Basset Hound Update!

Well, I'm really late with updates yet again!! What can I say? I've been busy training Stella, making bears and taking care of our neighbor's dog across the street.

Stella is 6 months old now and she's grown quite a bit! She and Sequoya (our Chihuahua) are best buds!! You can see them play together (and also Cleopatra our whippet) in the video below taken just a couple of days ago....

Isis is doing Great!

As many of you know, our sister Isis had a bad accident in late April of 2007 with injured her rear end and aggravated a serious heart condition that was hiding. She was given just a month to live...

Here we are in July of 2008 and Isis is still here and doing great! I know Momma has not done an update on her lately, so since I (Cleo) have taken over this diary, I thought I'd let you all know how she was doing.

Naturally her favorite past time is lying in a sunbeam.... I think that's the #1 favorite past time of ALL whippets! Turns out it's also a favorite past time of chihuahuas too - here's a photo Momma took of Isis and Sequoya sunning together. Doesn't Isis look great? She's finally put on just the right amount of weight.

Woof at ya soon!
Cleo

Are You Looking for a Chihuahua? or Whippet??

Although we found our wonderful Chihuahua, Sequoya - I still take a peek at the Chihuahua Rescue USA site to see who else is now looking for their "forever homes" Sadly, there is a constant flow of Chihuahuas that come into rescue.

You can read bios and see photos of the Chihuahuas (and Chihuahua mixes) available at Chihuahua Rescue USA here.

I know that some people think that all dogs in rescue are there because they are "bad dogs", but that just isn't true!! Sequoya was given up by her owner due to allergies and landlord issues. Her sister Flower was too! That's Flower's photo below... she's still looking for her "forever home". We met her too and she was just adorable!

This adorable little boy below - Pistol Pete - ended up at CRU (Chihuahua Rescue USA) because his Daddy passed away :( Just look at that face!!

Cha Chi is another sweet boy whose owner passed away :( The family didn't want him so they dropped him off at a shelter. Fortunately, CRU got him out of the shelter and he is still looking for his new "forever home", but is out of that scary shelter!

There are some Chihuahuas that don't have the reason they are in Rescue posted in their bios like 1 year old Bellamy below.

But the great thing about adopting thru Rescue is that the foster moms and dads do TONS of work with them, get to know the fosters in their care in order to match the right dog to the right people. Bellamy LOVES being held... and when his foster mom bends over to pet other dogs he will jump on her back to crawl up on her shoulder and reach over to give her kisses!!!

Stay tuned for more photos of Chihuahuas looking for their new "forever homes"! I'd love to adopt them all, but I can't. So I'll try to do the next best thing... helping to find these loving dogs their new homes! :)

And as Whippets are our first breed... I must mention at least one of the whippets currently looking for her "forever home". Fortunately for the breed, Whippets have never been in movies or commercials... and have not gained the popularity that the Chihuahua has. Thus, there are not nearly as many Whippets in Whippet Rescue as there are Chihuahuas in rescue. But it does still happen!

This is Penny. She's a 6 year old female whippet who loves to play frisbee! (non of our Girls ever got the hang of that LOL!) She is looking for her new "forever home" with her "sister" - 8 year old Paige. They have been together since Penny was 8 weeks old! If you think that 2 whippets will be harder to care for than one whippet, let me assure you - 2 whippets are much easier!! Whippets LOVE to cuddle together and almost need another whippet to be with (although yes, there are some people who have just one whippet and they do just fine)

You can read more about Penny and Paige... and the other whippets looking for their new "forever homes" on the Whippets for Adoption Rescue page.

More Photos!

I have not been a good blogger!! I had promised Sequoya's foster mommy - Marg - that I would take lots of photos!! Well, I guess I've been taking them, but not sharing - and that's almost as bad! So here are a few that I was able to edit today! If you click on the photos it will take you to the larger one I have on Flickr if you are interested. I hope you enjoy ;)

Fun Whippet & Chihuahua Shopping!!

When we first got Cleopatra (our first whippet) it was hard to find Whippet stuff to buy. The Whippet is not a popular breed, so it doesn't make a lot of sense for stores to carry products that will take up shelf space and not sell quickly. Thank goodness for the internet!!

The Chihuahua IS a popular breed!! So it is easier to find cute Chihuahua stuff locally than it is to find Whippet stuff -- but I still love the internet! There's such a wider variety to choose from ;-)

Here's a couple of cute things I found tonight at CafePress.com
- you can click on the pictures if you want to see them in the store....




And I think this is definitely true of us.....

Pandora!

Pandora is our youngest whippet. She's a beautiful brindle color with lovely eyes. Pandora came to us from Kathy & Debbie Davenport - Kamada Whippets - when she was around 2 years old.

We first met Pandora when her name was Annie. It was June 2005. She was 6 months old and soooo cute! We had stopped by with Jen and her friend Dawn to see the new 10 week old puppies they had. Just to visit - scout's honor LOL! Here's one of those little cuties....

We visited the other whippets too and I (Laura) fell in love with this beautiful 6 month old brindle whippet puppy Annie. Kathy let her out of her crate and Annie just curled up in my lap! But... at the time we still lived in Streamwood and I took all our Girls outside one at a time on a leash. Besides that, they were holding Annie for themselves to see if she's be good for showing - she was so beautiful! After a lovely visit, we went back home.

17 months later........late October 2006

I was getting ready on a Sunday morning for a teddy bear show where I was selling my bears. The phone rang and it was Kathy. Kathy told me that she remembered how much I loved Annie and would I be interested in giving her a home?

It turns out that although Annie's size was within the standard for a female whippet, Kathy and Debbie felt that she wouldn't show as well as the judges prefer whippets a little larger than Annie was. They had found her a home with a lovely lady who had another whippet from a friend of theirs. Annie lived there for about a year... when the husband brought her back. We're guessing that the couple split up and he just wanted to get rid of the wife's dogs.

To make a long story a little shorter.... the husband made some outrageous claims about both the whippets. He was returning both whippets to each breeder. Although he was entitled to a partial refund due to the contract he had with Kamada Whippets if he could produce the paperwork -- he was not interested. He just wanted to get rid of those whippets.

When Annie came back home to Kathy & Debbie, she was very skinny and smelled like a barnyard! Kathy knew that the husband had 2 large dogs and lived on a small farm. She thinks that the poor whippets may have been made to live outside during the summer. Whippets are NOT outside only dogs! Their fur is not thick, they have thin skin and almost no fat normally! Annie had even less meat on her ribs than normal -- probably because she had to compete for food with the 2 larger dogs and the male whippet.

Also - this family had changed her name to "Pee Pee" - seriously -- that is the name that was on her tag! The husband said they named her Pee Pee because she kept "going" in the house. Let me tell you, she only had ONE accident in OUR house and that was when she first met our other Girls, as a sign of submission. She has not had one accident since then... and that was 15 months ago!

After Kathy told us this entire story, she told us that she remembered when we first met Annie how much I loved her - and would we be able to give her a good home? Of Course!!!!

Since Annie was called "Pee Pee" for so long and then back to Annie - she really didn't mind one last name change - so we called her Pandora. She learned her new name in 2 days!

When Pandora first came to live with us she was very clingy and wanted LOTS of attention. Talk about a "velcro dog"! Pandora was very possessive too. When she would sit with me in my chair, she's growl and snap if any of the other Girls came up to say hi to me. We quickly stopped that by punishing her for that behavior with no attention - she had to go sit by herself. That worked wonderfully and Pandora never behaved like that again.

Now.. Pandora has filled out very nicely and looks like a beautiful, healthy, well filled out whippet. She loves her people, but has enough confidence now to know that she will always be loved. She does not have to be by our sides constantly anymore.

And run? WOW can this Girl run!!! It's her most favorite thing in the world to do. Like Isis, she LOVES to play ball too. Here's a few photos of Pandora having a great time!

And although Pandora is much more self confident now... she still loves to be very near her people LOL!!

Isis!

This is Isis the very first day we had her home. Yep, she was an adult when she came to live with us! 19 months old to be exact :)

I hope I have the facts in Isis' story correct... but it's something like this:

Kathy & Debbie - Athena's breeders - had a friend in Florida who was a long time whippet breeder. In fact, one of her whippets is the ONLY whippet to ever take Best in Show at Westminster - back in 1963.

This friend was planning on retiring from the dog world - but wanted to have one last litter to show. Right when the pups where born, she ended up in the hospital for 18 months :(

The pups were still cared for by a relative during those 18 months. She came by every day... but they were not socialized at all.

The woman finally was able to come home about the same time that Kathy and Debbie were down for a dog show and visiting. Although she really wanted to try to show the dogs (there were 2) Kathy and Debbie convinced her to let them bring those 2 whippets back to Illinois with them to find them good pet homes.

One day I was off at a teddy bear show when Bob received a call from Kathy. She started the conversation by saying... "I know you don't need another dog, but I have a dog that needs you"

When I got back, Bob told me about her and we discussed it before going to meet her. We knew once we saw her we would want to take her home... so we decided to make the decision of adding another dog to the family first, and then go meet her.

Obviously, we decided to do it!

When we first met Isis (her name was Angel then) she was SO scared and submissive!! We all (Bob, Jen and I) sat on the floor of Kathy & Debbie's living room while they brought Isis out. Isis belly crawled across the floor and climbed right into Jen's lap.

I think that was a Thursday or Friday. The following Tuesday was my last day at work. I had quit my job to do the teddy bear business full time. We asked Kathy to keep Isis till then, so that when Isis was moved to yet another home - I would be with her all day long so she wouldn't be stressed.

Isis was wonderful!!! She didn't even know her name Angel, so there was no problem switching it to Isis. She learned her name in a day!

It took Isis some time to learn that she was finally home -- and she was a part of the family. It took a full year before she would hold your gaze. If you looked at her before, she would always look away (a sign of submission). After the 2nd year Isis was fully her own whippet and full of confidence! In fact, she can be a dickens! LOL!!!

Isis LOVES to drape herself over her people....

And the other whippets!!!

If she wants to sit or lay in a spot that is already occupied... she doesn't care... she'll lay there anyways! If whoever was there first doesn't like it, they can move!

Isis almost never barks.... but when she sees a squirrel... look out!! I never knew she had a voice till then LOL!!!

Isis' most favorite game in the world is ball. But... it has to be a green tennis ball. Yes, I said GREEN. She just doesn't care as much for tennis balls in other colors!

She has another favorite game she plays with Cleo. We call it "Stalk"

Isis and Cleo will lock eyes from across the yard. Then, they start approaching each other very slowly... stalking each other like a lion. It is SO cool to watch... they are able to walk without making their top lines go up at all.

Then... all of a sudden, they both break and start rushing each other... playing and having fun!

-----------------------------------

On a Saturday in April of 2007, Isis was having fun in the back yard when she slipped and fell (not unusual) but this time did something to her back and was paralyzed. I was not home, but Bob rushed her to the vet. I called Kathy while I rushed home. The vet gave Isis steroids... shots and then pills.

Kathy told us to be sure to give Isis time to walk again... at least 2-3 weeks. She said that most vets try to rush this and if they aren't trying to walk in a week try to push you into surgery. We're so glad she gave us that advice... cause that's exactly what happened.

The Monday after the accident - Isis developed a slight cough... which turned out to be a symptom of Congestive Heart Failure. Evidently, Isis had just started developing this -- and then the steroids accelerated it so that is was a horrible case. We weren't sure she would live thru the night. At this time we had found a different vet - as we just were not comfortable with the first.

As of today -- February 8, 2008 - Isis is still with us!!!!! She has outlived what the vets had predicted by many months! She's walking and running again too! We gave her LOTS of time, and did lots of physical therapy with her...After 6 weeks she was walking by herself very well!

Here's a photo of Isis jumping AFTER the accident!

Isis is taking 10 pills a day for her heart condition and is on a low salt diet too. We know our time with her is limited... but we are enjoying every second we have with her!!

If you want to read the diary I kept during her recovery, you can find it here. Just scroll down to the bottom to start reading as the most current entries are at the top.

Athena - Kamada's Goddess of Wisdom

Athena is our second whippet. She's also known as "The Little Brown Mouse" - or Mouse for short. Yes, she knows that both names refer to her.

Cleopatra was 1 year old in February 2001. Bob and I were supposed to be going snowmobiling one of those February weekends, but on that weekend, it was sunny and 65 degrees! Not great weather for snowmobiling!

We decided not to go (big surprise, hard to snowmobile on mud!). The big IKC Kennel show was going on at McCormick Place in Chicago that weekend. We decided to take the Sebring convertible with the top down, into the city to attend the show. We needed to buy whippet stuff! It's hard to find whippet stuff in shops as the whippet is not a common breed.

Naturally we had to find the whippets while we were there too :) Bob got ahead of me and when I caught up to him, he was talking with Kathy and Debbie Davenport of Kamada Whippets. They lived nearby - in DeKalb! (remember, this is an international show - so there were people there from ALL over!)

Turns out they had puppies that were going to be ready to go home in a week -- and they still had a few that needed homes. We talked for quite a while at the show -- asking us questions and such to be sure that their puppy would be going to a good home.

Later in the week we visited Kathy and Debbie to see the puppies - and were interviewed some more. (ALL good breeders will do this! Judy did the same thing with Cleopatra) When they decided that we could adopt one of their pups, we brought out this little red girl who looked so sweet!

She was kinda getting pummeled by her brothers... but once out on her own in the grooming are (Kathy and Debbie are groomers, show handlers, and breeders) this little pup was out and about exploring everything!!! We fell in love with her and they said we could bring her home the next week.

Kathy and Debbie had not given the litter their AKC names yet, so when we picked the name "Athena" - we were also able to give her her official name "Kamada's Goddess of Wisdom".

We introduced Cleopatra to Athena in neutral territory and then brought them both into the house. Cleo absolutely LOVED "her" puppy!

One thing we did incorrectly though... was to stop Cleo any time she tried to push down on Athena. Whenever she did that, we'd tell Cleo... "Cleo, don't squish the puppy!"

Later we found out that Cleopatra was trying to teach Athena some manners. So now... Athena is a little Princess. But I tell ya, a prettier Princess could not be found anywhere ;)

Actually, Athena is NOT badly behaved! She's a VERY good girl. She does have a VERY high metabolism though and so does not have any fat on her - no matter HOW much food we give her! And so, she gets chilly more often than the other girls and now "peeps" for a blanket.

Athena and Cleo shared their toys and chewies VERY nicely!

Cleo has made a wonderful "momma dog" taking care of "her" puppy -- but she still loves to play.. and with Athena she certainly did play!

Athena has grown up into a very lovely and wonderful whippet girl!

She is certainly "all whippet" but it's been fun to see her own distinct personality develop!

For one thing... Athena is all about comfort and food! Bob plays a game with the Girls sometimes where they have to find the milk bones on him. Cleo just sits and waits... but not Athena! She's right in there searching everywhere to find those delicious milk bones!

When Athena wants something... she figures out how to let you know. For her blanket, she "peeps". She's not annoying about it, it's just one quiet "peep". If you are not sure, she'll look right at the blanket - or the blanket chest if the blankies are not out - and then look right back at you.

When it's dinner time... or close... Athena will stand near where the food is kept and look real hard right at the food bin and then right back at you... back and forth.

Sometimes in the summer, she might not be too cold... but her nose may be. No problem... she can take care of that herself!

At the old house, we had a fireplace. Needless to say... that was Athena's FAVORITE place!

Athena is the proper little lady... she even sits like a dainty princess! One paw... just slightly up!

We love our little Athena!! Thank you so much to Kathy and Debbie for allowing us to adopt her!

Cleopatra - Our First Whippet

Cleopatra was our first whippet. This is a photo of her at 5 weeks from Judy Lowther her breeder.

Cleopatra came to live with us at 12 weeks old. She was a very pretty puppy! Here she is at 4 months....



Cleo LOVES to give kisses! She started when we picked her up out of the pen in OH, and hasn't stopped since!

I sometimes think she kisses in her sleep. I tell ya though... the other Girls are VERY clean with all the kissing that "Mama Dog" does!

Cleo likes to be near "her people".

Now that she's a bit older, she likes to know where they are, but she is not one who likes lots of cuddling (normally... there's always exceptions to the rule LOL!) As she was our first, she knows that she is the "momma dog". She knows she was the first.

Cleo will be 8 years old this month (Feb 08). Sometimes she behaves like an old lady who doesn't want to be bothered by the other Girls.... but other times you'd think she was still a puppy! She loves to run in the back yard and play ball......




If Cleopatra wants to play, and no one wants to play with her - that's no problem! Cleo will actually throw the ball herself and then go chase it!

When it comes to pain, however ... I have to admit she's a bit wimpy. The slightest discomfort and she's looking for sympathy. Of course, that's probably my own fault LOL!!!

For the first month that we had Cleo, she never barked! Then, we brought her to a race meet near our home as Cleo's breeder would be attending from Ohio. That's the day she found her voice, and never forgot it LOL! Her favorite thing to do is to throw her head up and back and "Roo roo roo!!!" She reminds me a lot of "Snoopy" - Charlie Brown's dog when she does that ;)

Cleopatra is definitely a morning dog. The second that alarm clock goes off, she's up, stretching and ready for the day! Probably a large part of the reason for that is breakfast!

How is Isis doing? See for yourself? :)

Isis leaps for the ball
Originally uploaded by Laura Lynn - Teddy Bear Artist

I took this photo yesterday as Isis leaped for the ball I threw for her. Pretty good for a paralyzed dog with a heart condition, huh? :)

Yesterday was a lovely fall day. Isis really likes the cooler days better now - she FEELS better and is very playful.

I decided to take the Girls into the backyard and take some photos. You can see more of them here.