I had a little look on the t’interwebs today – something on the radio referenced a reduced sporting calendar and it made me wonder. And yep there it was – last New Years Day, Mohican Ennis ran at Swindon as the black beauty in blue at trap 2 and came second.
Mohican Kingsley didn’t race New Years Day – but he had already been on the track between Christmas and New Year – Boxing Day at Swindon. What a difference a year makes.
You had a late night last night – you joined us for a Zoom games night with friends (I was teamed with Bea, Joe with Sam and they very supportively slept at us throughout the quiz), had a special lickimat treat and stayed up late to see the New Year in with Jools Holland and a drone show over London – there was also no chance of bed time with the amount of fireworks going off but that’s a whole other story.
Today the expectations of you were just a little different. We’ve abandoned the concept of bed after 0530 – although if as part of a New Years resolution you would like to make that 0600 Bea we would be very grateful but there was a lazy morning. Everyone (except Joe) piled onto the bed upstairs and went back to sleep for a bit, before wrapping up warm and taking a slow stroll around the racecourse and back via my parents to wish them a happy new year and for you pair to have a treat from my dad and a cuddle from my mum.
We played with some of the new Christmas games, cuddled in together and slept, did some low key garden zoomies and generally relaxed. A far cry from your last festive season.
A new year. A year that brought many changes, both globally (let’s not touch that here!) and locally – it brought you to us, and you to a forever home.
That’s something to be very thankful for – you and the lessons you have taught us, intentionally or not.
Patience – the biggest and most difficult lesson probably. I would have considered myself a fairly patient person and Joe is endlessly patient (you sort of have to be if you are married to me) – the patience needed to help traumatised dogs acclimatise to a new alien world was something I did not comprehend. That weeks will be 2 steps forward and then 5 steps back. That we would repeat the same routines, walks, lessons endlessly and feel like we were sometimes getting nowhere. It’s easy to feel like that on a single day, but when you look back at how much progress has been made and continues to be made, it gives you the motivation to keep going. Getting frustrated or upset and losing patience only escalates any difficulties that the dogs were having problems understanding and I learnt that pretty quickly. You absolutely cannot and should not lose patience with any animal that does not understand, and I find that to be more true with greyhounds than any other dog I’ve had.
Consistency, which perhaps goes hand in hand with patience. Quietly repeating the same thing over and over again, keeping meals at these times, walks to these places at these times and applying any boundaries consistently (jumping onto the kitchen counter is not appropriate no matter how cute you look when doing it). Making sure that Joe and I were always on the same page and applying the same rules with the same words (I’m aware that makes it sound like we are talking about children but that’s sort of what these are – giant furry toddlers).
Don’t underestimate love in terms of having the endless well of patient and consistency needed alongside the affection that these dogs crave, even when they are scared to show it (not so much these days Sam!) A gentle fuss, a cuddle and caress and a kind word work absolute wonders – both for us and the dogs. A black head appearing under your arm and snuggling into your side, a gentle boop from a fawn nose – it makes everything seem so much easier and you remember why you are getting up at 0515 or standing in the garden at 1am. Because they are worth it.
These are lessons I am sure we will continue to learn and add to in 2021. There are a few things I would really love for Sam and Bea to learn:
1. A reasonable wake up time – anytime after 0600 would be fantastic please thank you.
2. You don’t need to bark through the walls at the beagle next door. Especially not at 2am.
3. Cats are not food. Please do not leap 3 foot into the air and crash down running when you see them.
4. Do not stand on your brother / sister. There is enough room and love for everyone.
5. Please stop eating Nancy. Repairing pink unicorns seems to be a new and unexpected hobby for me.
6. If you could work out how to make tea that would be great.
7. Continue to love us and trust us and trust in us. We will have a great year together.
