Meet Our New Foster Nico

Yesterday, this big beautiful red brindle male Greyhound arrived at my home, a little frightened and very confused. He has a fear of men; though you couldn't tell with the way he's followed my husband around. With his possible new owner we chose to name him Nico. Soon after they dropped him off my husband and I set to the task of introducing him to our pack. We started with Wyatt or as the trainer's I've worked with dubbed him "Quiet Wyatt" because he always barked upon entering class. And on this occasion he was no different. His barking was unsettling to Nico, but as we walked them together they both settled in to a comfortable silence. They sniffed each other a little, but Nico was tentative because of Wyatt’s playful barking. Wyatt bowed ready to play; his play bow is always accompanied by little barks. Once we felt comfortable with them on leash we moved them to our backyard. Wyatt entered first and then Nico. Wyatt barked again but this time Nico gave a little bow. I decided to unleash them because neither of them showed any signs of tension. Wyatt began to bark again and I finally thought of what could stop it, his red Kong ball, once he had that he settled in for a game of fetch while Nico walked the yard and marked various places.

After Wyatt, I brought Josie out to meet him. Nico and Josie met in our drive way this time no barks. Nico and Josie sniffed each other butt to head right away and we were off for a short walk, with none of the barking drama from Wyatt. We made our way to our backyard again and immediately let them off leash and they sniffed again and set off to running and playing. Nico was relaxing and he liked Josie and she liked him.

Finally it was Dexter's turn to meet Nico. Dexter came to us last September and within a few days he was the top dog in our canine pack and he made it quite clear to Nico who the top dog was here. It's not as terrible as it sounds, they greeted each other in the usual doggy way butt to head sniffing and we were off again for another walk, but on this walk Dexter shoulder bumped Nico several times until Nico dropped behind him. Dexter also seemed a tad disturbed that my husband was walking Nico, so we switched dogs halfway through the walk to see what would happen and Dexter relaxed further and Nico kept pace but a step or two behind Dexter. They sniffed each other some more and then we made our way back to our yard and entered the backyard, each time allowing our dogs to enter first. Almost immediately Dexter went into a play bow and Nico returned the bow. We removed the leashes and they were off to the races. Once the running was over the peeing match began. Nico would mark and then Dexter would mark over it this went on for at least fifteen minutes with Dexter having the last pee.

Our second to last step was having them all together in the back yard, so I got Wyatt, he had his ball and I knew he wouldn’t pay much attention to Nico and I was right. Except for the occasional jog past Dexter and Nico he wanted to play fetch. Then it was Josie's turn, she is our resident pest, but to our amazement she was less pesky than she was with Peso. She pranced and bowed and ran with the big greys and almost an hour later I had four dogs running, playing and relaxing together. But we still had to make an entrance into the house. Nico was ready too, but I held him back so the others could enter before him and then let him follow. Amazingly it went smooth. I probably shouldn't be amazed because Greyhounds do have a wonderful ability to adapt, but I was more amazed with my dogs, they appear to have accepted Nico.

Enjoy the photos added to the foster gallery. Until next time Woof, Woof, and Roo, Roo.