What would drive a person to return a 12 year old greyhound after living with her for EIGHT years?  The “official” answer was that the family had just moved into a new house and the greyhound peed on their new carpet.  And while it would have been easy to rage against such a heartless betrayal, my only concern was to help the greyhound.  So I let the adoption group know that I would do whatever I could to help.  And to them, that meant adopting the greyhound.  (It should be noted that I didn’t make an official offer to adopt, I just wanted to help – fostering, financial help, whatever they could use.  Funny how things work out.)

Annie was a 12 year old in need of a new home and I had a home in need of an old Annie.  I suffered my first greyhound loss about a month earlier – Kali had developed osteosarcoma in her neck and I had no time to prepare for her loss.  I hadn’t immediately thought about adopting another greyhound; Caesar seemed like he should be okay as a lone greyhound, but he went into mourning almost immediately and never really seemed to recover.  So an old lady might be just what he needed.

I first saw Annie in the back of an SUV in the middle of a parking lot somewhere in northern Virginia.  I knew immediately that the pain I had felt for Kali would be healed by the love I felt instantly for this girl. The light in her eyes told me that she felt the same way. When we got home I wondered how Caesar would react. He sniffed her for a few minutes, peed right in the middle of the living room, and jumped up on the couch. As far as he was concerned, she was okay. (He’s a bit touched in the head.)

The life she brought to Caesar was inspiring enough, but the life she still had in her was just plain remarkable. Approaching 13 years old, and a scant 51 pounds, Annie still had the attitude of a 6 year old. It seems that this little ball of fluff had a successful career in West Virginia, and that winning attitude wasn’t going anywhere!  But a quick trip to the vet to check on her less-than-acceptable dental health revealed a more serious issue: her kidneys were showing signs of failure.  My vet consulted a vet friend and they decided that we should pull some of Annie’s rotting teeth, that the bacteria she was swallowing on a daily basis could be contributing to her kidney problems.  So my brand new 12 year old girl underwent an extraction surgery and lost 6 teeth .  60 days later a new kidney test revealed that it had worked!  During that time she had solidified her presence in my pack (Prajna had joined in the meantime) and in my heart.

Never count the old ones out.

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