When I asked about her I learned that she was racing Grade A and winning enough to be moved to Gulf Greyhound when Fishdog left Birmingham.  I was so excited for her as Gulf is my “home track”.  I spent many a Thursday there enjoying 50 cent hotdogs and beer and dollar margaritas while watching some of the greatest dogs I’ve ever seen run.  I was in love with Slatex Shell, who turns out to be  Denim Day’s Grand-Dam.

Well, she has run her last race and is headed back to Birmingham to await our arrival.  We will be picking her up on Sunday and welcoming her into a pack that has taken on a young new spirit.  Stay tuned.

But life has settled down, and we have had numerous requests to get things started again, so now it’s time to blog.  The new year – well, technically we’re starting at the end of the year, but whatever – will bring a plethora of greyhound stories, medical updates, features, photos, and a handful of other surprises we have up our sleeves.  Never let it be said that we aren’t ambitious in this undertaking, but also never let it be said that we would rather blog than spend time with the pack.  So while we’ll try to ensure at least one post per day, don’t shoot us if we miss a day here and there.

So enjoy the new site, freak out a little, and then go play with your own hounds.  You don’t want them to get jealous, do you?

…Ken

After lengthy discussions with the adoption group, we decided that she would be a great fit in our pack. They also decided that she could benefit from the pack. So Heather drove to Connecticut and picked up our new baby!!! We named her Stella.

Stella is a bit of a spook. Not with the hounds, but definitely with us humans. She loves hanging out with the pack and follows them wherever they go, but let one of us even look at her and she’s outta’ there! (Actually, she’s already making dramatic improvements with that. I can now approach her slowly and she’ll let me.) She made the trip just fine and upon arriving home instantly bonded with the pack members. She explored every nook and cranny of the house and then explored every square inch of the back yard. She loves her new home and the hounds love their new playmate.

We feel blessed to have her in our home and look forward to years and years of love and laughs with her.

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.

Taipan had a troubled past. When he couldn’t make the grade on the Texas tracks he was sent to Caliente Race Track in Tijuana, Mexico. After a short career he was retired and returned to Texas. His first adoptive family moved to Michigan, but returned him when their jobs forced them to move, ironically, to Mexico. Caesar’s second adopters returned him quickly with an “aggressive” label after he attacked their small dog. His third adopters returned him with the label “needs constant companions” after he didn’t adapt to the their crating methods.  I’ve always been good with dogs, so I figured I would be able to handle such a troubled case.

When I arrived at the foster home, Taipan was too shy to approach me.  But a new arrival – RJs Parsberg – was more than happy to greet me.  She had arrived the day before my visit, a three time bounce herself.  Her latest bounce was caused by her dislike (and subsequent lung-puncturing) of the family Yorkie.  After a few minutes of giving her the attention she demanded of me, I was determined to meet Taipan.  The easiest way to handle it was to let both of them out to the backyard.  Parsberg ran around the yard like a track star; Taipan sullenly moped about as though his purpose had long since passed.  So I did what any dog-lover would’ve done.  I offered to adopt them both.

Taipan became Caesar.  (For the uninitiated, the name is pronouced like Kaiser.)  I believe that dogs will let you know their real names if you just listen hard enough.  Caesar was telling me from the moment we arrived home that he would someday rule a great pack.  And in time, he would.

Parsberg became Kali.  Truly the goddess of creation and destruction.  A true alpha, a divine spirit, and a destroyer of socks left on the floor.

Some people adopt their first greyhound and takes months or years before adopting their second.  I adopted first and second on the same day.  And from that moment I have always known that greyhounds were my true calling.