Got Ya plus 2 months

Wild Child Full of Chase

Missy is now my wild child full of chase. She is a living fireball full of adolescent dog energy. Generally, she’s quiet about the house but let her out in the dog paddock and she’s a wild woman. She loves to play with her stuffies, mostly hunting play. She’ll charge them, snatch them from the ground, and go ripping about with them, often throwing them into the air. Thankfully, she’s more restrained in the house but she can get pretty bouncy when cabin fever sets in.

Missy’s house manners have been impeccable. She’s a bright girl and assertive. When she needs attention, she comes and asks and has paired words to activities. So 20 questions is beginning to work with her. This skill is always a big help to identify what a needy dog act is about.

Nick and Missy Get On

Missy and Nick are comfortable in close quarters and get on well. I’ve not seen any possessiveness or indications that one feels that the other is a favored child.

Missy knows how Nick asks for food and comes running to clean up anything he doesn’t eat. Missy’s Delta Tau Chi name is Hoover! She eats everything in sight. That’s why they are “sight hounds.” Unattended food is hers except when Nick gets there first.

That said, Missy has impeccable table manners. I feed her first while preparing my dinner and Nick and I eat together. Missy lies quietly while Nick eats but is right there for leftovers. I’ve been picking Nick’s dish up so he can have his leftovers later. Nick is a picky eater on his current food so I’m going to look about to see if I can find something he likes better.

But he and Rhea always grazed and I could free feed them by measuring out two rations twice a day and letting them nibble as they would. Not with Missy Hoover in the house!

Play

Missy and Nick play a bit in the yard but Missy is a bit fast and rough for old man Nick. He often ducks and covers in the car port when he’s had enough play. She’s full of adolescent energy and will lead Nick about the back garden and then double back on him. All in good fun but greyhound fast and rough.

Sleeping Arrangements

Now that it is cool in the evening, Missy or Nick or Missy and Nick will hop in bed with me. Missy is clever and settles by the feet where there is room. I suspect she learned this skill from Jennifer in a single bed while at Second Chance. Nick has been working on it for 5 years but I suspect there is method to his selective amnesia. He plops down across the pillows and won’t budge until bribed to move. He’s definitely trained me to produce a cookie at bed time!

Missy’s Film Career

I’ve been accumulating a good bit of dog play video. It’s a good way to document their development and to keep entertained when bored. I started filming Lance and Rhea while in Rhode Island. Greyhounds always get frisky in the light snow at the start of a storm so I began by taking snow storm video and just sort of kept on. I’ve been editing the clips in iMovie and posting them to my You Tube account which you can find from my Google+ profile.

This clip is of Missy and Teddy in the back garden. Victor Wooten’s The Hawk from his Music Lesson record provides a groove. The Music Lesson has an accompanying text designed for guided self-study in jazz improvisation. Victor’s text is groove player oriented but these short pieces seem designed for a student to play along either as a grove player or to build improvisation skills.