Kate with new brother Paolo
In your opinion, what are some of the benefits of adopting a rescue, or, why did you adopt?:
We were originally interested in adopting Greyhounds. My husband was slightly leery because he was afraid they would be too sedate – too fond of the couch. We started doing research on whippets when I ran across Carol Sumbry’s rescue site. I instantly fell in love with Italian Greyhounds. I contacted Carol and after a lot of emailing back and forth and a home visit, I met Paolo. What a sweet-heart!! He is a boundless bundle of energy and love. The satisfaction I have gotten from adopting rescues has been indescribable. I adopted Paolo in July 2007 and Kate two months later. Kate is a black and white IG and I am convinced she is the prettiest and sweetest dog on planet Earth. Providing a loving and healthy home for my two rescues has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I feel like they’ve been with us for such a long time. I cannot imagine my life without the joy they bring. I feel like the luckiest dog owner in the world because no other dog, especially no other dog outside the IG breed, could possibly have as much personality as my two dogs. I’m a big, bragging Mama in that regard
I’m sure I’ve absolutely bored the tears out of everyone at work talking about my dogs.
What commands does your dog know? Kate and Paolo know “Sit,” “Stay,” “Wait,” “Leave It,” “Let’s Go Potty Outside,” “Let’s Go Crate” and the best one of all – “Hugs”
If this is your first IG, was there anything that surprised you about this breed after you brought yours home? I was pleasantly surprised by how much affection they are willing to give and receive. Kate and Paolo are by my side from the minute I get home to when we crate them for the night. If I go to the the kitchen for a glass of water, they get up to follow me. I know that if they are not snuggled up on the couch with me, or at least somewhere within my sight line, they are making mischief.
I was a little concerned at first at how Paolo seemed to potty in his crate every time he spent more than an hour in it. He only had a couple of accidents outside of the crate, but inside was another matter. For the first two months I had him we had his crate in a room in the back of the house, where he only had to go when it was time to go to his crate. When we brought Kate home, we decided to move the crates into one of the main rooms on the first floor. This seemed to help quite a bit, but he still had a couple of accidents weekly in the crate. What really did it was when we made the decision to crate them at night. When they slept with us, the two dogs would wake up multiple times a night. They would flap their ears back and forth and it would wake both Doug and me up. So we decided that for our own sanity, we would crate them. Now both dogs crate like angels, never whining, never scratching to get out. This is huge change for Paolo; he hated the crate. He howled and whined and scratched and rocked the crate to get out – he was a bit of a nightmare at first. Now, we can even crate them when we are home. For example, if we need to mop, we can tell them “Go Crate” and they just hang out until we are done. So I was very surprised at the change in crate behavior in just a matter of weeks when we started crating them at night.
What is your favorite thing to do with your newly adopted IG? Since we no longer sleep with them in our bed, my favorite thing to do is to take naps with them. Paolo curls up behind my legs and Kate likes to sleep in my arms with her head on my neck. I also like watching movies with them. We all climb under the blankets and snuggle. Long walks are fun because the whole neighborhood oohs and ahhs over how beautiful the dogs are.
What is your favorite personality quirk about your IG? Without question my favorite personality quirk for both Kate and Paolo is the dance they do when I come home from work. I’m sure every IG owner knows it. It is like a joyous case of the wiggles, where both dogs will dance around me and jump up and compete for hugs.
What about your IG keeps you the busiest and how do you keep your IG busy? Kate keeps me busiest of the two; she’s a bit of a rascal. She likes to shred paper; this little pastime has claimed two library books, three PBS TV guides and countless toilet paper rolls. We have to keep all the wastepaper baskets off the floor or she’ll find something in it and shred it. She also loves pulling the inserts out of my fur slippers and chewing on them. Paolo follows Kate around and tries to nab her attention from whatever has her interest. He’s like her dutiful little brother. So cute.
