Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Jelly Beans for Valentine's Day?

Not Jelly Beans, but Jelly and Bean for Valentine's Day! It is now time for me (their foster mom) to talk about these two wonderful pups. I have to say I was a little tentative about taking a senior pup and I was even more weary of a senior that was deemed "spooky". I have now realized the error of my thinking. Jelly and Bean were truly returned through no fault of their own. They have NO behavioral issues (except for the occasional stuffed animal thievery). They do not counter surf, they are house broken, they play well with my grey, don't try to get on any furniture and they settled in within a week. Bean is the senior of the two. He is almost ten and was deemed "spooky" by the previous owners. While Bean is a little nervous, he will try things, he just needs time. He gathers strength from his buddy Jelly and will eventually get used to anything if he is treated patiently. When he first arrived, any gesture (like touching his collar) that indicated he was going to be drug into doing something would result in him yelping. Petting him even gave him some fear. Within a week, the yelping stopped and he realized he would no longer be hurt and can be treated just like any other senior. He is a bit stiff in the mornings, but he still likes to play. If you look below, you will see he had 19 teeth removed before he arrived, too. Again, this seems to have had no effect except to produce a giant toothless grin when he is happy!

As for Jelly, she is a bit chubby for a greyhound, but a truly wonderful girl. She loves to cuddle and give kisses. She loves to play with stuffies and will steal stuffies if left in her line of site. She has soft, silky fur and is very much a couch potato. She does love a good game of fetch with her stuffies, though. She could easily be an only pup, but truly loves her humans to be around. She provides a great boost of confidence for Mr. Bean. Jelly has one drawback. If put in a hectic social setting, she does not do well with dogs she does not know. Kept in a pack of about 3-5 pups, she is just fine, though.

I realize that many do not want to devote their lives to seeing a greyhound through their golden years, but Mr. Bean is truly worth it. He has been through a lot in the past few weeks and he has been a champ. Won't you consider giving him the best years of his life?

2 comments:

Abbey said...

Hi,

I've been eying Jelly and Bean on the greyhoundrescue website and your blogs. I have two dogs, a greyhound and an italian greyhound, Not sure if I'm in the market for another dog, but would like to meet Jelly and Bean. Do you go to meet n greets with them?
Can you email me a abbey.flowers@argonst.com?
Thanks,
Abbey

Stowe and Maria said...

I really enjoyed reading your blog! My wife and I also foster dogs for Greyhound Rescue(22 so far) and are currently fostering Bandit. It is great to hear how the other greys are doing. Good luck with Jelly and Bean!

Stowe