We stopped for lunch shortly after. There was a very nice rest stop in Missouri with soft grass and a lot of open space. We let the dog stay out with us while we ate. No sense in leaving her alone in the car! After we ate, my husband set our son on the ground and went to pack up the food back in to the car. My son took one look at this little dog and went wild. He loves animals; especially when they're his size. He crawled right to her. I was afraid that she'd try to pull away, but was surprised when she actually went running up to him! She sniffed him all over and let him grab her nose. She really liked him. I think it had something to do with her recently weaned puppies and the maternal instincts that she still has. Either way, she's wonderful with children. My nearly-13-month-old son can vouch for that!
Our next potty break was in Iowa. The temperature had dropped quite a bit, but I took the dog out for another potty break. There was another family there with a little yorkie-type dog. She wanted so badly to play with their dog, but I was afraid they may not be as interested in letting their dog play with a stranger. The little boy that was with the family of the other dog asked me what kind of dog I had. I told him she was an Italian greyhound. When they left I carried the dog over to the "pet" area. She was doing so well. I could actually stand up with the leash in my hand without her trying to run. I could even take a few steps with her before she'd get too nervous and try to run. Then the strangest thing happened. She wasn't looking where she was walking and stopped just short of walking in to a tree. She immediately cowered and looked up the tree trunk and cowered again. She was terrified of the tree! Again, she didn't go potty and refused water.
We made it home in the wee hours of the morning, exhausted and ready for bed. I took her out one last time in the yard here, but she refused to go potty. I put her back in the crate and brought it in to the bathroom. The original plan had been to leave her in the crate in the garage until transport could be arranged to breed rescue, but the weather channel showed temperatures in the 40s and the possibility of snow. No way I'd leave this skinny thing out in the cold. In the house she came. I set up her crate in the bathroom and got her a bowl for fresh water and a bowl for food. She slurped up the water as fast as she could. I refilled the bowl and left her for the night. She refused to eat in my presence and I'm sure she was very hungry.
The next day I took her to the pet store to get her a real collar. She's too small for the smallest puppy collar, and I was afraid that she'd slip out of a kitten collar if she tried to run away on leash again, so I got her the second smallest choke chain there. I don't like choke chains, but in this case I felt it was necessary to prevent her from getting away on leash if something startled her.
The next stop was the vet. I wanted to weigh her and see what they thought of her teeth. She is 11 pounds, but needs to gain weight. They looked at her teeth and said she's definitely over two. They guessed 3-4 years old might be more accurate if not older. They said she appears to have graying on her muzzle, but it's also possible that it's just a part of her color too. Her papers may not be hers after all if my vet is correct on the age.
She stayed with me for six weeks while awaiting transport to her new foster home. We named her Idgie after the character from Fried Green Tomatoes. It was the day before Halloween when her new foster mom flew in from Colorado to pick her up (I'm in Minnesota).
A few months later Idgie's foster mom announced that Idgie had been adopted... by her foster family! Her foster family now runs a breed rescue for Italian Greyhounds.
