Rudy and Wyatt have been with us for a little over two months now. They’re adjusting beautifully to living in a home, and are becoming wonderful companions for us and for each other.

The biggest challenge was dealing with Wyatt’s separation anxiety, which caused him to bark at night. All night. For a whole month. We gave him Trazodone, an anti-anxiety med, for several weeks. It was the only way any of us could get any sleep.

One night in late April, I was able to convince Wyatt to sleep on one of the dog beds in our bedroom.

Sleeping in the same room as us was a big step and calmed him down considerably. His trust in us was building and I was able to wean him off the Trazodone entirely by May 1st.

Wyatt has only barked a couple of times at night recently, and one of those occasions was because he could hear the neighborhood coyotes yipping at the full moon.

Speaking of building trust, both dogs let me dremel their nails while they lie quietly on their beds. This is a significant accomplishment. Our previous greyhounds were only mildly tolerant at best of the dremel tool, and it took both of us to get their nails trimmed. I started getting Rudy and Wyatt used to the dremel tool in the first days that we had them. That’s really paid off in stress-free quadrupedicure sessions.

As we live in a very remote area, and it’s just the four of us in the house, we are making an effort to socialize Rudy and Wyatt to new places, people, sights, sounds, and other dogs. They are both extremely friendly boys and want to interact with everyone and everything they see. The two of them weigh the same as I do, so it can be a challenge keeping them under control when I walk them by myself, which is every morning. It gets light here very early this time of year, so the boys get me up by 6:00 most days and insist that we go for our walk by 6:30.

I am absolutely not a morning person, but everything is peaceful and quiet at that time of day. We are able to complete our mile-long neighborhood circuit most days before anyone else is up. So I can’t really complain about getting awakened at such an uncivilized hour.

We’re still working on convincing them not to destroy things in the house. We have learned to not leave shoes in the entry hall, anything on the coffee table – including adult beverages – even for a brief moment. Good thing we are kind of into minimalism.

We are minus one throw pillow after I stepped out of the house to do a bit of yard work a few weeks ago.

Lucky for Rudy and Wyatt that they are so cute.

Wyatt had a growth on his neck removed last week. I first noticed it about a month ago when I knocked it off while brushing him. It bled a bit and grew back considerably bigger than it initially was.

As of today, we are still waiting for the tissue sample results. I’m apprehensive after going through so much in a short time with Tiger, Truman and Campy. Wyatt just has to be OK!

With the pandemic subsiding and both of us fully vaccinated, we are able to have friends over and feel better about taking the dogs into town and to the weekly Farmers Market, where they can meet new people and leashed dogs. They love getting out and have done really well in new situations and crowded places. They are beautiful, elegant creatures, and are good ambassadors for the greyhound breed. We are so proud of them!

It’s wonderful to watch these guys starting to really feel at home, and to start to love and trust us. The lovefest is mutual!