All posts tagged Living with Greyhounds

Flickr

By On January 2, 2012 In Buy Art Here!, Living with Greyhounds With 3 Comments Permanent Link to FlickrPermalink

I killed my flickr account last month. Forgetting that the images on this site were linked from my flickr account, I couldn’t see a downside. Now the archives of this blog are broken. Time to fix. Where to start? I think I’ll do a month every week…


I’ve added the latest kiln load to my shop. They’ll go live on Thursday AM. Next kiln load will be available sometime at the end of January. I’ll have some more large boxes along with a few small and some medium sized boxes as well. Small sculptures will be coming up in February.


In other news, poor Sage injured himself at the dog park. One foot under the dog park fence, a very slight yelp, and he kept on running. He’s a tough one.

Damn you, Dog Park Fence. Thankfully only stitches.

New friend.

By On December 1, 2011 In Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds With 4 Comments Permanent Link to New friend.Permalink

Winchester has a new friend. Charley is his name. He’s a Great Dane.

This makes Winchester very happy.

Charley loves to run and play. He plays differently than the greyhounds. Winchester doesn’t know what to think of this, but he still tries to get Charley to play. Charley has his own ideas of course.

So Winchester dances. And leaps.

And stamps his feet.

“Should I bring it?”

Bring it!

Friday the 13th.

By On May 15, 2011 In Living with Greyhounds With 5 Comments Permanent Link to Friday the 13th.Permalink

Friday was the 13th of May. Friday the 13th. The day passed and nothing terrible happened. That hasn’t always been the case.

The last time the 13th of May fell on a Friday, Sterling, my first Greyhound died. It was horrible.

Years later, when reading Dr. Patricia McConnell’s book, For the Love of a Dog, I read this quote about her Border Collie, Luke, and immediately thought of my sweet red dog:

He took my heart and ran with it, and I hope he’s running still, fast and strong, a piece of my heart bound up with his forever.

Now as I type this, the quote makes me smile. Like many important losses, the pain isn’t as sharp as it once was. I still think of Sterling. Instead of sadness, I feel more thankful. To have known him. To have learned so much from him.

Aren’t dogs awesome?

Annie and the dog crate

By On May 14, 2011 In Living with Greyhounds With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Annie and the dog cratePermalink

Dog training & gardening. Two things I wish I could do better.

I picture my backyard rich with lush green plants. Carefully chosen flowers blooming in succession. A pleasant courtyard with a sculpture garden. My backyard looks nothing like this.

And as for the dog training… My hounds are easy to live with. They are housebroken. They walk on the leash. They sit when asked. They are polite at meals and don’t charge out of open doors. But if we go deeper… not so much.

The reason both these things aren’t further along? Me. Time. Effort.

Especially with the dogs. They are smart, eager to learn and easy to train. It’s me that is the big, tired push-over.  But there are “Things We Must Learn.” So I made a list.

One of the things on the list is “Annie must learn to settle in her crate”. So I set up the crate, began feeding her in the crate, and dispensing treats for being settled in her crate. It took no time and soon we began seeing this:

Black Greyhound in dog crate

Hurray! We’re working on duration (with the door closed) now.

She’s a smartie, my girl!  She’s figured out another use for the crate:

All the better to survey the neighborhood.

Slow going.

By On February 5, 2011 In Life in North Dakota With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Slow going.Permalink

Greyhounds on a winter day

or Watching Clay Dry. Nothing exciting to report (which is a good thing, I guess). Waiting for work to dry so that I can fire. Hoping to bisque fire tomorrow. Don’t want to be too hasty. Blowing work to pieces is no fun.

Until I know more, thought I’d share a photo of Winchester and Sage – who look somewhat like one LONG dog. Keep warm.

Update post.

By On January 31, 2011 In Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Update post.Permalink

The furnace just kicked on blasting warm, dry air. It’s Cold outside. Currently -16 F and dropping. It’s hibernation time.

Greyhound sculpture and Greyhound dog copyright Sarah Regan SnavelyHard to believe I took this photo a couple of weeks ago – most of the snow had melted off the deck behind the house and Frank dog sculpture needed his -her?- photo taken. Nearly impossible to get a resident Greyhound to sit like Frank for the photo. We got close…

Rabit rabbit sculpture Sarah Regan Snavely

Also during those weeks I began a nasty rabbit sculpture. Grumpy and it comes out in the art. Hard to find photos of snarling rabbits even with Google images. Not pictured is the nice, but overly eager Greyhound she’s snarling at.

Winchester Greyhound dog in snow with tongue sticking out

The past weeks have been dog park-less and the hounds have had to be satisfied with occasional leash walks and romps in the backyard. I’ve tried to capture them in the snow in the yard with the camera, but the results have been less than satisfying. Dogs probably feel that way about the quality of the exercise. So much snow, but nothing like last year… yet.

Greyhound dog sculpture Sarah Regan Snavely

Also worked on a new piece tentatively titled, Faith in my Lucky Rabbit’s Foot. This is a piece that I’ve wanted to make for a long while. I’ll find those original sketches in an old sketchbook and post them. This is another piece I hope will be ready for the exhibition at Dickinson State University in March. Going to be close.

Greyhound looking out the window

Sage waits for the weather to break. He is a tough dog and tolerates the weather more than any other Greyhound I’ve owned.

But we all want the weather to warm up.

Three years old!

By On January 30, 2011 In Living with Greyhounds With 5 Comments Permanent Link to Three years old!Permalink

On tuesday, Sage and Annie will be three years old!

What wonderful hounds they have grown up into.

Seems like they were just babies a second ago. I’d do it again in a second (but with all the knowledge I’ve gained with raising these two). What a wonderful ride it has been.

Back to work.

By On December 26, 2010 In Art making With 1 Comment Permanent Link to Back to work.Permalink

Two Greyhounds Sarah Regan Snavely clay sculptureSo I spent my Christmas working. I’ll admit it. But it’s not really work in a way. Putting the finishing touches on this two Greyhound sculpture. Hard to stay away once these pieces get close to finished.

Two Greyhound sculpture made from clay by Sarah Regan SnavelyNot quite finished, but getting close.

Greyhound inspecting SculptureAnnie says, “Needs a bit more work right there!”

Also worked on some bunny rabbits. For some reason I kept thinking of toasted marshmallows as I was working on these. I know the hounds can read my thoughts, but am I starting to pick up on their’s?

Three slightly bored Greyhounds are not the best of studio partners. Work? Who needs to work? Like Winchester here, as I was attempting to photograph these pieces for this blog. How do you get dog slime off the camera lens again?

Then Sage kidnapped a roll of bubble wrap – trailing it around the house as he RAN.

Who? Us? We aren’t guilty! :)

A break in the weather

By On December 7, 2010 In Living with Greyhounds With 6 Comments Permanent Link to A break in the weatherPermalink

After days of cold and snow, the weather warmed enough for a trip to the dog park. By warmed, I mean around 28 degrees F.

20 degrees seems to be the tipping point as far as weather warm enough for the dog park – if we get weather warmer than that with NO wind – whoo hoo! Dog park we go.

Winchester Greyhound running in the snow

The Greyhounds love to run. They know where there going as soon as we turn north on the road to the dog park.

Sage Greyhound rolling in the snow

Sage, especially, loves the snow. Winchester and Annie pretend it doesn’t exist, but Sage rolls and rubs himself in it.

Sage Winchester and Annie running in the snow

The snow doesn’t hamper their running and playing as long as it is soft and powdery. When it thaws a bit, then freezes again it gets a coat of ice on the top. The ice, not the temperature, will hamper our dog park trips. Ice slices Greyhound feet.

Annie Greyhound running in the snow

But till then, they run.

Winchester Greyhound gets hot

Until they are panting.

Annie and Winchester Greyhound play bowing in the snow

Then play some more.

Sage Greyhound running through the snow

Best part of the day!

Annie Sage and Winchester smiling in the snow

A frosty morning

By On December 6, 2010 In Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds With 2 Comments Permanent Link to A frosty morningPermalink

Winter has descended on North Dakota. Most of October and most of November were beautiful, fall-filled. The more fall, the less winter. Hurray!

Annie Greyhound sniffing the winter air

Sunday morning was frosty as ever. The Greyhounds are getting used to the cold again and Annie was happy to be outside as I unloaded the smoke firing cans. The air is crisp and cold. I was happy to get this photo of her sniffing the slight breeze.

Frosty tree branches against a blue sky

Everything was covered with frost and the sky was foggy and cold… till the sun came out. Sunday was a beautiful winter day.

Winchester Greyhound sleeping in a sunbeam

Winchester, on the other hand, is happy to stay inside. Sage had the choice sunbeam next to the glass door, but Winchester found an able substitute.

Sage Greyhound looking through deck railingWhen Sage did come outside, he played with Annie till it was ready to go in. He peeked through the deck railing as I unloaded the smoke cans.

Smoke fired Greyhound dogHere’s one of the smoke-fired small sculptures from this weekend’s firing. More photos on Facebook.

Torture.

By On September 19, 2010 In Living with Greyhounds With 14 Comments Permanent Link to Torture.Permalink

As small towns go, Bowman is okay. It has its share of rumors and people talking and goldfish-bowl living. That’s the way it goes. With that comes people helping when your tire goes flat, showing up for funerals, bringing casseroles (hotdish!) at important times, waving as they pass you on the street. But people talk and it will come around eventually. Still strange when it is your turn in the rumor mill.

“Someone in town has really tall dogs and they are SO skinny – she’s not feeding them!” Ah. Yeah. What Greyhound owner hasn’t heard this one? These hounds eat just fine, thank you. Nope, they are supposed to be thin. Greyhounds. Nope, not Great Danes. Perfectly normal. Built for Speed. Yes, aerodynamic. Thanks for your concern.

If they only knew how I torture my dogs…

Poor Sage. I’m slightly obsessed with putting things on my dogs’ heads. So when he tore off a chunk of his new sheepskin bed I thought, “Chinese Crested Greyhound”.

And put the chunk on his head.

And photographed him with an I’m not impressed look on his face.

And posted it on the internets for all the world to see.

I’m a good doggy Mom. Honest.

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