Treat Tales -- The Grand Entrance

I was thinking back to that first day that we brought Treat home.  In the weeks leading up to us adopting a Greyhound, we'd read and studied all about the breed.  Our plan was to get our dog, bring it home and let it get used to living in our house with us before we had anyone over to meet it or took it anywhere.  Part of the reason for that was that my husband has a large family, and his youngest brother and sister were preschoolers while his niece was just a toddler.  We wanted a bit of an idea to know how our dog would react before we placed it in that situation.

However, our well-laid plans were tossed out the window the day before we were supposed to go and pick out our new Greyhound.  There was a wicked winter storm the day before, and that day happened to be Mr. Taleteller's younger brother's birthday.  The party was postponed to the next day.  We debated about what to do after we heard the news, and decided that we'd just stop in for a few minutes and give him his present, eat a bit of cake and then take our new dog home.

Well, if you read our last post, you know that Treat finally got it through our skulls that she had chosen us and we were taking her home.  After a quick stop at McDonald's, we were on our way back home to stop at the party.  Our new dog was dressed in her new collar and and coat.  The selection of coats was limited, so she had a snazzy number that was black on one side and yellow with green frogs on the other.  It was cute enough, and more importantly, it kept her warm. 

For those of you who are not familiar with Greyhound adoption, most adoption groups send you home with a plastic muzzle like the ones they wear for turn out at the track.  It's helpful in keeping them from chewing things they shouldn't, for introducing them to your cats and in the event that your dog would get an injury that you don't want them to lick.  Many times, adoption groups get used ones donated from the track, where they often write the dog's name across the bridge of the muzzle so they know which dog it is and know who gets which muzzle.

Being new Greyhound owners, we didn't quite know what to expect.  Mr. Taleteller's parents had young children, a cat, a black lab and a cake waiting at their house.  So, we decided to be safe rather than sorry.  We put her muzzle on and headed to the front door.  Treat walked into the party to meet all of Mr. Taleteller's family and the first impression she made was "KILLER" written across her nose.

It turned out that it was completely unnecessary.  I took off my coat and put it in the pile of coats by the door on the floor as we sat there and the family got to know our dog.  They were impressed by her sleek brindle fur after we took the coat off and she was extremely gentle and patient with the kids.  She soaked up the attention for a while, and then when she got tired, she went over and laid down on my coat.  When we got up to get ready to leave, she was right there beside me.

The funny thing is, she always made a grand entrance wherever she went.  I'm not sure that we ever topped that first one, though.  I really wish I'd had a video camera back then!