Terv Tales: 2012

Today we had a rather exciting outing — a visit to the Doggie Expo at the Halifax forum. This was a fundraising event for Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada (GPAC), a non-profit organisation that finds homes in the Maritimes for retired racing greyhounds from the US.

Google maps put the Expo at around a 40-minute walk from home. Fortunately it was a sunny day, and not terribly cold.

Once there it was a bit of a struggle to find the right entrance, but we made it in the end. And after only three people skipped the queue in front of us, we arrived inside. The area was packed full, with about 70 vendors and organisations, including the SPCA and GPAC. Hundreds of people and dogs — a good few of them greyhounds — were milling about.

One of the first booths we found was PetValu, where the team immediately recognised Apollo and showered him with treats. We also found Christine from Bark & Fitz, and right next to her was Jennifer (who gave Apollo his first bath a few months ago) had her own booth showcasing her lovely paintings.

At the far end of the room we found Dogs In Gear — they were also at last weekend's dog show, where I bought Musher's Secret to stop Apollo from being bothered by all the salt on the roads. There Apollo tried on one of their X-back harnesses which they custom make by hand. I am now having to decide how long I can wait for Apollo to grow before I buy him one. Or maybe I should get one now, and then he can have a new one later, and the first can be re-homed (or saved for a potential dog number two somewhere down the line… ). I did splurge on a mushing belt, the last one they had. The plan is for this to make long walks a little easier, especially as it frees up my hands for more picture-taking (stay tuned). Of course, this means I need to get an elasticated leash, and that harness, and and…

Photo courtesy of manmat.cz

After picking up a couple of bags of treats, we happened upon a table covered with dog coats, and I was delighted to see that they had one I'd been looking at online for a while, but hadn't dared to order because I wasn't sure how it would fit. Happily, it was the perfect length for Apollo! The only problem is that seeing as he's so lean right now, it fit very loose around his shoulders and chest. The seller offered to attach extra strips of velcro before delivering it to the house, so now we're waiting eagerly for his new raincoat. Until I can get pictures of Apollo showing it off, the one below gives some indication of the look.

Photo courtesy of Amazon

At the Expo we met several lovely dogs, including Apollo's Aussie friend from the dog show. This time they were able to play together a little more, since getting their coats messed up wasn't a concern. We also met a 3-month old malinois puppy — an absolutely beautiful girl with huge ears, a soft, glossy coat, and already a fair bit of black down her back.

The only negative experience was seeing one of the stands selling invisible fencing, using electric shock collars. With everything else there being so positive, this really felt out of place. My only hope is that they didn't get much business or interest.

After about three hours at the expo we headed back home. Within a few minutes of arriving, Apollo stopped being the energetic puppy and proceeded to sleep through most of the afternoon and evening. Success!

Walking home along Citadel Hill

Over Christmas break, Apollo and I went to Newfoundland, as my flatmates decided (quite reasonably) that I should not stay in Halifax by myself (well, with only Apollo). I rented a car, booked the ferry crossing, and off we went. Unfortunately there are no pictures of that first part of the trip… We left Halifax on the afternoon of the 23rd, and arrived in St. John's in the early evening of the 24th.

Whilst we were in St. John's we visited the dog park at Quidi Vidi four times, but unfortunately there are no pictures from there either. The first three times there were anywhere from five to 15 or so dogs there. Apollo quickly decided his favourite thing to do was to get other dogs to chase him, and he had a terrific time. The fourth day we were not so lucky. The only two dogs there when we arrived were a Rhodesian Ridgeback around his age (massive!) and an older lab. The two of them were playfighting when we arrived, but the lady with the lab left almost right after we arrived. The Rhodesian then decided to pay attention to Apollo — by biting at his ears and neck. Apollo has been very gentle with every dog I've seen him with, preferring to run and chase and be chased. I decided to leave immediately. Had there been other dogs there it might have been different, but as it was I didn't feel as if the other dog (or owner, who didn't see the problem) should have been there.

Anyway, for New Year's we went back to the west coast of the island, to Stephenville. There we spent New Year's itself at a cabin in the woods. The snow was belly deep on Apollo, and since we were far from roads with traffic, people, and most other things, he was off leash the whole time. When we first arrived he spent around an hour racing up and down the path, "helping" as we unloaded the cars and got everything inside. He stayed close, and kept coming back to check that I was still following. He also came back when I called!