Last Post for Walker

This morning, all the hounds were excited to see what Santa brought them.  The dogs each got new personalized collars and a big supply of bully sticks.  But Walker, the foster hound, got something special for Christmas.  He got his forever home!

Walker was our first foster hound. We brought him with us in late September. Back then, I wrote about him and about wanting to be a successful foster family - meaning that we weren't going to adopt him but that we were going to take care of him until his special forever family found him.

Walker has lived with us for three months now and none of us can imagine him living anywhere but here.

Walker has his own personalized collar.

Walker also got a new Squirm the Worm. 
We call him Squirm 2, since Maggie appropriated Squirm 1.
We're hoping Squirm 2 gets to keep his eyes for a while longer.  :)

So, this is the last post for Walker, the foster hound.



Walker's First Christmas in his Forever Home

Thank you, SEGA, for helping us find our big, red brindle boy!

Progress

While I'm waiting for the dryer to finish, I'm sitting at the kitchen table watching television.  Truly walks up to me and bumps my leg asking to be petted.  Without really looking down, I reach out and pet his head.

Something isn't right.  Truly's not this tall.  What's going on?  I look down and it's not Truly.  IT's WALKER! 

I grabbed my phone/camera to take an evidentiary photo: 

This slightly out of focus shot, taken with my left hand, shows Walker making progress without any prompts.  Maybe a little holiday magic?  :)

Miscellany

We had new pine straw placed in the back yard.  Walker and his foster siblings think the new straw is a gift to them.  By now, each and every straw has received a thorough sniffing.

Walker in front and Maggie in back.  This is one of the few moments they were not sniffing the straw.

Walker always wants to be where the people are.  If I'm in the kitchen, he's never far away. 

 I've seen him run, so I know he's a greyhound.  However, he has a habit of "pointing" like this:

He's not mid-step.  This is just how he stands from time to time.

Walker chose not to come in the house when I called him this afternoon, so . . . now he's waiting for me to open the door for him.  He has the sweetest face!

This is our Christmas tree.  Notice there are no ornaments.  Since we're not sure if Walker will want to investigate, we'll wait to adorn the tree until we're on holiday break - or we could just leave it like this and call it "Greyhound-friendly."  :)

I know some greyhounds have difficulty learning how to climb stairs.  Walker's first foster Mom taught him well.  Here he is following Maggie up our stairs with no problem at all.  He never climbs slowly.  He always powers all the way up.

O.K. Who Did That?

While cooking dinner, I realize I dropped a paper towel on the floor.  I'm busy so I think, "I need to pick it up before one of the dogs gets it."  Then the oven timer starts beeping.  I forget about the paper towel.

I finish preparing the meal and I call the family in to eat. 

This is what I see on the dining room floor:

That's the now-shredded paper towel on the left and Squirm the Worm on the right.

This is what I see in the dining room door:


That's half of Walker's face at the top and half of Maggie's face at the bottom.

Neither is forthcoming with the facts.

 

Truly comes in to survey the scene.   He says, "It wasn't me, Mom."  I believe him.  Now for the other two . . .

Special Day for Walker



Happy Second Birthday to You!

Happy Second Birthday to You!

Happy Second Birthday, Little Walker,

Happy Birthday to You!



He doesn't want to wear a birthday hat to celebrate - - - - so I drew one.

This is as close to birthday silliness as Walker wants to be this year. I bet he enjoys his special birthday dinner, though.   :)

More Adventures with Walker and Squirm the Worm

Here's Walker, perched on the edge of his favorite bed with his favorite toy, Squirm the Worm.

As I watched him, he seemed particularly fidgety. He looks like he's put Squirm behind him - sort of like he's protecting it.

I walked over to investigate. As I came around the coffee table, this is what I saw:

It's Maggie. I shouldn't have been surprised. Squirm is Walker's favorite toy. Squirm is also Maggie's favorite toy. Walker wasn't fidgeting. He was on sentry duty.

I walked out of the room to see what would happen.

This is what I found when I came back:



Now Maggie has Squirm.

Behind me, and between whines and sighs, I swear I can hear Walker softly calling Squirm's name.

Have You Ever Seen A Sunbathing Dog?



If not, now you can say you have. 

Walker does this often.  He finds the only sunny spot in our tiny yard, plops himself down, and turns his little red face directly toward the sun. 

He just loves it!

Early Christmas Present for Walker

Walker had visitors a couple of weeks ago - a very pretty fawn boy named Whip and his parents.  We all had a good visit.  Walker enjoyed meeting them and wore himself out playing with Whip, running around the yard, and being petted all afternoon.

We were happily surprised last week when we opened the mail and found that Whip's parents sent presents for Walker and our two hounds - beautiful new Christmas collars!

The note enclosed in the package said that Walker's collar has super powers to help him be brave and continue to try new things. 

Look it's working!  Walker walked right up to me to sniff the camera -

Just in case you didn't already know - greyhound people are the very BEST people!

Stairs

Walker is doing such a good job of overcoming his anxiety about coming into the house from the back yard. I have to admit that we haven't exactly made it easy for him. We have a really tall set of deck stairs and TWO exterior doors.



 

He's at the right contemplating his journey of 1,000 steps.

A little closer . . .

My camera work has annoyed him.  I thought he was going to go all the way back down the stairs instead of coming to the door.

I was wrong.  He came right up and is waiting to go inside. 

When he first came home with us, it seemed as if he would hold his breath and run through the doors.  Now he walks through them as if doing so is no big deal. 

I'm so proud of him!

Pillow Trouble

Maggie was laying on this very fluffy bed.  Walker stood over her and stared at her long enough to get her to move.  It's his favorite bed. 

Unfortunately, his "weightiest" end always slides off because he has to make sure his beloved toy "Squirm the Worm" has plenty of space.  You can barely see the red part of Squirm in these photos.

When his hind end hit the floor, I heard a thud.  Then I laughed at him - which must have hurt his feelings.  Now he won't even look my way.

See?

Poor Walker . . . at least Squirm is completely comfortable.

Thanksgiving Break

Walker had a fun Thanksgiving! 

He probably would say the nail trimming wasn't much fun but he was very good to lay still on his bed and let me clip each nail.  Then he had enough patience to let me file each nail.  He did not have enough patience to let me take a photo of his newly manicured nails - trust me, though, they're trimmed.  Yay!!

Since he was so good about getting his nails done, for the rest of the holiday, Walker didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do.  He spent a lot of time in the back yard playing with his foster sister, Maggie.  They play together all the time.

They stand in the yard together.  Walker's on the left.

They stand on the stairs together.  Walker is a very tall boy.

They look at the sky together.  Walker took a step down so he wouldn't tower over her. 

Walker took some time alone to stand in the sun.

He really wants some of that turkey.

They BOTH want some of that turkey!

Walker can't leave until he knows the turkey has been put away.

Walker stares at the fridge thinking the turkey will come out? 

I realize it's not the best photo but just had to share this face . . . and tongue!

Walker knows we all get back to business tomorrow morning.  He says he'll be happy to have the humans out of the house so that the hounds can get some rest!

Nails, nails, nails! Oh, my!

Since Walker's been with us, we've tried not to do anything that we knew would unnecessarily cause him stress.  We have, however, tried to "train" him to come inside the house when he's called even though doing so is a major stressor for him.  The sound of the phone ringing used to startle him, so we made the phone ring enough times that he got used to it.  Same with the camera.  Now, he doesn't even react. 

However, stress or no stress, it's time to do something about his nails.  From these photos, you can see why:

Poor boy.  My unwillingness to do anything with Walker that is out of the ordinary has kept me from trimming these nails.  So, tomorrow is the day.  I'll keep you posted on our progress!

Pretty Days

Walker loves, absolutely LOVES, a pretty day.  He gets so excited when it's time to go outside!  He'll grab a tennis ball or a toy and run it around the yard a couple of times OR he might challenge his foster brother or sister (or both) to a game of tag.  Our yard is really small, but that doesn't stop Walker. 

Once all the playing is done, you can find Walker taking a snooze in the sun or just standing in the sun.

On the flip side - Walker really, really doesn't like the cold.  If it's chilly, he does his business pretty quickly and is more than happy to come back in the house.  He is a Florida boy, after all!

The Sweetest Boy EVER!

Walker loves to be petted.  He loves people.  The fact that he doesn't like to be approached directly if you're standing/walking hasn't changed -  but he wants affection.  If you're sitting down at his eye level, he'll walk up to you, and if you pet him, he won't leave you for a really, really long time.  :)

Look at this sweet boy -

He falls asleep on his nose like this a lot.

The sound of my camera used to startle Walker.  He's gotten used to that sound now.  I took these shots from less that a foot away from his face and he didn't flinch.  In fact, he seems to have gotten bored with the process!

He comes in the house from the back yard when called almost every single time.  The exception to that is if the weather is really nice and the sun is shining.  Sometimes, he's finds a sunny spot in the yard to lay down.  (The same is true for my female greyhound, too.)

He always come straight back in the house after his dinner time because he knows he will get a "treat."  He always comes straight back in the house at night because he knows when he does he's going to get to go "upstairs" for bed time.  He loves his routine.  He likes to know what's going to happen and he really does try to do what we expect of him. 

Walker is the Sweetest Boy Ever!