Living with Juice - the first days
1. When you put your greyhound in your car for the first time you realise how long in the body they are. However mine fitted quite happily in the back seat with a 52kg staffi/bull terrier cross. Don’t worry, they work out the seating arrangements.
2. When I first walked in the front door at home with this giant, I thought, “What have I done, he’s huge.” Don’t worry, they are very good at stepping around things and curling up into extremely tight balls when they are resting. And, after a couple of weeks, you take the size of them for granted.
3. Juice was fairly aloof (sat and observed) for the first couple of weeks, even when I’d spent a lot of time trying to settle him in, eg use of warm, friendly language, much patting and stroking and hugs. However it didn’t take long for him to protest when I stopped patting and stroking him (normally an outstretched paw aimed for your shoulder).
4. I have stairs at my place. Juice’s long body made climbing individual stairs awkward (he doesn’t fit on them). He soon adapted to climbing the stairs in a couple of bounds.
5. Food. Juice eats anything. For the first couple of days he tried to knock off Ami’s food as well as his own but was easily corrected with a firm ‘No’. Have a regular feeding spot and if you have another animal make sure they can see each others bowls (I feed them about 10 feet apart) so they don’t feel they are ‘missing out’.
6. Bones. Juice loves the marrow part of a marrowbone but won’t gnaw on the bone. I buy the raw, cut-up beef soup bones (they cost around $1.50-1.99 for 6 pieces at Dewsons) and they are good for cleaning his teeth.

Shock and Awe
1. The first time I saw him trying to put his jaws around the head of my beloved older dog I was concerned. No, it’s normal and a play technique. She now ‘mouths’ him to initiate play and is actually getting the better of him often in the games.
2. Juice has this wonderful habit of bowing then stretching. Unfortunately he will normally do it just when you are striding up the passage, carrying a load of washing, etc. Watch for it or you will trip over them.
3. The second night home and there was the noise of lapping from the kitchen area, which didn’t sound like lapping from the dog’s water bowl. On investigation I found a 4-foot dog, front feet firmly planted on the stove hotplate, lapping up the water soaking in the frying pan. Moral: The greyhound’s reach is awesome. So to is their willingness to try new things like drinking from your mug of hot Milo although the scalded tongue made that a once only event.
4. Other pets/neighbours’ menageries. Watch carefully the first couple of weeks – your greyhound will very quickly work out what belongs on your property. They go into an ‘alert’ posture if they think something is unusual, which means you need to keep an eye on them to see what eventuates.

Nice bits
1. Greyhounds are extremely clean (head outdoors for bodily functions) and don’t smell – perfect indoor dog so don’t feel that your pet has to be kept outdoors. They are content just to laze about and watch you.
2. They are a self-contained dog that just wants to be with you ALL the time. Be prepared for this but they don’t get underfoot (except for the bowing routine).
3. Much is written about greyhounds not being overly useful as watchdogs (they watch). Juice barks when someone is at the door and adopts an alert stance when someone is near the premises or is walking down the street. That’s all I ask of any dog.

Unexpected bits
1. Take Juice to the beach and he will march in to cool off. He just stands there in the water and comes out when he is ready.
2. Juice ‘grins’. He often walks around or sleeps with all his teeth showing.
3. Juice ‘talks’. First I thought he was in pain, etc but I think it is just one of his ways of communicating. Especially when he thinks he should be fed.

I am so pleased I thought of adopting a greyhound. Juice is a joy and a delight and has damaged/chewed no household possessions (I don’t think I’m tempting fate here). My eight-year-old Ami is now a born again pup and the best of friends with her new ‘brother’. I wouldn’t be without Juice and will certainly see Melita again when Ami passes on. These delightful dogs have so much love and affection to share even after their racing career is over.

Cath Ashby