Billy and a Hoover

Billy and Rabbits

Eh? Rabbed? What rabbed? Where is rabbed?

I recently got cooped up in a hospital for a week so I had plenty of time on my hands. To kill it usefully I decided to write up a couple of old stories about Billy.

This one happened about a couple of weeks after Billy's adoption – here we are talking roughly mid-September 2011. Back then we barely knew our new family pet and he was just as shy around us – his tail was tightly tucked in between his hind legs pretty much at all times and he never showed any emotions. His typical behaviour could be described as this: Food? Okay, thanks, I'll have some. Then I'll wash it down with some water, and will retire to my bed and out of the harm's way. Now, please, do not bother me and I'll pay you with the same. 

The only thing Billy never could resist and seemingly brightened up to is when we went for a walk. Still no tail wagging, just bobbing his head side to side in sync with his steps, but at least there were some signs of life.

That day we decided to take him for a walk in the Hollyrood park – went down the ravine and turned left up the Salisbury crags. Setting him off the leash back then was out of question, however no Cesar Millan's-style short leash was practised either. Although Billy never was really pulling on the leash – usually he was just bobbing by our side on the end of the slack lead.

In one book on Greyhounds there was a phrase that got stuck in my memory: “Greyhounds may seem lazy, but they are not a couch potato when it comes to opportunistic thieving”. That is what we found out about Billy – he lived to that characteristic. That seem to be his motto. One morning, Sveta puts Belgian chocolate waffles on the plate at the side of the dining table for Yegor 's breakfast and leaves the kitchen. I walk in right away, may be with a 10sec interval – Billy is already on the floor, amidst the crumbs, with one waffle nowhere to be seen.

No, he only seemed to be lethargic and indifferent – the wee agents in his head are constantly on the mission checking for an easy pilfer. And when the chance is on his side he bolts right for it as if there is no tomorrow!

Back then I obviously never suspected our gracious Billy of such foul disposition. As we were coming down the crags toward the Commonwealth Pool, euphoric with the new feeling of walking as a dog owner I lost my vigil and got brutally caught out. Billy pounced like a thunder flash and the next moment Sveta's sheik jolted me out of nirvana sending me crashing down to the Earth: “He just ate a dead rabbit, where are you looking at?” On the side of the road just a minute ago lied a semi-decomposed rabbit remnant. Fair enough, now it was sticking out of Billy's mouth. The cheeky bastard grabbed it by the head and was now trying to gobble it down without chewing. Sveta grabbed the mummy of the rabbit by the body and started pulling it out. Billy appeared to be clever enough to figure that a moment he changes his grip or opens his jaws to chew the rabbit will be bygone. So they were standing completely still for a few moments – Sveta pulling on the rabbit's body and Billy right in front of her, trying to swallow whatever was in his mouth with his jaws immobilised, in a frog's manner – pushing the rabbit down with his eyes.

That was the only time Billy played tug-of-war with us (so far, but we hope to turn that around). And that time he actually won - the half-mummified rabbit gave way and broke around the neck, leaving his head in Billy's mouth. Sveta however was quick this time again – she grabbed and started pulling by the rabbit's rotten ears. I was watching this game totally awe-struck, marvelling at Sveta's determination and courage at grabbing this rotten yaky flesh while not being afraid to confront a barely familiar animal over sacred for a dog subject – his food. Strangest of all, that scene did not have any soundtrack to it – just like a silent move. No growls, only hissing of heavy breathing on both sides, which made it almost surreal.

Surely enough, the ears gave way too – one by one. “Help!” -cried the brave dog rescuer - “Do something- QUICK, or he'll gobble it down!!!” That shook me of my numb and, suddenly oblivious of fear I lunged forward and grabbed both Billy's jaws with my two hands, like David Goliath's. Billy's teeth were serious sharp weapon, which he however did not even think of using. His jaws opened surprisingly easy – I met no resistance at all praying them open. At the moment I attributed it to his long jaws that gave me plenty of leverage. Or perhaps he suddenly lost interest in the rabbit or realised futility of his struggle. All of a sudden, Billy went all meek and malleable. Sveta stuck her hand down Billy's maw and fished out the disintegrating skull. We threw the torn rabbit bits far in the surrounding bushes just to be safe. We held our breath expecting retaliation but in vain - Billy looked just mildly disappointed, as if to say “Ah, well, I got nothing and so I lost nothing, in the end”.

I pulled the leash in shorter and we continued down the slope with Billy trudging along as if nothing happened.

Looking for rabbits from Salisbury Crags. Droooling...

A quick update

This is just a quick update on Billy the Greyhound. Since the last update two major things have happened:

- Greyhounds are notorious for foul stinky farts. That was certainly true for Billy since he come to us. Well, good news - Billy stopped breaking winds - almost completely! We attribute that to the bone "therapy". His poo is much harder and his stool is more regular too.
- We started going to the Meadows as part of our morning routine walk. He loves it - dashing up and down, playing chase with other dogs (which looks like a mockery taking he's twice as fast as any other one!) Today he wound up a German shepherd, dashed away and took a pee while the shepherd was catching up. What a show off! I'll post some pics as soon as I have any.

I think I'll rename him to "Dash".

Billy the Greyhoud and Marrow Bones

Believe it or not - it looks like Billy never had a nice sweet bone in his past life.

We have been given controversial advise whether giving him a bone or not. Finally after reading a book on Greyhonds we bought into an idea of giving it a go with a RAW MARROW BONE (bovine). Naturally, we still were worried - having heard about the danger of a bone splinter getting in the intestine and killing the lovely dog.

Apparently our worries were all in vane. It went down very well.  Surely at first he was licking it and prancing around for good 10 minutes or so, then gave off a sigh, crashed down with it a gave it the most thorough gnawing bash - chiseling the cartilage away and liking the marrow off. It was only after 2 hours that he gave up and nearly passed out with exhaustion - on his side right next to the bone. 

See how it went: http://youtu.be/E0isU096Cik

By the way, a single bone is enough for 3 evenings to play, before he looses interest to it.

Meet Billy

We first met Billy Greyhound the at the Larkhall fair mid-August 2011 and immediately fell in love with him. He moved in with us two weeks later, on the 24th August,and became a member of the family right away. When he first moved in he was painfully gentle, delicate and shy creature - well, at least as long as there were no cats or squirrels in sight.

Now, full 4 month later, with so much happening, I have decided to start a blog so we could remember the moments of his life with us, and oh, boy, he gives us so much joy! I am rather regretful I have not done so earlier on - so much happened in between: his first off-the-lead walk, his first "high five", his first "pick it up" and "come here". I hope to come back to these and document in this blog.

Nowadays we can see a cheekier side of him transpiring as he starts sniffing around the house and trying to check the contents of the kitchen bin (thanks God for the pedal bins, well, at least until he has not figured out how to operate it). His tail definitely wags more nowadays than it used to and he goes bonkers playing his silly dog games when we are about to go out.

He loves his walks madly and walks for at least an hour every day; and oh boy - it’s a dog’s paradise on weekends – we may be out for hours! And, yes, he does love helping us in the garden, mainly by chasing neighbours’ cats away or lying around while we are digging or raking. Needless to say he crashes right out in his basket once he’s back home.

He’s extremal well-mannered: he never even attempted onto the sofa of begged at the table, although could never say no to a yummy bun on a road,which he gulps in in a wink of time in case we can take it out (did we say he’s cheeky?)

Billy is a clever boy and enjoys learning new tricks – he how does “high five”, “stay”, “come here”, “leave it”(depending on the mood) and training is underway to play ball and fetch, however his moments of daftness are movingly funny – a few times he made us laugh till we cry!

We can’t imagine how we lived without him before and are thankful to GAL and all the wonderful people who helped Billy through his live and gave us the chance of meeting this wonderful fellow.

Here is Billy's page on GAL: click