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