The pup
A friend just asked me to describe Ruby for them....
Weeeellll, I said; she's skinny as a rake, fast as a fish and twice as difficult to catch. Reckless Ruby (as Rosie calls her) is currently 20.5" tall at the shoulder and weighs 12.5kg at the last weigh-in, although at the rate that she eats, that will have changed! Her mother is 50/50 whippet and saluki, her dad is greyhound/collie/Bedlington (both are working dogs), she has a semi-rough coat and is mostly creamy white with beige splodges. Rubes has one brown eye, one blue eye and seriously bushy eyebrows.
What does she do? Well, she sleeps a lot and likes to run around like a mad demon when she's not snoozing; give her a fire or a patch of sunlight though and she'll go belly-up and Zzzzz for England, but give her a cat (or anything else small and furry) and she'll do her best to chase it. having said that, she is getting much better with 'her' cats and will largely ignore them, but that does depend an awful lot on how distracted she is with a bone or sleep.
When she's asleep, she does that running and twitching thing that makes me think that she's chasing bunnies or running up and down hills. She really, REALLY likes to play with her doggie friends Storm (a handsome boxer pup), Joss ( a 2 year old black lab) or Jazz a 3 year old black lab.... all three at once would be just heaven. She's pretty much dominant but is fast learning her place, training is coming on (literally) in leaps and bounds - the puppy classes have helped a lot and when she's not distracted (for this read ADHD dog!) then she is pretty obedient, which isn't bad for a 19 week old lurcher. As with most lurchers, her recall isn't brilliant, especially when she's distracted by pretty much anything - other dogs, people, toys, small animals, blowing leaves.... you get the idea. However, she is getting a lot better at understand 'OFF' which is her command to stop doing whatever it is that she's not allowed to do; the current list being jumping up at people, cruising the work surfaces in the kitchen and nipping if she is over-excited! Like I said.. we're getting there *roll*. She doesn't have a malicious bone in her body and will play happily with other dogs, only growling in excitement or if someone tries to steal 'her' bone.
Like us, she loves long walks and will mostly come back when asked, but will hare off after rabbits and deer, only to come slinking back when she hasn't caught them. To see her running though is a thing of beauty - she is starting to get that long sight-hound lurch rather then a puppy gallop and is very graceful, especially when she has full control of her legs, which isn't always the case. Her growth plates haven't hardened yet, so we try not to let her run too much or jump over things.
Ruby Tuesday (as I call her) is crate trained and will happily sleep in it all night, tucked up in her blalnkets without a murmer (better than any baby), she'll happily sleep in it during the day too 9with the door open) and will go to it to eat or when she wants to feel safe (like when the house is full of screaming kids!). She is getting better at not stealing things (no lurcher will ever stop doing that) and causes less havoc around the house, but you still have to keep an eye on her when she's wandering around. She's not allowed upstairs... just too much temptation, and besides, the cats have to have some peace. When I want to know where she is, or I am going out, she is in the kitchen, with her crate, food and water and an abundance of toys.. she mostly sleeps when we're not around, but at least the kitchen is pup-proof if she decides to get mischievious. She's also pretty much house trained *touches wood* no puddles or messes for about 6 weeks now, but she likes to go out for a piddle every 2 or 3 hours.
This is my favourite picture of her (after she'd had a bath, hence the fleece 'bathrobe')... with her 'slave', Rosie
