One Berry, Two Berry, Pick Me A Blueberry!

Recently someone asked how Blueberry came to live with us after we already had her mother. Since we haven't begun our vacation adventures just yet, I thought I'd go ahead and tell the story of how she came to be with us. Blueberry and her mother both retired at the same time. Blueberry didn't make it out of her maiden races and Lilac had weaned her last litter of puppies. They came together on a haul from the farm in Kansas. Originally, we were supposed to foster Blueberry, but one of the other foster families was interested in fostering with intent to adopt and they really liked Blue. I didn't mind not fostering her. As a matter of fact, I was happy to take her mother home instead. I figured a senior hound who'd had two litters of puppies deserved a soft bed to lay on.

Months went by. Blueberry was adopted by another lady who had cats. She had a lot of cats who were all Cornish Rex. She knew a breeder who would give them to her if they weren't show quality. We met her out several times and she was thrilled to have Blueberry see her mother again. That fall, the woman had to have surgery and she asked if we'd be willing to watch Blueberry while she recovered. We were no longer fostering greyhound because the inn was full, but we thought it would be fun to see how Blueberry and Lilac were together and we knew that it would only be for a short time. We agreed to have her stay here with us. The adoption coordinator lived a few blocks down the street from us, so I picked her up there and walked her home. She seemed a bit shell shocked, but when she saw a cat in our yard, she relaxed a great deal. She was just two and a half years old.

A month went by and the lady still hadn't said she was ready for Blue to come home. We went on vacation to Dewey beach and took her with us. She had a great time and she was getting quite attached to my husband. Everyone enjoyed meeting her. When we got home, the woman began to hem and haw, saying she wasn't sure if she could take Blueberry back home or not. Blue went to stay with her for a weekend and then we went to pick her back up. Her eyes were beet red. She couldn't get close enough to us and she stayed glued to us while we made pleasantries with the woman. We packed her up and took her back home with us.

I took her to the vet and we learned that Blueberry was allergic to cats. I had to laugh at the irony. She loved cats and thought they were great friends. We got some eye drops for her and went home, waiting to hear from the woman. Finally, in December, I was out walking her and our other hounds past the coordinator's house and she told me she had something me. She handed me some papers and said that the woman had decided that she couldn't keep Blueberry, but that she wanted her to stay with her mother. I was thrilled to keep her with us, because by then she'd gotten very attached to us, particularly my husband. We'd also worked hard to train some bad behaviors out of her that the woman had taught her. She was a lot of work, but we adored her.



Several times over the years, we've run into the woman who first adopted her. Blueberry has made it clear that she wants nothing to do with her. She sticks to my husband or me like velcro in those instances and she's been very clingy for days afterward when it's happened. I'm not quite sure why it affects her like it does. I don't think that she was mistreated there, but she very obviously wants to be with us, which is just fine with me. We love our Miss Almost Perfect!