom of the stairs to throw the frisbee and then off she goes. She catches it about 70% of the time now. She is so good about bringing it back and letting me have it without a fuss so that I can throw it again. I know when she has had enough when she comes back and instead of coming to me she goes up to the upper deck and looks at me to go into the house for breakfast.


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Happy 1st Birthday!

The puppies are one year old today! It's quite a milestone! Here is a picture of each of the puppies celebrating their birthday.

Echo played with all of her toys.


Pearl ate special birthday cookies with a fancy birthday hat.

Becca was showered with gifts and treats.


Tanner had a party with his parti friends.

Darby ate frozen yogurt with cool birthday sprinkles.

Crime and Punishment (but mostly crime)

Most greyhound puppies are only transiently “chewy” on inappropriate objects. They quickly learn to leave things alone and chew only on their toys. Not so with Lyric’s litter-I have never had such a mouthy litter. Certainly it didn’t come from Lyric, as a puppy she ate maybe 2 leather leashes in half and that was it. She was trustworthy almost from the get go and by 4-5 months could be trusted absolutely. Merlin was similar-rarely chewed anything wrong. Of course when I had Merlin I lived on a farm and he ran almost constantly. Maybe he was too tired as a puppy to do wrong things.

Back to the litter from H……..I think Echo is in the lead-almost can’t keep things out of her mouth. I kept thinking as she got older she would outgrow it. Well so far-not so with any of the puppies. The girls are certainly much worse than the boys as you can tell by their list of chew toys(transgressions?).

I realize after reading through this list it might be tempting to think “well duh that is an easy fix, just kept the puppies away from objects”. All the puppies from Lyric’s litter are in experienced greyhound homes and are closely monitored. However, it only takes a second and some of these puppies have developed an unusual sense of stealth!

So onto their crimes.

Echo

I have had greyhound puppies since 1983 so know how to monitor them. Echo is unusual to say the least in her chewing ability. I keep thinking it is going to ease up but instead she gets worse. She can be the sweetest dog and then turn into a shredding machine. When caught she acts surprised as if she had no clue it is inappropriate to eat couches or any other object. I use mouse traps to teach the dogs to stay off the furniture. I remember many years ago Shattab (Echo's grandmother and Merlin's mother) and her two puppies Jesse and Merlin were all in the living room together. The puppies tried to get up on the couch and the mouse traps startled them so they ran screaming from the room. Shattab watched them and as I later reset them I caught her pushing the cushion with her nose to set off the trap-and then climbed up on the couch. Her granddaughter Echo however eats the darn things!!

So her list:

4 leather leashes

3 leather collars

3 pillows

2 pairs of shoes

Rug fringes

Mouse trap-training aid to keep the dogs off the furniture

Couch cushions-the piping around the cushions have been nibbled

Lounge whip(training toy) that one she got when in an xpen,she worked until she pulled it in then ate it in half

Toys-hers so they don't count I guess but too numerous to count

Dog bed

Kong (empty no treats inside)

Redwood tree bark, she goes out and peels it off the tree

eggshell foam pad under the dog beds in the car

couch pillows

part of the couch

Sterling

He hasn't completely destroyed anything. But he has 'creatively altered' one antique ammunition box and a table top wine barrel-slat candle holder. Wood is his preferred chew, apparently. I've caught him toting around my clothes, but he doesn't chew them, he arranges them on a dog bed and then lays on them. To his credit, I've invested a small fortune in 'authorized chew things' (as Helen will roll her eyes and verify) so he really is pretty overloaded with stuff to keep him busy. But I'm guessing the root of it is that he really is an angel. ;) He did, unfortunately, inherit his mothers talent for table surfing. Fortunately he inherited an unusually active conscience (most definitely not from his mother because she has none) and reliably doesn't follow through with his 'steals'. Items dropped in a wave of guilt:

1 Eight ounce New York Steak

1/2 a Caprese salad

1 plate of assorted cheeses ( plate was dropped face up, unharmed)

1 bowl of assorted Greek olives (that one stained the carpet pretty bad)

He also has a habit of nabbing items off shelves in the shops we visit. We have yet to be guilted into purchasing any of his selections:

1 hideous silk scarf

1 hand sewn cloth trinket bag so ugly it would make your eyes bleed

2 handcrafted knit scarves, one uglier than the other

1 bunch of silk flowers, with attached floral foam

He doesn't damage the stuff he plucks from the shelves, he just hold it and nudges me with it eventually. Or presents it to the shop owner (yes, he did).

He'd make a terrible crook. He'd roll over so fast on the others.

Pearl

One dog bed completely shredded all over the deck - covered deck completely in fill

4 very large dog beds over $125 each - destroyed zippers and pulled some fill - when pinned zipper - chews safety pin heads off - Completely destroyed one zipper area so cannot be pinned

Numerous catalogs and magazines shredded all over living room - fills large trash can- done many times

Bottom limb of Oak tree - just barren

Goes under 1 1/2 ft area under chair - over rail on bottom and crawls through to other side and gets pee pad I use for Bug - then crawls back through and shreds pee pad all over kitchen. - done numerous times

Chews off nose and ears on toys - other toys just pulls apart but can be sewn back together.

Brings every stick in from the yard and chews up into match stick size all over kitchen

Digs holes in yard

Pulls flowers off cucumber plants if she can get to them - so no cucumbers

Hearing Aid - punctured in two places

Cochlear Implant - over $800 damage to parts having to be replaced and no longer water resistant

Becca

Too many toys to count--either ripped a hole in them, tore off "parts" or destroyed the squeakers

Total ripped out zippers in 2 dog beds. Great fun running around the yard with them hanging from her mouth.

Plum tree (it is still living tho--just no lower branches)

Clothes pin (fortunately NOT the metal part)

Still working on one of the blankets in her crate

Made some teeth "dents" in corner of dresser and nightstand

Picnic table bench that now has rounded corners. The benches and the table now have an x-pen around them as she jumped up on the table and was peering in my living room window.

Ate hole in carpet of friend that I was visiting. Fortunately it was a small hole, and I still have my friend. J She is a "dog friendly" person.

Part of plastic liner I had on top of the carpet under one of the crates in my bedroom in case of any "leaks" from visiting dog-"evidence" is in one of the photos enclosed

Tanner

Tanner is a relative angel compared to his siblings. Perhaps partly due to the fact that we moved into a new house when he came home to live with us. Instead of having to puppy-proof the house, we just left most of our stuff packed up and out of the room. However, he has managed to get his teeth on a few things:

Foam from a dog bed

Several cardboard boxes (empty and full)

Several cheap dog toys

The strap on one black Keen Mary Jane Calistoga style shoe (still wearable thank goodness)

One half of a perfectly toasted Pub Bun with mayo that was on the counter

Ate a hole in the hideous green shag carpet in our new house

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!

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.

Water Puppies

Now that summer has began, another trait of Lyric's puppies is surfacing.
They all love water! It is not unusual for greys to like to dip their feet in wading pools or walk in water up to their wrists. However Lyric's puppies seem fascinated with water-the wetter the better. After Echo got done playing with the rainbird sprinkler head she had enough water on her to qualify for a bath.



I wonder if water tolerance is heritable? All of my greys have hated to perform outdoors(except running) in the rain. Merlin actually ran out of the open obedience ring once when it rained. My biggest dread in tracking is pull a track in the pouring rain. Well I have been lucky for years but my luck ran out last year. Lyric's tracking trial day arrived with a HUGE downpour. Several people didn't show up due to the rain knowing either their dogs wouldn't work in that much rain or thought the trial would probably be cancelled. I went and kept my fingers crossed for a cloud break. By the time Lyric's track had aged enough we drove out and when I got out of the car was
almost blown over in the rain now with a fierce wind. I was sure she wouldn't work but opened the back door anyway. Both Whisper and Lyric stuck their heads out and Whisper quickly withdrew to the back of the car. Lyric hopped out and although obviously not pleased walked up to the track and quickly got down to business. She ran the first several legs and turns. Finally the track turned back into the stinging rain, I literally had to squint my eyes to see ahead. She had had enough and stopped tracking and started pulling to go back to the car. Although we didn't pass that day I was surprised at how well she was willing to work in such bad conditions. She then easily passed a few weeks later at the next test we drew into.

Here are two videos of Lyric's puppies playing in the water.
This is pearl:


This is Becca:

How They Grow

As puppies grow they all go through different growth phases. Long time breeders feel that the best age to grade them/judge them is somewhere around 8 wks. They should look like little replicas of what they will become. After that they start going through big growth spurts. With some their front grows out of proportion to their rears, with some it is just the opposite. The backend is higher than the front end. Fronts go easty westy(toes point out), hopefully they never pigeon toe as I haven’t seen this correct. Some puppies are lucky and are just little replicas of what they will become as adults. They grow up in proportion to the rest of the body and over the next few years muscle out. It is fun to try to guess what they will become in the years to come.
Lyric and Merlin’s litter is now 5 months-below are their pictures.

Aragon Aroi Silver Lining aka Sterling wt 58 lbs



Aragon Black Ice aka Echo wt 51 lbs



Aragon Silver Oak aka Tanner wt 58.5 lbs



Aragon Mystic Pearl aka Pearl wt 52 lbs



Aragon Morning Mist aka Becca wt 52.5 lbs

Pearl at four months

Pearl is 16 weeks old and oh how she had changed. In the past three weeks she has increased her weight by 33 1/3 percent - just imagine. She now weighs 40.3 pounds. Her favorites toys are a ball tied to a rope that she swings around and chews and her squeeky rubber elephant. She has finally started sleeping on her own bed and leaves JD to his bed most of the time. He is very relieved to be able to stretch out and not have her climb all over him all the time.


Pearl was always the one that liked sitting in Helen's lap and she still tries to climb into mine but it is a struggle. We can make it for about a minute before she gets uncomfortable and starts struggling to get down. She is just getting too big for the lap.


She has the gentlest mouth - even the vet commented on it this week. She is sweet about taking food off of a fork and takes her turn with the other dogs. She likes tomatoes, green beans, mac and cheese, and loves flax seed crackers.

Pearl has settled in

Since Day 1 Pearl has been very good about pottying. I put pee pads in her xpen and there is also a dog door when she is loose in the house. For the first 3 days I took her out and down the stairs to the yard. I showed her the dog door once on the second day. By the third day I was whooped from going up and down stairs all the time - I have a bad leg. I finally told my 4 year old male greyhound JD to take her out and down the stairs and he did - to my surprise. That was the end of my participation. Pearl is loose all the time except when I am not home.

By Day 3 Pearl had taught herself to go in and out the dog door after JD - she now goes in and out all the time by herself - with or without him. She may use her pee pads once a day but that is it. I have had to clean up "mistakes" only twice since Pearl came and that was on the tile and not the carpet. WHAT A GOOD GIRL.

When Pearl first came home I put her in a 400 crate at night. By night 6 she was in my bed. I have a very high 4 Poster bed so I keep a leash on Pearl so that she does not fall off by accident. She is now putting her feet up on the bed to be boosted up instead of me having to bodily pick her up. She cuddles under my arm all night or just outside my arm. Right efore she falls asleep I give her a few treats and we play with the elephant toy that her litter mates played with when I was in CA. She does not really move all night. She may wake up around 4:30 - 6:30 to potty and when she stirs a little or whimpers - I wake up and we go to the dog door. She goes outside by herself and potties and comes back in. I either bring her back to bed or leave her in the kitchen with JD and Bug (my IG).

I have never had such an oral dog. Pearl loves her toys - and she has a lot of them. She is always carrying them around and playing with them and carrying them from room to room. She also seems to need a lot of rawhide chews or bully sticks.

Puppy Love

Sometimes we forget how incredibly soft a puppy is. How gentle their mouths are. What an wonderful gift to hold a sleeping puppy in your arms and have them cuddle up to you. In the chaos of taking care of a new puppy - these are moments I truly treasure. The wonder of a new puppy and how easy she learns to raise her leg to shake for a treat and does it over and over. How easy to get her from a sit to a down - why oh why won't my big greyhound do that? THANK YOU HELEN FOR THIS BLESSED GIFT.

Poppy and Pearl

Night Terrors by Pearl

Hi – I’m Pearl. Since I came home with my Mom a week ago, I have been sleeping in a crate at night. At first it was scary to be alone but it was cozy and I quickly got used to it. I guess Mom was afraid I would pee in the crate because she would wake me in the night and take me outside to pee. One night I got to sleep all the way through. Last night was a different story though.

It was time to go to bed and I went out as usual to go potty. Mom took me into the bedroom but instead of putting me into the crate, she picked me up and put me on this really high bed. I had a leash on too. She got into bed and then the terror began. I heard this awful wooshing sound and then she put this mask on – it was terrifying (CPAP). She didn’t look at all like Mom anymore. I shook and quivered and quaked. Mom tried to comfort me but the more she hugged me, the closer I got to that awful mask and the more scared I got. If she looked at me head on – the mask even blew a blast of air onto me. She finally turned off the light and I was able to finally settle down and sleep. Around 4 am I began to stir. I had to go outside. We got up and pottied and then it began all over again. This time there was no settling down. I shook and quivered and quaked for over 10 minutes before Mom finally gave up and put me where I belonged – back into my crate where I could get some blessed SLEEP.

Update from Pearl's mom

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Last night I hardly slept at all. Today I take my beautiful Pearl (Aragon Mystic Pearl) home to Keswick VA (Charlottesville). We got up about 5:30 as usual – Helen feeding and playing with the puppies. I packed and got ready to go. Donna and her friend Judy came by around 9 to pick up Becca and Sterling. As soon as they left we loaded up the van and were off to the airport.

We were hoping that Pearl could fly in the cabin in a Sherpa but it wasn’t to be. She was just too big. She had to go into baggage compartment for the 5 hour flight. Helen was pretty emotional losing three of her puppies in one day. It was very hard saying goodbye. The flight was calm and we arrived at around 9 pm EST. I was met with a wheel chair – I have trouble walking in airports and carrying things. We immediately went to pick up Pearl. She was not there yet so my attendant got me a porter who got my luggage and the three of us waited for Pearl. When she came I whisked her out of the crate and into my arms. She had not even pottied in the crate. I wrapped her in my coat and we all proceeded immediately across the parking lot to the Valet Parking. As soon as my van came I put Pearl in a bigger crate with pee pads and she relieved herself. It took about a half hour to get arranged before we were on the road.

I had no idea how to get out of Dulles Airport so I hit HOME on my GPS and ended up on a road I did not recognize and had no idea where I was – to the chorus of Pearl’s very loud complaints. I was on the phone with Helen - trying to talk over Pearl – when she bounded into my lap. How did she ever get out of the crate? I must have not latched it correctly. Of course it was now about 11 pm and I was in the middle of a highway with no way to stop and a very rambunctious puppy in my arms. After about 10 minutes I was able to stop and put her back in her crate. She continued to cry for about an hour. I have found there are definite benefits to being profoundly hearing impaired. When all is noise – take out the hearing aids, at least the shrill sound is diluted.

It took about 2 ½ hours to get home. We arrived about 12:45 am in the morning. After feeding, watering, and playing with Pearl and unloading the car, I was EXHAUSTED. We finally crashed around 3 am. I in bed and Pearl in her crate. Up twice during the night to potty and then up at 7 am.

Monday, Feburary 9, 2009

Off to the chiropractor at 9 and then pick up JD, my male greyhound and Bug, my IG.

Pearl immediately tried to crawl on Bug and then bit her. Since Pearl at 9 weeks old is about 8 pounds heavier than Bug and Bug has only 3 teeth – Bug was terrorized. On to JD. JD was a little reticent but allowed Pearl to be around him. That night I finally persuaded JD to let Bug curl up with him and sleep.


Wednesday, Feb 11, 2009

Today Bug ventured outside while Pearl was out there.
Pearl has two favorite outside toys – a shearling Frisbee and her water bottle filled with rocks ( like a rattle). JD and Pearl also played chase. Pearl was up under the bushes racing back and forth up on the terraced part and JD was below racing back and forth on the ground. I felt it was safe as there were so many bushes between but it was evident that they were playing chase as they went back and forth about 10 times.

I had to go out Wednesday night and it rained while I was gone. It has stopped by the time I got home I went to take Pearl out and discovered that JD had taken all of her new toys that he could get a hold of ( about 5) and had dragged them through the dog door and out into the yard and rain; including the really big ones. I’m just glad he could not get to all of them. I really thought it was funny.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Pearl has learned to go in and out the dog door in the sliding glass door. I also tell JD to take her out and down the stairs to potty her and he does. It really saves my legs.

A friend brought a long horse whip to tie a toy to to have Pearl chase. It was a nice gift for Pearl. She loves it. Helen showed me hers and now we have one too. It teaches them to lure course.