Blaze

Blaze is a year old black and white male greyhound born on May 4, 2019. His sire is Deco Archi Lee and his dam is Tiger Girl. Blaze came to GALT from his breeder as he was not thriving with his other 4 male siblings, due to his being so much smaller. Two of these four, Frank and Sammy, are now with GALT due to front leg abnormalities. He is also half-sibling to GALT's Demi and Bernie. Blaze has a right front leg deformity and underwent a distal ulnar ostectomy and fat graft at Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center. His prognosis is good and he is recuperating in his Injured Reserve foster home at this time. It is not yet known whether Blaze can live with cats or small animals.

Update: September 24, 2019
Blaze went to DVSC because of the instability of his right front leg after his surgery. He was put back in a splint to help support the healing process. He will receive weekly bandage changes for at least 3 weeks.
Please keep him in your thoughts for a successful recovery.

Watch more of Blaze

Blaze was the runt of the litter and his bigger brothers kept pushing him out of the way. The breeder feared the little guy was going to be continuously picked on, so he called GALT to take Blaze when he was just 6 weeks old. In addition to being the littlest one in his litter, Blaze and two of his brothers inherited a genetic deformity in their front leg. Needless to say, this little guy had a rough start.

Blaze was immediately placed in a foster home so he could put on weight and to see how bad his little leg was. The sweet boy walked like a drunken sailor though it never stopped him from playing and behaving like the baby he was. At 3 months old Blaze underwent surgery to shorten one of the bones in his leg which was growing faster than the other, causing his leg to bow unnaturally. He handled the surgery well and was in a cast for several weeks acting like a typical puppy who didn’t understand what it meant to “be quiet”.

The stability of the cast gave him a lot of confidence in walking and when it was removed, the muscles in his lower leg had atrophied. After consulting with the veterinary physical therapist, we were given exercises to strengthen his leg. Fortunately Blaze is food motivated and that has made his PT so much easier because he has no idea that the exercises are work. Rather than use fancy snacks to entice him, the “treats” are his normal kibble. To Blaze any food is considered a treat in his precious eyes.

Blaze’s physical therapy includes sitting to standing, shake the good paw, standing on an uneven or trampoline type of bed and his favorite (though not ours) digging. We work on these several times a day and he loves it. His leg is still weak and he can be wobbly at times, it doesn’t stop him from endlessly chasing his ball, or his housemates all around the backyard.

At 9 months, Blaze is about 20 lbs lighter than one of his littermates. Blaze is getting taller and longer, though he’s still very skinny. He occasionally struggles to get up when he’s laying down because he doesn’t remember to use his back legs to push off. There’s nothing wrong with his back legs, he just doesn’t have very muscular hips. He tries to rely on his front legs and he’ll lose traction on some surfaces. We try not to help him too much and will use kibble to get him moving. The little sneak often stretches and slithers to get the treat! It can be tough to watch him struggle. Once Blaze does stand up, his wonky leg doesn’t support his weight right away and he works to stabilize himself before he can get moving. Once outside he will run and play with reckless abandon.

Blaze is living with several greyhound Aunties and Uncles who are teaching him manners! He is drawn to the black greyhounds and he must think they’re related! To get their attention he jumps at them and for the most part they have been tolerant of his puppy antics. If not, they will tell him off and he will respectfully became submissive. He loves them though the feeling is not always mutual – standard puppy operating procedure for sure! Now that Blaze is older, his favorite Aunt and Uncle will play chase with him.

While he may be small in stature, and will always be that way, he has a BIG personality and can be quite stubborn when he wants to be. Meal time is a hoot as he tries to get us moving faster; he is very vocal when he wants something another dog has; and he wants to inspect everydoggy else’s bowl to make sure they didn’t leave anything. We feed Blaze in his crate and let him out when the other dogs have finished their meal. If the other dog steps away from their bowl for a nanosecond, he will scarf up every last morsel.

Shoes, socks and paper left on the floor are fair game! Squeaky toys are fun and balls are better - squeaky balls are the BEST! A full toy box is begging to be emptied! Any toy is fun to take outside and play with there! Most days there are at least 10 assorted balls and other toys in the yard. Being a typical kid, he loves sticks and eating mulch. Blaze has no trouble entertaining himself if other dogs aren't around.

Blaze has learned to go to the back door when he needs to go out and sometimes bark if we aren’t paying attention. We make sure he goes out when he wakes up from a nap, before a meal and after, in addition to other times during the day. We work from home so Blaze spends most of his day going from dog bed to dog bed. When we aren’t home Blaze happily follows a treat into his crate. We have a doggy cam and he will occasionally bark while we’re gone though he’s always happy and calm when we get home. The longest we’ve crated him is 4-5 hours and he has the sporadic accident on his washable crate pad. At night Blaze has the run of the house and will make little noises if he needs to go out (or if his toy rolls away). Some nights he just flat out talks in his sleep! It’s really hilarious to listen to and we even hear real words is he’s particularly chatty. It’s very endearing if you don’t mind waking up in the middle of the night.

Because of Blaze’s stability issues, we do not recommend a home with many stairs for fear he could easily lose his balance. Even playing in the backyard or roughhousing can make him stumble, and he does his best to tough it out and be a big boy. Being in a home with other dogs is best and lots of toys is a must!

Because of his vocalization, apartment life is not for him. At M&Gs he interacts nicely with smaller dogs, he does tend to jump on people and other dogs so he may be better suited with older children. Walks aren't a big deal to him, Blaze prefers to run around in the backyard playing with balls or chasing down a mini-frisbee. In the evenings Blaze likes to curl up on the couch and watch TV with us. He's getting much better at jumping on the couch, another way to strengthen his hind legs. He truly is the most photogenic and humorous little guy around.

Blaze's Foster Parents

Tweet