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Just to let you all know .....our first foster greyhound Benny is being brought up from London to us tonight. We are off the beaten track here so it has been difficult to organise a transport run but we had an offer of a run right from London to here arriving around 10pm, from someone who works at Heathrow Airport but lives just 10 minutes away from us and comes home each week on Thursday evenings.

It's not the best time for a dog to arrive I know and it will be dark, cold and probably raining so the poor lad will not have the best welcome situation. Now all I need is for Tru to behave and Benny to toilet in the garden before we go to bed, so he can start his new life in the morning without any problems. Not much to ask is it??

Please keep everything crossed for our first foster situation to work out well for Benny and maybe be the start of many more......we must not fail fostering.....we must not fail fostering.
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Sue, Tru and Sonny
from England

>>Just to let you all know .....our first foster greyhound Benny is being brought up from London to us tonight. We are off the beaten track here so it has been difficult to organise a transport run but we had an offer of a run right from London to here arriving around 10pm, from someone who works at Heathrow Airport but lives just 10 minutes away from us and comes home each week on Thursday evenings.
>>
>>It's not the best time for a dog to arrive I know and it will be dark, cold and probably raining so the poor lad will not have the best welcome situation. Now all I need is for Tru to behave and Benny to toilet in the garden before we go to bed, so he can start his new life in the morning without any problems. Not much to ask is it??
>>
>>Please keep everything crossed for our first foster situation to work out well for Benny and maybe be the start of many more......we must not fail fostering.....we must not fail fostering.
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>>Sue, Tru and Sonny
>>from England

How nice that some one lives close to you and is able to bring Benny right to your house. I believe it was Annette that said the magic phrase is "He is a foster" repeated as often as necessary, so...you will pass fostering...you will pass fostering...you will pass fostering.

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Janie
Mom to Katie, Pansy, Ghost and Bea

Waiting at the Bridge:
Lola, Nancy, Vinka, Max and Dart-Greyhounds
Dragon-Cockapoo; Judge Dee-Chow Chow
Ginger Elvira Katt-Maine Coon cat

Benny won't be worried about any mistakes as long as you aren't.

I wish you luck with fostering. It's something I find impossible to do...

Donnamarie
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Donnamarie
Nera, CK, Richie and his sister, Wendy
My Bridge Kids:
Jade, Onyx, Freckles, Chloe, Casey, and Zena

[marqee]Sydney, my granddaughter & Jade, my grey angel/marquee]

I am sure you are very very excited!!!! Have fun with this and send us pictures.. and stories!!! wishing you both the best!!!
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Joy J with
Lilly, the greyhound,
Rascal and Rex, cairn terriers, and
Mackie, the scottie

Benny arrived as planned at 10pm...a big brindle boy, rather nervous understandably but quite sweet. Tru did her usual bark in the face which she does to any dog which comes into our garden, did the usual sniffing and then more or less ignored him. Benny didn't react at all to her and is probably used to gobby bitches!

My lovely boy Sonny, who is greyt with every dog he meets and never shows any signs of unfriendliness.....did nothing but growl and grumble at him any time he came near! They did plenty of walking round the garden marking etc. and Benny did all he needed to so we hoped for a clean night at least.....which we got. Benny however, has only just been neutered and does have a tendency to mark so we are having to watch him whenever he goes walkabout round the house.

Benny slept in the front bedroom with Rod however, which was not what I had intended but with Sonny constantly growling, it seemed a safer option than having all three together. Benny took a long time to settle with lots of pacing and panting which I guess is normal though neither Tru nor Sonny did it at all. He ate about half of his breakfast, Sonny ate hardly any which is really unusual as he is a greedy little pig, and Tru ate all hers which is very unusual too as she normally leaves most of it for Sonny to finish up! I guess she is happy and Sonny is jealous!

This morning I walked Benny after the other two had been out as Sonny is still not totally happy with him but I think things will settle down fairly soon. Funny how wrong you can be though, as I always thought Tru would be the problem and never Sonny at all.
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Sue, Tru and Sonny
from England

Welcome, Benny!

Hope Sonny will relax and enjoy Benny. You can always do the "serial feeding" thing, giving each dog tiny treats in succession, over and over, as long as they are calm and pleasant -- it sometimes gets each to see the presence of the other as a harbinger of good things.
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Ellen
Willow and Lailah the greyhounds
Atticus the beagle
Shalom the dove

I agree about serial treating but unfortunately Benny will not take treats from us nor eat any we have tried him with so far, in his bowl, on the floor, on his bed.... except liver cake......thank goodness for liver cake as I have never met a dog which didn't like that yet. He is not eating well at all so far, shows no interest in kibble but will take some canned dog meat and also toast cubes with peanut butter on! Not ideal I know but at this stage I feel just to get him eating something will be better than nothing as he hasn't much spare weight he can afford to lose really.
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Sue, Tru and Sonny
from England

>> unfortunately Benny will not take treats from us nor eat any we have tried him with so far, in his bowl, on the floor, on his bed....
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Ellen
Willow and Lailah the greyhounds
Atticus the beagle
Shalom the dove

Don't know what I did wrong, but let me try that again!

>>unfortunately Benny will not take treats from us nor eat any we have tried him with so far, in his bowl, on the floor, on his bed....
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Ellen
Willow and Lailah the greyhounds
Atticus the beagle
Shalom the dove

OK, one more try!

Don't you wish you could send the "relax, you're safe" message directly to a dog's mind?

In any case, even if Benny won't take treats, giving them to Sonny as Benny approaches or passes might still help him relax about Benny's presence.

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Ellen
Willow and Lailah the greyhounds
Atticus the beagle
Shalom the dove

Thanks Ellen, that's what I am doing. I think Sonny is a little easier about it all today and Benny ate his tea and some breakfast this morning and is lying down a lot more. It's just early days and things will be fine in time. He is just the best boy though and will be a super hound for someone soon I hope
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Sue, Tru and Sonny
from England

Sounds like things are going well -- have fun watching Benny blossom into a nice pet, and giving that gift to him and his future owners!
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Ellen
Willow and Lailah the greyhounds
Atticus the beagle
Shalom the dove

Somehow I missed this post, and that is not somethng easy to do here. I am glad to read that Benny is settling in and that Sunny seems to be accepting him. Isn't that odd that you thought it was going to be Tru? They do keep us guessing. How are things now?

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Gwen & the Zu Kru
Aimee Kylie Jazz & Dakota
Taz(all white Kitty)
Sadie, Luke, Kianna & Jessie at the Bridge
Fill your life with love ~ adopt a greyhound

Things are settling down pretty well.....touch wood. Sonny has stopped grumbling, Benny has stopped thinking of marking ( I think!!) and Tru is being a really good girl! They have all been loose together in the garden now and all seems well. Benny is eating a little better and picking treats from the floor but still not from a hand. He is a super boy though and will make a loving, lovely pet for some lucky person!
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Sue, Tru and Sonny
from England