Aaron got me a terrific book on stuff to do with old t-shirts, and I decided that our dog Picard needed a new bed. He’s a greyhound, so he would always like another bed. I retired the Batman, Blackwatch Porter, Blues Brothers, Cthulhu, Geek Squad, and “Danger – May geek out without warning” t-shirts from our wardrobes and incorporated them into his bed. It has a zipper closure, and is stuffed with pillows from around the house that are too worn to use on the beds but perfect for a dog bed. This is how Picard also wound up with a memory foam bed in the back of my car. Anyway, this project sewed up in an afternoon. Used both the serger and the sewing machine.
Indy’s been having trouble with separation anxiety lately, which means coming home to puddles on the floor. We are literally scouting the house for messes when we get home, and at least half the time we are finding them. This is part of the reason he is going to doggie daycare now.
Unfortunately for Indy, we still need to leave him alone from time to time, so I looked into doggie diapers. Aaron thinks this is quite undignified, but agreed that we need to do something about it. Most of the things I found online are harnesses that hold baby diapers, and I’m not quite ready to drop $$ on something when I am not sure if it will work. A number of the things I found didn’t look like they would fit a greyhound’s physique well, either.
Enter the belly band. Apparently a number of greyhound organizations send their adopted male dogs home with these to alleviate the problem of marking and house training. I found an online tutorial to make them (thank you One Pearl Button!), Aaron donated a T-shirt, and off we went. It only took about an hour to cut and sew together, and I really like that the whole thing is washable and doesn’t require an investment in environmentally unfriendly baby diapers to complete the ensemble.
I’m going to let him wear it around the house a bit while we are home to get him used to it, and hope that it does the trick next time we have to leave him alone for a couple of hours. If it works, I will probably make a few more.
Tutorial:
www.onepearlbutton.com/2009/05/tutorial-doggie-belly-band…
Transformed my greyhound into a bat hound with a bit of ingenuity. Indy needed a rain slicker for our lovely Portland weather, and I’d never sewn a dog jacket before, so I figured it was time to try. The gold bats are reflective to aid in visibility. We went for a walk near the studio so I could check out how he walks and does his business with it on, and it passed with flying colors. Got some good feedback from other pedestrians on his “cape.”
Making a push this weekend to finally get some items up on Etsy, and try to get good traction on studio projects. I seem to have more motivation when I know where the item will wind up, and I need to work on being less precious with my supplies. I have a terrific stash (bordering on horde) of materials to create stuff with, but when I start sifting through it for project ideas, I find stuff I would like to use, but have trouble justifying the use of the item because I think, “What if I come up with a better idea to use this item later?”
Yes, this is a risk I run with utilizing limited quantities of a variety of recycled materials, but I need to get better at just diving in and using the stuff. Need to adapt a “no time like the present” mentality. It’s tougher than you would think.
Greyhound Pets Adoption Northwest hosted an adoption event today at Cannon Beach City Park, and we found homes for four dogs! When we left Portland this morning all of us had dressed for rainy weather, but we were pleasantly surprised with a beautifully sunny day once we arrived. We set up the X-pens and canopies next to the tennis courts, and people started arriving to meet and greet with our “ambassadogs.” The park was a terrific place to host the event because it made it very easy to have the dogs with us on leashes and not in the X-pens. Continue reading 'Greys at Cannon Beach'»
Ten greyhounds.
Four GPA-NW volunteers.
Two minivans.
Over six hundred miles.
Adoption events in Medford and Corvallis.
What a weekend!
Continue reading 'Hounds Out and About'»
Aaron got me a terrific book on stuff to do with old t-shirts, and I decided that our dog Picard needed a new bed. He’s a greyhound, so he would always like another bed. I retired the Batman, Blackwatch Porter, Blues Brothers, Cthulhu, Geek Squad, and “Danger – May geek out without warning” t-shirts from our wardrobes and incorporated them into his bed. It has a zipper closure, and is stuffed with pillows from around the house that are too worn to use on the beds but perfect for a dog bed. This is how Picard also wound up with a memory foam bed in the back of my car. Anyway, this project sewed up in an afternoon. Used both the serger and the sewing machine.
