Wednesday, August 31, 2016

They also ran

Theo on the left and Athena on the right.
This was before Athena's spay surgery.
The other day I had Khaleesi out in the pasture with some other dogs. I took a lot of pictures but only posted pics of Khaleesi because the purpose of that blog post was to feature her and find her a home. But there were other dogs out there having fun and here's the proof.
Athena



Athena leading Khaleesi in a chase.

Toquima, doing his own thing.
Left to Right: Theo, Athena, Khaleesi
Theo the Great, a/k/a Khal Drogo


Toquima
Khaleesi (bobbed tail) and Athena (full tail)



A rest in the shade: Toquima, Theo, and Athena

Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Dane spay day # 1

Today was Athena's day to be spayed. Clay took her to the vet in the morning and I picked her up just after noon. She was pretty groggy most of the day and slept on the big bed in the kitchen by herself. I think I'll let her spend the night there as well. She did eat a little later in the afternoon, got her pain pill down with some canned food, and after that kicked in she finished off the rest of the dry food. I expect her appetite will be back to normal tomorrow.

All the female dogs came to check her out. They've all been through it themselves, except for Khaleesi and her spay day is coming on Thursday.
The first thing Athena did after getting out of the van and
relieving herself was to lay down on the grass in the sun.
That's Samantha heading over to check her out.




Maya checking out the cone.




All the girls gathered around Athena -
Khaleesi, Maya, and Gigi.

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea

I know that not everyone follows Game of Thrones. I don't either, actually. Clay watches it, and I'd like to, but I haven't made the commitment to it that it requires. Besides, it's a little too violent for my taste in television. For the uninitiated out there, the name "Khaleesi" comes from Game of Thrones. It's actually a title rather than a proper name, basically the equivalent of "Queen." The Khalessi has a number of titles, not unlike the Queen. My favorite, and the one most appropriate for these pictures, is "Khalessi of the Great Grass Sea."

The basic facts about Khaleesi:  16-18 months old; female; soon to be spayed; current on vaccines; about 100 pounds; seems to be house trained and crate-trained; good with other dogs, no info on cats; seemed fine with children.








In the television show, the Khalessi proved that
she could rule without a Khal, but as luck would
have it, I've used the nickname Khal Drogo for
Theo, because he's big and beautiful. 








Khaleesi

Not everyone was celebrating National Dog Day on Friday. Khaleesi's owners were making other plans for this young girl with the royal title. She came to Green Dogs Unleashed on Saturday morning and we picked her up on our way back from town Saturday evening.
In the car on the drive home.

She's 18 months old, unspayed, but will be next week. Her color is called "fawnequin," meaning fawn colored patches in the harlequin pattern. She's got blue/gray eyes and a generous amont of black masking around each eye. She's a big girl, quite a bit taller and bulkier than either Athena or Gigi. I guess she's more the size of Penelope, but without the low hanging tongue. She's not deaf or blind, she was just inconvenient for her former owners who couldn't understand why this year and a half old girl wasn't as calm and sedate as their seven year old dog.
Meeting Toquima

She met our pack yesterday evening and spent a quiet night in a crate adjacent to Athena. She's a bit suspicious of strangers, but she's already trusting both Clay and myself. She was fine with the other dogs. Gigi smelled her on us and wasn't interested in saying hello directly. Everyone has been fine with her and she seems to be adjusting quickly.

I'll get some nicer outdoor pictures of her today, but here she is meeting some of our dogs last night.







Getting checked out by Trooper

Encountering the blur that is Athena.




Khaleesi with Maya and Clay

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Monday, August 22, 2016

A quiet spell

Prince in his new home.
This is the way every dog's life should be.
I haven't posted anything in a few days and I know there are some folks who check the blog daily and may wonder why. The answer really is just that there wasn't much going on. I took Prince to his new home on Friday, but didn't do any dog adoption events over the weekend. I haven't hiked in several weeks due to the heat, rain, and being lazy. We went to the Virginia Craft Beer festival on Saturday afternoon, but didn't do much else all weekend. Usually that bothers me, doing nothing, but this weekend I was ok with it.

Prince went to his new home on Friday and I'm very happy to report that it's going well. He's been good indoors and he loves everyone he meets. He's a solid dog in every sense of the word. I couldn't be happier and I'm sure he feels the same.

His spot wasn't empty for long, however, as Toquima came Sunday afternoon for a three week stay. I think we may have found a new home for Athena, but the application is in the works and I'm not sure when it will happen.

Monday was remarkably cooler and less humid, so Maya and I went out for a hike. It was just four miles but it was enough for the day. After dinner, I took Athena, Max, Theo, and Toquima out to the pasture to run while I did some badly needed mowing.




I found this lovely piece of work strung across
the pathway in my garden one morning after a
rain. It was just about face-height, so I was
grateful that the water droplets made it easy to
see. It didn't look like it had caught anything yet
so I didn't have the heart to take it down. The
spider had obviously put a lot of work into it.
There was a lot of this in bloom out on the
trails today. I don't know what it is.
I took a picture of this same flower
in the exact same spot a year ago.
Someone identified it as Cardinal flower.



Theo and Athena
It's nice to have Toquima back with us again for a few weeks.

Max and Athena
Athena, Toquima, and I think that's Max back behind.
Athena is often seen as a blur.


Theo, Max, and Athena