With the loss of Scolaighe
and mourning dogs, we decided it was time to add another to our pack,  especially
as Òrlaith would find it difficult when we took
Gleann out without her
(which we do a lot as he goes offleash, helps with the animals and
doesn't mind the cold so much). And it was obviously that she is a very
pack oriented hound and needed more than just one dog around. So
another note to Greyhound
Placement Service and Aaron took her down with him on January 30,
2010 to bring home Dogzilla.
The name fit, his racing weight was 71 lbs, but
he has the presence of an even larger hound. In keeping with his race
name, we named him Cù Mór (Big Hound in Gaelic); and to go with him
usually having been called "Dog" we call him "Cù." He is another chow
hound, like Bran was, although I do not get the
impression that he was ever deprived like Bran had been. He just is
obsessed with food for no real reason.
Cù was one of the boys that Aaron had met when he
got  Òrlaith, he seemed too rambunctious to deal with poor
Scolaighe so he missed out that time. But he wouldn't have had the
patience she had had.
According to Michele at GPS, Cù was part of
Òrlaith's pack, the group of dogs she knew and went out with. So she
seemed content but not overly worked up that he moved in. I think she
just expects this sort of thing. Gleann was a bit put off having
another boy in the house and is somewhat defensive, especially as Cù
towers over him. However, as time passed they learned to deal with each
other in the space and are now good brothers; they get along great,
with occasional pushing and shoving. Especially for attention.
He's a big, happy goofy boy, but it might be hard
for you all to tell as he apparently is terrified of cameras.
Seriously. He was all happy ears and tail, then I got out the camera to
capture this and ears and tail, and head, go down. You all will think
he's miserable. Well, until I snuck a photo from across the room and
cropped it down...getting full demon eyes and all. 
As noted above, he's very insistent that he's
starving. He apparently arrived at the kennel like that the first time,
even ate a blanket which required surgery (he seems to have learned
from that one, however). In his first home he was a relentless begger
and pest, supposedly, eventually started stealing food from the
children. He couldn't be crated because "that was cruel" (he actually
likes his crate, will go into it and lie down several times a day). He
tried begging with us the first couple of days, but a simple "no" and
not giving in stopped it quickly. Like all our dogs, he now can lie
with his head in one of our laps while we eat (yes, we're barbarians,
we almost never eat at the table) and our only danger is that if he's  upside
down he might try to "pat" us and knocke the food out of our hands. He
does, however, still scrounge and counter surf, but that's a matter of
not having anything for him to grab.
Cù has buffed up since arriving, he was rather
soft and flabby when we got him, and we need more photos to show this.
He started showing changing even before he was getting a lot of
exercise right after we switched everyone to a no grain food and we
think he might have a grain issue that affected his conditioning and
made him retain water to look flabbier. Of course, now he goes running
with us nearly every morning, along with Òrlaith and Gleann. Still, I
always said that hounds put on muscle by sleeping on couches, wish it
worked for me. LOL
He's playful, and especially motivated by bunny
toys.
Contents and design, except
where noted otherwise below, copyright © 1998-2010 Kym Lambert
and Aaron Miller
Background modified from a
graphic from the World of Celtic
Art
Clipart from Clipart Castle
Top picture of Cù Mór from Greyhound
Placement Service Web Page
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