Before Faye, I honestly felt like I was missing something. There was a broody dog-shaped hole in my life, and I was sincerely hoping Faye would fix that. I had already made peace with the idea that it may never happen, and the equally frightening idea that it may not turn out to be what I had hoped.

Now we have her, Faye is proving to be all I hoped for, and far more. While life itself can often leave us unsatisfied, owning a dog (or being owned by one) turns things around. I have started being grateful for things I wasn’t grateful for previously, such as the beauty of the early mornings, getting out of the house when I would otherwise have been dozing, feeling accomplished at making another heartbeat happy in the world and noticing so many fascinating things on walks around the area.

We have achieved so much in such a short space of time, but I felt it would be good to highlight some of the moments which meant a lot to me in the past few weeks.

 

 

Taking Faye out and about is always great fun. She has been around the village a lot now, as well as to Thetford Forest, Cambridge, Bury St Edmunds (Joe realised Faye could help carry the picnic blanket for a short while), Felixstowe to see the sea and the hairdressers (for Lily). People often stop and ask questions, mostly about why she is wearing a muzzle, or to ask to stroke her. She takes all this in her stride and loves people. She is still working on reacting well to other dogs, but is making good progress already.

 

Faye won’t roll over for me, but will do it for Lily when I’m not there, just to have her belly rubbed!

 

She hasn’t quite worked out how to get treats from a Kong toy, but likes licking peanut butter from it. She also loves tea, and sometimes gets a taste when I’ve finished mine. She behaved very well in her first restaurant, lying on the floor patiently and enjoying the atmosphere.

 

She makes me laugh – sometimes she won’t eat a treat unless she’s allowed to take it in the ‘right’ room, and this week she was so tired she thought I was sending her to bed in the garden and lay down instead of toileting. She’s also been known to stop and lie down on a walk when exhausted, even if we’re already almost back. She won’t eat pasta or vegetables she can see in her meal. She finds the comfiest place to lie in the garden or house, even if it means flattening plants or using a bag of clothes. She crosses her legs like a diva and when she spots something cat-shaped she is transfixed, no matter how much you call or pull. It doesn’t matter whether the cat is real or not. She also loves spotting rabbits and squirrels.

 

She is a 26 kg dog but can still curl up into her dog bed and ignore everything – until she hears a sound like another dog, or food.

 

Here she is following the kids home from school. She has learned to be responsible and carry her own bags. I have to watch her carefully as she gets spooked by the scooters sometimes and moves sideways into the road. Walks are great fun for Faye, and checking her ‘weemails’ takes longer each day now the weather is warming up!

 

There is a secure orchard a few minutes’ walk from our house, where we can let Faye off lead and call her back. She is ridiculously fast with a very long stretch as she runs; she makes her high-speed bursts look very easy. She doesn’t like to go off on her own thankfully, and will happily chase around with the children or come to us if we call her.

 

Although most of Faye’s time is spent asleep, she loves to relax even when she’s out and about. The other day we discovered her secretly sitting, which is difficult for greyhounds to do. Usually when she is getting up or down, or perching in the car, she ‘sits’ with her legs to her left. On this occasion she was actually sitting properly. If she does it more I will teach her the ‘sit’ command.

On the beach, she dug a small dip in the sand for her huge ribcage so she could lie down comfortably; I’ve no idea if that is usual behaviour.

Faye now has a super new blue martingale collar for best and red house collar for everyday to match her normal martingale; I’m looking into whether to get her a harness to help keep her close when she wants to pull away at the wrong moments.

She’s taken to raising an eyebrow at times, although we are learning to read her body language. She does try to communicate with us when she wants something. As long as we take the time to listen to her and try and hear what she means to tell us; it could be that she wants to go outside, is finding her muzzle itchy or is waiting for her meal.

Faye’s met her ‘grandparents’ and got on really well with them and other visitors. She has interacted with other dogs and been on a walk with a vizsla successfully. I was also able to take Faye to a group dog walk last week, where she did really well most of the time with the six other breeds, although there were some nervous dogs there and one very small, very furry shih-tzu which took her fancy and had to keep a distance.

I am hoping to help her socialise with more dogs over the coming weeks and begin some command training with a clicker now that she has settled into the family. The local community in the village have been wonderful at welcoming her and showing interest when I posted on the local facebook page that she is still adapting to life in a regular home. Many folk came over to our yard sale at the weekend and met her too, which was thrilling. It has really opened opportunities to meet many more folk in our area. Faye is a talking point and a way to connect to people of all ages and abilities.

 

 

 

Faye is making us more disciplined as a family (e.g. time-keeping, responsibilities, getting up and dressed) and helping each of us feel more loved. She is also getting a lot of love from us: learning new walks, trying new treats, having her teeth brushed, fur groomed and a chance to relax safely.

So the dog-shaped hole is definitely filled. I would love another dog, but Faye has taught me that she is enough and is constantly reminding me that there are so many things to be grateful for in life, big and small.