My Greyhound part #2: The first week

The first week you bring a retired greyhound into a house is when you realise you will have to teach, a fully grown dog, stuff you would not even think a "normal" puppy would need to be teached !! When we first got home with the dog, we went for a little walk around the block, Bentley was walking very nice on leash, so far all is good... Then we got back home....

First : The four steps from the driveway to the front door. It seems that during his 4 years of racing (70+ races and about 30 wins) our retired Greyhound (Bentley) never had to go up (or down) any stairs. But after a few minutes, and a bit of cheering, Bentley did manage to go up those steps in a very unelegant fashion !! We then knew that it will be a big challenge for him if he wants to get to the house second story through those 14 hard wood steps !!

Second : It also appears that at the kennels where he spend all his live up to now, they don't have any windows or mirrors. So the first thing Bentley does once inside is to try to get right back out through the full size window beside the door... Bang !! Yep my boy that's glass, hard and transparent ! It didn't take long for him to get use to windows, but the mirrors ... You just can tell what he's thinking, Oh cool! another greyhound, he looks just like me and he wants to play too !! Still to this day we are not certain he understand what he's seeing in the mirrors ...

Third : Food, you have to teach this dog that not all food in the house is for him. And that is pretty easy with a small or medium size dog. But with a very tall dog that's another story. See the back of Bentley is about 31 inches from the ground, taking into consideration that your standard dining table is around 30 inches tall. This dog has to look down on what's on the table and he does not have to stretch very high to see what's on the kitchen counter !! So the first few days you really have to re-think where you put anything containing food.

Four : Sleeping at night. Let me put you in context. Our bedroom is upstairs, the dog's crate is downstairs, he can't go up or down the stairway yet and this is a dog that never spent any time, especially at night, alone. So guess what.... The first few nights either my girlfriend or I slept on the coach !! But it didn't take long for Bentley to settle in and master the stairs and before we knew it he was sleeping on the floor, on a pile of pillows in our bedroom !

But on the other hand, within a couple days he was settled in. He was eating good, releaving himself outside, was getting pet by children on walks, we took him to friends houses to meet people and other dogs. He was so easy going that it felt like almost like he had been living with us for years ! He was really enjoying the begining of his retirement and we were very happy to have such a good calm dog that gets along with everybody !

Stay tune for part #3, when we become dog food and poop experts !!