Ghosts of Easter Past

Today I'm writing about something that happened with our first greyhound, Treat, whom we lost almost a year ago. It's an Easter story, and one that always makes me laugh. We got Treat right after Christmas and became active with our local greyhound adoption group. Treat loved the meet and greets we went to once a month because she got to socialize with the other greyhounds.

In April, the local Petsmart allowed our group to take pictures of people's dogs with the Easter bunny and we got to keep the profits. Of course we snickered over the idea of taking our greyhound to have her picture taken with a giant bunny. How could we resist? Let me tell you, we should have.

We got Treat her first fancy new collar just in time for the pictures. We washed her and got her all dolled up for the big event. Yeah, the bath was her first tip off that it wasn't going to be the best day. Still, when we got in the car, she was excited, knowing that some grand adventure was in store for her. We arrived at Petsmart and headed inside.

As we entered, we met a new couple who had a stunning male greyhound whom we learned was named Zulu. He was a very striking dog and Treat did her best to flirt with him as we made our introductions. They had adopted from another group, but decided to have their dog's picture taken and stay to help out a bit with our group.

So, we all made our way to the side area where the pictures were to be taken. The husband walked up with Zulu and handed his leash to the giant rabbit. What happened next will forever be etched in my mind. Treat looked at the rabbit with eyes that looked like they belonged to a cartoon character. I swear that they telescoped out in shock before retracting back to their normal size and postion in her dainty little pointed noggin. She leaned in close to me and wrapped her body around my leg. At first I thought it was affection, but now I believe that she had some sense of foreboding as to what was coming.

The next thing we knew, Zulu went after the Easter Bunny with all he had. I'm not sure if he saw the dog toy of his dreams or if he had a lot of pent up hostility about the rabbits that had taunted him at the racetrack, forever out of his reach, but whatever was behind it, he didn't hold back. He leapt up and his teeth sank into the Easter Bunny's giant face. He let out a bark that sounded very ferocious. The rabbit and the dog both went to the ground in a giant ball of fur. I saw tails flying and rabbit ears go askew. Somehow, the man inside the bunny suit managed to pull the head of the costume off, or else Zulu did it for him. When the dog saw that a man had suddenly emerged in place of the rabbit of terror, he was all tail wags and playbows. He had no worries after that, and I suspect they may have snuck off later to have a drink.

Treat watched it all with a mixture of confusion and horror. She had definite ideas about how her dignity was to be maintained. I think by that point she was scared witless of the rabbit of her nightmares, but she wasn't going to show it. She did step up when Zulu was finished getting his picture and have hers taken. I wish I had it in the computer to show it, but it's one of those polaroid deals and I don't have it scanned in.

Suffice it to say, we learned some lessons that day. We also created a memory of a girl that turned out to have a larger than life personality. I still miss her every day, but I'll always think of her at Easter and laugh.