Lita continued
March 20th: Lita continues to progress, spending more and more time
upstairs with us, and going places in the car. It seems it's necessary to
always have Corky or one of the other kids along, or Lita shuts herself into a
shell. I guess thats just part of her working through her fears of the human
world she now lives in. That's all right, because having Corky along allows us
to contact more people about Greyhound adoption, and with her and Lita
together, it's always a million laughs.
We took Lita and Corky to FedEx's facility near Atlanta Airport Saturday, then
drove out to Carrollton to buy some dog food. The owner of the store came
out to see his first Carolina dog, and we were so pleased Lita allowed him to
pet her. And Corky licked that poor man up one side and down the other.
You can always count on Corky to greet someone with gusto. The dog has
never met a stranger.
March 24nd: Dr. Brisbin contacted me, telling me that he knows a well-
known conservation biologist who is very excited about getting a puppy from
Lita; and he thinks we need to be thinking about finding a suitable male to
breed with her. Bris knows many folks in the dog world, and told me
someone to contact to see if they have what we’re looking for. I have a
couple more questions for Bris to answer before I contact this man. For one,
I’m not sure if we want to actually own a male, or do we just want to use their
male for stud purposes. To my thinking, owning the male wouldn’t be
necessary. And, if the pups weren’t exactly what you were aiming for, you
might want to try a different male to sire the next litter. I don’t know....we’ll
gather many opinions and thoughts before we can make an intelligent
decision.
I want it to be known that we are not trying to be part of the problem of
bringing more dogs into this world, when there are already too many needing
homes in shelters. Working with endangered, ancient breeds, however, is an
important undertaking, in our opinion.
Tina and I took Corky and Lita to Newnan this morning, and we actually took
both of them into Petsmart. Lita was apprehensive to begin with, and when
the automatic door opened in front of her, I had to hang on tight. Once inside,
though, she did great. She met a number of people and allowed some
people to pet her. She stood up on her rear feet, with her front feet on the
counter top, and took treats from the checkout girl. We were so happy with
how well she did. Of course, there again, she had Corky with her....and, there
were other dogs with some of the other customers. I haven't discussed it with
Tina yet, but I think it would be a great idea to change Corky's name to
Prozak, because of her affect on Lita! Just kidding.
March 26th: Tina and I took Corky and Lita to Douglasville today and visited
Petco and Petsmart, taking them inside both places. Lita did very well
again! A dog trainer friend of ours works at Petsmart, and although Tina and
I have talked to Jana about Lita, she has never seen Lita firsthand. Jana was
amazed seeing LIta, as were a few other folks who heard us telling Lita's
story.
March 30th: Dr. Brisbin called yesterday while we were in Duluth at Gwinnett
Community Bank getting things settled, so that we can close the construction
loan. He left a message, saying he has two events on his calendar he would
like Lita and us to join him at in Aiken, SC. The first of the two is on April
22nd, which is the date of the Doulgas County Chamber of Commerce
Business to Community Expo at Arbor Place Mall. We will be in our booth for
our first big advertisement, so we won't be able to make that one. The other
should be no problem. Dr. Brisbin is meeting with the Board of Directors of
GROW (Georgia Rehabilitation of Wildlife) this weekend here in Atlanta. The
GROW Center has been proposed to be built in Southern Douglas County.
This would be a very welcome addition to Douglas County and the
Douglasville area. Please visit their website and call your Commissioner
and tell them you support having the GROW Center be a part of the great
Douglas County community. http://www.thegrowcenter.org/ This would be
very high quality growth for our community; good for the entire family and
highly educational for our children. You can't get enough good growth that
always attracts more good growth. I'm concerned if they can't get the support
they need to come to Douglas County, South Fulton will lure them away with
their new Serenbe Community and the coming city of Chattahoochee Hills.
April 11th: Lita's becoming so used to car travel, she eagerly jumps into the
back of the Trailblazer now, and rides with her face between Tina and I, eyes
peering out the windshield. She happily, tempered with caution, greets
anyone now. And if Corky's along - a dog who has never met an enemy - it
loosens Lita up for anything. As I type this, our greyhound Panama is lying
next to me on my right, greyhounds Corky and Butternut are lying behind me,
and Lita's asleep on the other side of Tina sitting at her computer. Lita
seems to feel like one of the family these days. Greyhounds Gretz and Windy
are less enamored with Lita, so they keep their distance. The Whippets,
being slightly spastic, won't stay calm around Lita, and in our efforts to make
her feel comfortable in the house, we make them stay in another area for
now. It'll all come together before long, though, and they'll all become one,
big happy family. Tina and I have brought enough new members into this
family, that we know it just takes time to let the personalities fit themselves
together.
April 15th: You won't believe it, but Lita has learned to sit on command! This
was something we weren't even able to dream of two weeks ago. She was
too fearful to allow us to stand over her to give her the command. Now she
happily sits for a treat. She continues to move forward, with less fear than
ever before. Still, when Lita's inside, Gretz and Windy continue to need
muzzles. I don't think they can actually hurt Lita, but we don't want them to
make her bite them. A greyhound's thin skin makes them very vulnerable to
being hurt badly in a fight.
April 21st: Tina and I have been so busy this week, what with finally breaking
ground on our pet lodge, and with preparing ourselves for the Business to
Community Expo at Arbor Place Mall, beginning at 10:00 tomorrow
morning, (Saturday, April 22nd) , we haven't had much time to spend with the
kids. Lita's taken it very well, though, and seems ready to play each time we
come home. Keeping her in our basement for the first two or three weeks,
she was kind of insulated from our other crazy dogs and the deafening fuss
the put up every time we come home. Now that she's staying with the
Alabama Kids when we're out, she has learned to whoop and holler with the
rest. Her personality has been exploding over the past three or four weeks,
ever since we began taking her to Petsmart and to ride along when we have
errands to run. Our terrific neighbors, out for their daily walk, saw Lita for the
first time today. First time she's ever seen Bob, and she wagged her tail at
him and let him pet her on the head through the fence. Simply amazing. The
better she does, the more I have to increase my expectations for her. She is
so intelligent, if she can continue to overcome her fear of new things, I don't
see why Lita can't become just one of the gang. Although none of our dogs
ever have the liberty of being off leash outside our fenced in yard, I still won't
let LIta be off leash inside the fence. If she were to go over our fence, I just
don't have very much confidence in my ability to catch her running through the
woods. I know the day will come when I'll realize she considers this home
and she will have lost her desire to be on her own once again, but that day
hasn't come yet. She has her safe pen in the backyard where she and the
brainless Corky can run and play. To begin with, Corky was unsure of Lita
and seemed to step lightly around her. Now, though, Corky has learned that
Lita's a sweet girl, and she can pretty much push Lita around.
May 28th: Lita had a good week. She continues to show her intelligence by
catching on to new "tricks" after only doing them a handful of times. During
our evening walks, she met two new dogs in our neighborhood and one
neighbor. Instead of showing fear when meeting Ben (the neighbor), she
wagged her tail and allowed him to pet her head. This would have been
unheard of a couple of months ago. As far as the dogs she met, as is usual,
she loved them. One being Ben's Australian cattle dog, Babe, Babe was a
little less enthusiastic than Lita. Ben had never seen Lita, and when I told him
of her story, he was amazed at how behaved, and how beautiful she is. It's
strange how unknown Carolina dogs/American Dingos are. They are truly
unique, beautiful and highly intelligent dogs and deserve some recognition. I
am hoping Lita will help them achieve that. The other dog she met, Sherlock,
a dalmatian, went over very well. In fact, they were enjoying themselves so
much, Lynn, Sherlock's owner, and I had to drag them apart. Next Saturday
is the Douglas County Humane Society annual pledge walk, and I am hoping
to have Lita walk with us. If I can pull that off, it will truly be a feat.
upstairs with us, and going places in the car. It seems it's necessary to
always have Corky or one of the other kids along, or Lita shuts herself into a
shell. I guess thats just part of her working through her fears of the human
world she now lives in. That's all right, because having Corky along allows us
to contact more people about Greyhound adoption, and with her and Lita
together, it's always a million laughs.
We took Lita and Corky to FedEx's facility near Atlanta Airport Saturday, then
drove out to Carrollton to buy some dog food. The owner of the store came
out to see his first Carolina dog, and we were so pleased Lita allowed him to
pet her. And Corky licked that poor man up one side and down the other.
You can always count on Corky to greet someone with gusto. The dog has
never met a stranger.
March 24nd: Dr. Brisbin contacted me, telling me that he knows a well-
known conservation biologist who is very excited about getting a puppy from
Lita; and he thinks we need to be thinking about finding a suitable male to
breed with her. Bris knows many folks in the dog world, and told me
someone to contact to see if they have what we’re looking for. I have a
couple more questions for Bris to answer before I contact this man. For one,
I’m not sure if we want to actually own a male, or do we just want to use their
male for stud purposes. To my thinking, owning the male wouldn’t be
necessary. And, if the pups weren’t exactly what you were aiming for, you
might want to try a different male to sire the next litter. I don’t know....we’ll
gather many opinions and thoughts before we can make an intelligent
decision.
I want it to be known that we are not trying to be part of the problem of
bringing more dogs into this world, when there are already too many needing
homes in shelters. Working with endangered, ancient breeds, however, is an
important undertaking, in our opinion.
Tina and I took Corky and Lita to Newnan this morning, and we actually took
both of them into Petsmart. Lita was apprehensive to begin with, and when
the automatic door opened in front of her, I had to hang on tight. Once inside,
though, she did great. She met a number of people and allowed some
people to pet her. She stood up on her rear feet, with her front feet on the
counter top, and took treats from the checkout girl. We were so happy with
how well she did. Of course, there again, she had Corky with her....and, there
were other dogs with some of the other customers. I haven't discussed it with
Tina yet, but I think it would be a great idea to change Corky's name to
Prozak, because of her affect on Lita! Just kidding.
March 26th: Tina and I took Corky and Lita to Douglasville today and visited
Petco and Petsmart, taking them inside both places. Lita did very well
again! A dog trainer friend of ours works at Petsmart, and although Tina and
I have talked to Jana about Lita, she has never seen Lita firsthand. Jana was
amazed seeing LIta, as were a few other folks who heard us telling Lita's
story.
March 30th: Dr. Brisbin called yesterday while we were in Duluth at Gwinnett
Community Bank getting things settled, so that we can close the construction
loan. He left a message, saying he has two events on his calendar he would
like Lita and us to join him at in Aiken, SC. The first of the two is on April
22nd, which is the date of the Doulgas County Chamber of Commerce
Business to Community Expo at Arbor Place Mall. We will be in our booth for
our first big advertisement, so we won't be able to make that one. The other
should be no problem. Dr. Brisbin is meeting with the Board of Directors of
GROW (Georgia Rehabilitation of Wildlife) this weekend here in Atlanta. The
GROW Center has been proposed to be built in Southern Douglas County.
This would be a very welcome addition to Douglas County and the
Douglasville area. Please visit their website and call your Commissioner
and tell them you support having the GROW Center be a part of the great
Douglas County community. http://www.thegrowcenter.org/ This would be
very high quality growth for our community; good for the entire family and
highly educational for our children. You can't get enough good growth that
always attracts more good growth. I'm concerned if they can't get the support
they need to come to Douglas County, South Fulton will lure them away with
their new Serenbe Community and the coming city of Chattahoochee Hills.
April 11th: Lita's becoming so used to car travel, she eagerly jumps into the
back of the Trailblazer now, and rides with her face between Tina and I, eyes
peering out the windshield. She happily, tempered with caution, greets
anyone now. And if Corky's along - a dog who has never met an enemy - it
loosens Lita up for anything. As I type this, our greyhound Panama is lying
next to me on my right, greyhounds Corky and Butternut are lying behind me,
and Lita's asleep on the other side of Tina sitting at her computer. Lita
seems to feel like one of the family these days. Greyhounds Gretz and Windy
are less enamored with Lita, so they keep their distance. The Whippets,
being slightly spastic, won't stay calm around Lita, and in our efforts to make
her feel comfortable in the house, we make them stay in another area for
now. It'll all come together before long, though, and they'll all become one,
big happy family. Tina and I have brought enough new members into this
family, that we know it just takes time to let the personalities fit themselves
together.
April 15th: You won't believe it, but Lita has learned to sit on command! This
was something we weren't even able to dream of two weeks ago. She was
too fearful to allow us to stand over her to give her the command. Now she
happily sits for a treat. She continues to move forward, with less fear than
ever before. Still, when Lita's inside, Gretz and Windy continue to need
muzzles. I don't think they can actually hurt Lita, but we don't want them to
make her bite them. A greyhound's thin skin makes them very vulnerable to
being hurt badly in a fight.
April 21st: Tina and I have been so busy this week, what with finally breaking
ground on our pet lodge, and with preparing ourselves for the Business to
Community Expo at Arbor Place Mall, beginning at 10:00 tomorrow
morning, (Saturday, April 22nd) , we haven't had much time to spend with the
kids. Lita's taken it very well, though, and seems ready to play each time we
come home. Keeping her in our basement for the first two or three weeks,
she was kind of insulated from our other crazy dogs and the deafening fuss
the put up every time we come home. Now that she's staying with the
Alabama Kids when we're out, she has learned to whoop and holler with the
rest. Her personality has been exploding over the past three or four weeks,
ever since we began taking her to Petsmart and to ride along when we have
errands to run. Our terrific neighbors, out for their daily walk, saw Lita for the
first time today. First time she's ever seen Bob, and she wagged her tail at
him and let him pet her on the head through the fence. Simply amazing. The
better she does, the more I have to increase my expectations for her. She is
so intelligent, if she can continue to overcome her fear of new things, I don't
see why Lita can't become just one of the gang. Although none of our dogs
ever have the liberty of being off leash outside our fenced in yard, I still won't
let LIta be off leash inside the fence. If she were to go over our fence, I just
don't have very much confidence in my ability to catch her running through the
woods. I know the day will come when I'll realize she considers this home
and she will have lost her desire to be on her own once again, but that day
hasn't come yet. She has her safe pen in the backyard where she and the
brainless Corky can run and play. To begin with, Corky was unsure of Lita
and seemed to step lightly around her. Now, though, Corky has learned that
Lita's a sweet girl, and she can pretty much push Lita around.
May 28th: Lita had a good week. She continues to show her intelligence by
catching on to new "tricks" after only doing them a handful of times. During
our evening walks, she met two new dogs in our neighborhood and one
neighbor. Instead of showing fear when meeting Ben (the neighbor), she
wagged her tail and allowed him to pet her head. This would have been
unheard of a couple of months ago. As far as the dogs she met, as is usual,
she loved them. One being Ben's Australian cattle dog, Babe, Babe was a
little less enthusiastic than Lita. Ben had never seen Lita, and when I told him
of her story, he was amazed at how behaved, and how beautiful she is. It's
strange how unknown Carolina dogs/American Dingos are. They are truly
unique, beautiful and highly intelligent dogs and deserve some recognition. I
am hoping Lita will help them achieve that. The other dog she met, Sherlock,
a dalmatian, went over very well. In fact, they were enjoying themselves so
much, Lynn, Sherlock's owner, and I had to drag them apart. Next Saturday
is the Douglas County Humane Society annual pledge walk, and I am hoping
to have Lita walk with us. If I can pull that off, it will truly be a feat.