My winter coat

It is very cold now, and to be honest, I prefer the summer warmth. But hey, I am a hardy Caravan Hound, so with proper protection, I enjoy this white winter world as well. My human made this coat for me. Don't you think I look handsome in it?

As long as I can run and play with my friends, I am happy.

Time for an update on Sunanda

It has been a long time since I wrote my last update, far too long probably. There are several reasons for this long delay in postings. One reason being my other activities for a sighthound rescue organisation called Voordewindhond. Another reason is that the day after my last posting on Sunanda's blog, something terrible happened. On August 6th I was walking Isis, my old Spanish lurcher and Sunanda together. Both Sunanda an Isis were on a leash, and suddenly Isis was attacked by a dog which was off leash in an area where dogs are not allowed to be off leash. The dog grabbed Isis by the neck and pulled her down. Isis laid on the ground screaming, Sunanda pulled at her leash in total panick and I tried to pull the attacking dog from my old Isis. However, as soon as I tried to get hold of the attacking dog, the owner, who was standing near by and not doing anything until then, grabbed me from behind by the shoulders and shouted that I had to let go of his dog. I my attempt to get away from the angry man, Sunanda's leash slipped from my wrist, and she ran away.

What followed were 8 frantic hours, in which Sunanda ran around in total panick and ended up on the nearby highway. Several cars had to make an emergency stop and the traffic police was alarmed. The drivers who had to stop tried to catch Sunanda, but she became even more scared and ran away again. After 8 hours she found me again and was so happy to see me again that she jumped right into my arms. I can not begin to describe the relief I felt at that moment. I was so shocked by all that happened that day, that I just could not write anything in her blog for a long time.

After this horrible nightmare, Sunanda developed a strange skin rash on the right side of her body. It stretched from behind her elbow to her right flank and started behind her elbow with some small pustules. The pustules would open and crusts appeared, leaving small wounds and a very irritated skin. However, it did not itch. I found it very odd, and since I have worked for a homeopathic veterinarian, I thought that this strange rash would require just that, a homeopathic consult from the vet I used to work for.

I made an appointment and took Sunanda to the vet. She was very patient with Sunanda and took a long time to take her full history and find a suitable remedy. Once she found a suitable remedy I was given instructions to give the remedy every three days. Well, she needed only one dose, and I have not needed to repeat the dose. After some initial aggravation of her symptoms, she changed dramatically. Not only did her skin heal completely and the pustules have not come back again, she also has become a lot less scared of strange people. In fact she is now curious after new people we meet!

She is also a lot calmer, less destructive, and comes immediately when I call her. She has become the "perfect" hound (OK, she was already perfect, but she needed to heal from all her past experiences first).

Next, in the beginning of November, Sunanda came in heat. I don't know whether this is her first heat or not, nor how often she will come in heat. But judging from the way she behaved, and the way her body and her demeanor have changed, I am guessing this was her first heat. She will be three years old in January and I know it is not uncommon for oriental sighthounds to come in heat for the first time so late.

It is very cold now over here, with snow and ice, and Sunanda has a very warm coat, which I made for her. Her skin is so thin, and she does not have any undercoat whatsoever, so she really needed something to keep her warm during wintertime.

I will post some pictures of Sunanda in her coat over the next few days.
She really is an extraordinary hound indeed!

My dog bed

I can hardly believe it was only a little over 2 months ago when I first arrived at my new home. But the moment I arrived, I immediately picked out a dog bed of my own. It was a dog bed which seemed soft and placed in a safe place. For the first month, this was my place and I would not let anybody come near my bed. I even bit Dassin when she dared come to close to me and my dog bed!

After a while, I was more comfortable with lying in other places. And when the sun is shining, I did not mind lying in a different place at all! I just love lying in the sun.

(by the way, don't you all think I have become very handsome over the past two months? I gained 7kg! And my coat and color is changing as well)

After a while, I decided to make some changes to my dog bed, which you can see here:

And no, I did not make those changes because I was frustrated, scared, or did not want to be in the crate. I made them, so my dog bed would be even more comfortable than it already was! You see, now I can lie in my dog bed!

Me and my friend Dassin playing

Dassin and I have become very close friends in the short time I live with my new family. Of course I like the others as well, but Dassin and I have a very special relationship. She is a bit like an older sister to me, and we have a lot of fun together. Here you can see us playing, which we do a lot!

A post from Sunanda

My human is so busy with other things that she did not post any new messages to this blog. But a lot of things happened over the past weeks, things I would really like to share with you all. So, I decided to write something myself. 

First we went to the sea! I did not know this was the sea, but my human told me it was called "sea". My friends knew exactly what it was and were very excited when they got the first smell of the sea in their noses. And as soon as we were let off the lead, all three of them ran to the sea as fast as possible!

At first I did not know what to make of this strange, moving water, and started to bite it. That is what I do with strange things that move over the ground: I try to grab them with my mouth, like the end of the vacuum cleaner. But this strange, moving water tasted very odd, and I could not grab it. But Isis seemed to love this moving water very much and jumped in straight away. She even lied down in this moving water!

But it did not take very long for me to understand what the excitement was all about. And I joined my friends in their games. Chasing each other through the water, barking at other dogs and sniffing all the new things there were to sniff. It was a beautiful day and I was very tired at the end of the day. I enjoy all these new things so much!

Changes...

I have decided to make some changes to this blog, which will hopefully make it more accessible and better looking.

I hope the people who follow Sunanda's blog, will not mind me writing in english from now on. First of all more people will be able to read it when it is in english. And second of all, it will be easier for me to write updates, since I do not have to ask somebody else to translate it into german for me.

And I felt it was time for a new picture at the top. The old one was taken one day after Sunanda's arrival, and she looks so skinny that it reminds me a bit too much of her past. Sunanda has changed so much over the past 4 weeks, that she hardly bears any resemblance to that skinny and scared little hound anymore.

I find it very difficult to believe that it has only been 4 weeks since she arrived in our home. In the first 3 weeks, she gained approximately 6kg bodyweight, mostly muscle I have to say. So she is jokingly called miss "fat bottom" in our home.

I could let her run off the lead after only 5 days, and now she sings loudly from sheer joy when I take her lead to go for a walk. Her fears slowly fade away with each day and she is beginning to show her true self, which is a rather boisterous and energetic young female, a bit insecure at times in new situations, but very curious and inquisitive at the same time.

She is extremely affectionate, has a very good recall, but also a strong mind of her own, which makes for an interesting combination. Sometimes she has to make "difficult" decisions. She clearly wants to do something else than I ask her to do, so she has to chose between obeying me and doing her own thing. So far, she chose me every time, but sometimes it does take a little while before she reaches that decision.

I have also taken some swabs from Sunanda, so she could donate some of her precious DNA to scientific research. I am very curious what the results will be. But as soon as I know, I will post them here of course.

And we had a lovely "Grillfest" last weekend with all the people who joined in on the search for Sunanda. It was so nice to meet all these people in a very relaxed and happy atmosphere. Sunanda showed them how happy she was and played with the other dogs. I just feel a lot of gratitude toward all these people. If it wasn't for them, who knows what would have happened to Sunanda. Thank you all for your dedication, your time, your positive thoughts, and all the things you did to get Sunanda back safe and sound.

Here you can see some pictures taken at this "Grillfest":

http://www.blende-22.de/Galerie/100620_Wiesentreffen/

I just love Sunanda more with each and every day. She is a very special girl indeed.

Sunanda and friends

Sunanda ist jetzt 3 Wochen bei uns und hat schon vieles erlebt. Sie macht es sehr gut und hat auch viele neue Freunden. Hier ist ein video von Sunanda und Freunden:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lQ0Yxsr798

Viel Spaß!