Splishy - the short white Greyhound that goes baa

Well at 5am  on  Friday the  7th  August , in the  pouring rain , the freezing cold  south westerly wind  and in the  pitch dark , I was in a paddock at Awahuri helping  one of my  older ewes Molly to bring Splish and  Splosh  her  twins into this world. Saw the little boy (Splosh) get a drink, and the little girl (Splish) was just starting to drink when I left. I go back out there 10.30am to just double check them and to check my other ewes and see if anymore had lambed. Splish the little girl isn't strong enough to stand and is totally wet and freezing :(. She wouldn't have the energy to follow mum for a drink. The decision was made instantly. Splish was scooped up and put inside my  jacket and jersey ( wet  cold  lambs  are  not  the  best fashion accessory  to wear  under  your rain coat lol )  and we head back to home here in  town to try and  warm her  and save her.

This was a  HUGE experiment and  risk on my part at this  stage ( but  to me I had no  choice ) as  at this  stage  I had 5 Greyhounds  living in the house in town with me, none of  which rated  Cat Friendly, and 1 which is  so  anti-cat he  will actively  try and  get any cat he sees when on a  street walk.
I knew Gogo ( Go Strait Threw) and   Bridgette ( Bardo's  Angel ... RIP my  sweet old  angel) and  Lilly  (Riri Megumi) would  most likely be ok  with the lamb  as  they had  raised a bottle  fed lamb  at home  2 seasons ago. Sammy ( Krussian) and  Lenny  ( Leadfoot Lenny ) were a totally different kettle of  fish. Neither of them had seen a new born ( well ok about 5 hours old  at this stage ) lamb before.
To be honest I fully expected  Lenny  to have a  go  at the lamb, Sammy I didn't know  what his  reaction  would be but with no choice I had to try and  save the lamb and would  just deal with the  outcome whatever it was! The Hounds would just HAVE to learn!!

I came in and  muzzled  all of the gang, made up a  homemade incubator of  sorts  ( large  cardboard box, hot-water bottle in the bottom  with a blanket over it, 2ltr milk bottles  filled with hot water in each  corner of it, covered  with a blanket), went and  put Lamb in it and brought it inside. I put the  box  on the   floor and  let  them all  come and have a  sniff and a look. GoGo  and  Bridgey and   Lilly  knew  instantly what it was  and  were fine  and had muzzles off inside  about 3 minutes  and  all gave the lamb a lick and sniffs and wander off.

Sammy  was intrigued by   the lamb   and  had to have  very long sniffs and  prodded it with his  nose  ( muzzle )  and then  realized it was OK and  was happy, so his muzzle came off too :)
Lenny ....  now  you have  to remember  that  Lenny  is not that long off the  track, was a fairly reasonable race  dog  :) ,  and was totally   focused  on the hunt and the  chase, he is  also  very strong willed and  very very powerful and  hard to hang on to, and  to him I thought the  lamb would have looked  like a lure.
Well Lenny was intrigued by this little  sick thing in the box and  he tried to lick it  through the muzzle and I thought I saw teeth  appear there a  couple of times, so his muzzle stayed on.
He kept coming back  to  the box  bedside me  and wanting to see the lamb  and  check it  ( I guess was wait for his  dinner to warm up  lol ) and I  would lift the blanket and let him see the lamb  and then  he was happy  and   would  go  to his lounge chair and then he'd be back again in another  3 minutes  to check it again.

I took about 45minutes  for  Splish  (lamb) to warm up enough  to  try and  move  around a little and realize she was hungry ... so far so good  :) :)
I had  cows  colostrum milk in the freezer (you never know when you're going to need  some   when  you are  round  animals lol ) and I had taken a litre out and had it soaking in  hot water since I first came in so I had something to feed her. Only Lenny  still had muzzle on at this stage. I got a bottle ready and  got  Splishy lamb out and  sat her on my knee and  gave her bottle. Lenny was right there to watch  and  try and  sniff but was not making any attempt to bite her. I had  to chance it at some  stage  and  see what would happen, so I moved the  incubator box to  beside my leg ( so if it did turn to  custard I could get Splishy into the soft box quickly), got a good grip  on Lenny's   collar and took his muzzle  off. I was 100%  ready  for it to turn to custard ...... and   :) :) :)  Lenny  licked her all over and  loved her and made no attempt at any stage  to bite her  :) :)
So pleased, as it had gone  so much better  than I had  thought it  would.

We now  had a  Short  White  Greyhound   that  goes  baaa and  not  woof and her  name  is  Splishy.

The  2 of my  younger boys  Sammy and  Lenny  are  fine with the  new thing  that arrived in their house in Splishy. Lenny in particular  has blown me  out of the water with how  he is with  Splishy ,  he lets her get away  with absolute murder  lol .. she will wander up to  Lenny and  bunt him in is  tummy to get him  to "let his milk down" when I am late with her bottle, she has been  seen trying to  suck/chew around his belly to get milk from it, she  chews on his  toenails and  sucks on his  feet  if he  has them hanging over the couch edge, he  even puts  up with her  arrive at high speed  and  land
on him when he on couch  or on my bed .... there  will be a  low  quiet little growl when she annoys  him , but  then he just lets her carry on  and  does nothing about it , doesn't even get up and walk away ... Just  totally amazing really  :)

Splishy is a bit of a  brat at times  and  the hounds  ( well Lenny just lets  her   lol )  tell her  when she is annoying, and I know she speaks  enough Greyhound  to  know what they are saying  :) Splishy  is  very much a Greyhound  and part of this  pack,  ( till  she gets weaned at 12 weeks of  age, and gets to go back to paddock and be a real sheep lol ) ,  she is accepted  totally by  the pack  and she comes on all our  street walks with us, sleeps  with the  Hounds, comes on all the car  rides  with us. She is certain in her own mind  she is a Greyhound, and the  Hounds  think she is one too  ( just short and can be annoying  lol ) .

To me  this just  goes to show  if  you have a little  time and patience, know  your  dogs , handle the  introductions  in a  controlled and  quiet way  ( as  best  you can at the time anyway  :) ) then Greyhounds  are  very  trainable and are  capable  of adjusting  to  new situations and changes very easily :)

That's how we  ended up  with the  Hounds living with a lamb  :)

Regards  Stu