Pirate Kelly

Wynn hates being alone... a lot. Even if he isn't doing anything with you, he'd rather sit in a room with someone and do nothing then be doing some fun by himself. So I've racked my brain with how we would deal with the eventual need for his own room. Sydney is already ready to have a girl's only space and her own privacy from boy eyes. It's funny how naturally she just became more self aware and more modest. It's awesome to see her grow up and mature. Anyway, Wynn needs his own room.... but he'll hate it if he is alone. My solution - a dog.

I started doing research a few months ago on different dog breeds that would meet our needs. It needed to be short haired, mostly indoor, cat, rabbit, and kid friendly... in that order! J/K. I didn't want to have to walk it everyday or have a hyper, yapper dog that would just add to the chaos around the house. According to a quiz I took on the AKC website, our best type of dog would be a greyhound. Hmmm... so I kept my eyes peeled for a couple of different breeds and we visited the shelter a few times to see what was available locally.

One day on my way to take Wynn to school the thought came to me to call the shelter just to check what they had. I had trouble finding their number and actually ended up talking to the wrong place... but the thought kept coming back so I took the time to find the right number and gave them a call.

"Do you have any small/med adult dogs? Good with kids and cat?" Imagine my surprise when they said they had a greyhound that fit that description. She had been there a few weeks and came in as a stray. They were trying to transfer to another facility the next day. Naturally, I took the kids in that afternoon. We spent several hours there getting acquainted and after seeing how she interacted with the kids. Listened to my and their commands, was gentle, didn't lick or jump, was not aggressive to the cats or bunny at the shelter... my mind was made up. In fairness I did send Andy a warning text!

Her name is Kelly. and she is Wynn's dog. He wanted to call her pirate... so Pirate Kelly if we are getting technical. She is about 7 by the vets estimate and a sweetheart. We did have to have one of her teeth pulled, but other than that she is in good health. Wynn gets to feed her, take her out to go potty, clean her poop, brush her, walk her, etc etc and HE IS A CHAMP AT IT! I have been so impressed with his initiative to get up first thing and come get her from our room and take her out. He doesn't complain when we ask him to clean up after her or take care of her and all the kids have really bonded with her. She is getting used to our house really well and completely ignores our neighbor dogs, Nemesis, and is only slightly interested in Blanco. We are in the process of teaching her to come reliably because the few times we have tried to exercise her fully, she doesn't come back when called. At her speed, she could easily get hurt or lost. If you didn't know, greyhounds can run up to 40 mph so for now she only gets slow walks every few days. Greyhounds however are known to be very lazy dogs and she is perfectly content to lay around the house or yard all day with a few bouts of energy throughout the day where she jumps around and sprints as much as she can.

I feel so blessed to have found a great fit for our family and for Wynn. We are all happy to have her. :)