Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It's finally happened here at our house.  The deluge of the summer and fall seems to have ended and a cold snap has suddenly invaded.  Today we had snow flurries dancing in the air and it felt like winter was upon us.  Of course, this means that the greyhounds now need to be bundled up to go outside to the turn out pen. 

When I bring out the coats, three wiggling, tail-wagging greyhounds line up and we spend a few minutes wrestling them into their outerwear.  There are times when we run them out quickly without coats, but usually we put them on.  We face a dilemma that's not uncommon to greyhound owners, and probably other short-coated breeds of dogs as well.  If we bundle them up, they will sniff around out in the dog pen forever, but never take care of business.  If we don't bundle them up, they stand out there hunched up, refusing to move and waiting for us to come out and bring them back into the house.  As usual with greyhounds, there's no winning!

Today is the first day we've cracked out the greyhound coats.  True to form, the girls went outside and looked pathetic even while they were all bundled up.  It hasn't been a gradual transition to cold weather.  The cold came on overnight.  The girls seem to believe that we ordered up this cold weather as some kind of cruel greyhound joke.  Yet, it's they who seem to get the last laugh. 

This evening, I took the three of them out, left them in privacy to do what they needed to do, then went back out.  A few minutes after I took off the coats, Lilac wanted to go back outside.

Me:  You were just out there!

Lilac:  I didn't have to go then.  I have to go now.

Me:  It's still going to be cold.

Lilac:  Let's go outside and see if your theory is correct. 

Me:  You'd better take care of business this time!  (At this point, I put her coat back on and mine as well.)

Lilac:  At least you're trainable.

A short time later, we were back in the house.  Bunny looked at me.  She wagged her tail and danced around.

Me:  Bunny, we were just out!

Bunny:  Lilac got to go twice!

Me:  Because she didn't go the first time!

Bunny:  I think I forgot to do something, too.

Me:  You didn't forget!  You were busy working on that hole to China again!

Bunny:  It's the only way I'm going to get there.  I couldn't get a passport.

Me:  I'm shutting you off the internet!  (I dutifully put her coat back on, along with my own, and we go back out.)

Lilac:  Since you're going back out, I need to go again.

Me:  You were just out -- TWICE!

Lilac:  I feel the urge.  You're already going out there!

Me:  How can you feel the urge again?

Lilac:  I'm old, I get confused easily! 

Me:  (grumbling)  Fine!  Blueberry, you might as well join us, too!

Blueberry:  I wanted to go out by myself!  It gets too crowded out there! 

Me:  It's now or never!

Blueberry sighed and got off the couch.  We all went back outisde.  I stood out there shivering, watching to make sure that something really happened this time.  After all is settled, we go back inside.  Blueberry began to rub against the back of the couch in an attempt to get her coat off.  After removing Bunny and Lilac's coats I tracked Blue down and wrestled her out of hers.  Finally, I sat down and curled up under a blanket.  Blueberry curled up at the other end of the couch.  Bunny, who had been a frozen little statue outside developed a case of the indoor zoomies and began to run all over the living room.  Inevitably, she jumped up on the couch between Blueberry and me.  She was leaning against me, but still wiggling like mad.  Next, some static shocked her and she let out the greyhound scream of death.  It's truly something that will frighten the beejeezus out of you.  She leapt off the couch and turned to look at Blueberry accusingly.  I tried to coax her back up on the couch with me, but then Blueberry stood up and moved over to curl up against me.  Bunny looked at her, then went off to curl up on the comfy dog bed, while occasionally casting the hairy eyeball at Blueberry.  Apparently, I needed cold weather to become a hot commodity!

A Short Public Service Announcement

This blog entry is a bit of a departure from what I usually write.  I'm writing to help draw attention to a friend's blog to help get her husband's canine partner retired.  July works in Saint Louis as a bomb sniffing dog.  Her human partner is retiring at the end of this month.  Initially, they thought July would retire with Herman, but a couple of months ago they found out that July was not going to be retired, but reassigned to a new partner.

Her family is devastated.  They have been trying to find a way to contact someone who can help them in their plight to get July retired.  At this point, word of mouth might really help them, so if you can contact people, suggest people to her family that might be able to help, or just to spread the word about July, her family would be extremely grateful.  They aren't expecting that July would just be retired early and that all the money that went into her training would be forgotten.  Her family is willing to pay part of the expense that went into her training to buy out her retirement.  So, during the holiday season, while we're all in the spirit of giving and looking forward to time together with our families, be they human, canine or other, if you could help to be July's angel it would be most appreciated.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

As the Christmas season begins to envelop us, I am reminded of the first year that my husband and I celebrated Christmas with greyhounds.  The year before had been the first year we'd celebrated Christmas in our new house, but there had been a blizzard every weekend of December and it had been too treacherous for us to venture out to get a Christmas tree.  We barely managed to get our Christmas shopping done.  Treat was our Christmas present to ourselves that year and she came home on December 30.  She would have experienced a Christmas tree if the weather gods had been more favorable, but as it was, she and Hawk celebrated their first Christmas together in our house with a tree at the end of the next year.

I can remember the look on Hawk's face as we'd brought the tree into the living room.  His eyes said "You love me so much, you got me indoor plumbing" but we informed him that it wasn't the case and life started off rather smoothly.  This Christmas tree was particularly difficult to get set up in the stand, but we persevered and were soon rewarded with a rather nice-looking tree in our living room.  Charlie Brown would have been envious.  The cats seemed to have more interest in the tree than the dogs did and we soon relaxed about having any accidents or problems. 

About a week before Christmas, my husband and I went out shopping together.  We had packed in a busy day and had picked up a few toys for the dogs while we were out.  One of those was a stuffed snowman that sang "Jingle Bells" that I thought Hawk would really like.  As we were wrapping up our shopping, we got a phone call that my husband's great grandmother was in the hospital.  We ran home, since we were shopping in a different city from where she was hospitalized, and fed the dogs and let them out.  While we were home, I couldn't resist giving Hawk the new toy.  His eyes lit up and his tail went into helicopter circles.  The toy incited him into a near rapturous state as he pounced on it and tossed it around.  We left the house again, satisfied that the dogs were taken care of for the next few hours and went to visit at the hospital. 

When we came home, my husband said "The Christmas tree is gone."  I thought he was joking, which he nearly always is, and laughed it off.  However, when we entered the back door, I knew that something was terribly wrong.  Instead of two happy hounds at the back door, we were greeted by silence.  Treat and Hawk came creeping across the kitchen floor looking so guilty and terrified that I could not imagine what had happened.  As I walked into the living room, I learned the truth.

Our Christmas tree lay on the ground, a strand of white lights trailing in a straight line towards the kitchen door.  Ornaments were scattered across the living room floor.  The candles on the coffee table were broken and hanging off the edge of the table.  Two of the crocheted ornaments that had been hanging on the tree had been attacked by Treat in a fit of retribution and had been left chewed and gummy.  My husband took them out to the turn out pens and then brought them into the garage while we cleaned up the carnage.  Half an hour later, we had righted the tree, cleaned up the ornaments, run the vaccuum and brought the dogs back in.  We imagine that Hawk was playing with the snowman, tossed it into the tree or beneath it, then got caught in the lights as he tried to retrieve it, setting off the chain of events.

The next morning we noticed that the tree was listing to the side.  By afternoon it had to be readjusted and we could see that there were some pretty deep scars in the trunk from the fall the night before.  We got out some pieces of plywood and stuck them in between the tree and the screws from the tree stand.  That helped for a few days.  Then the cat decided that he should pee on the tree.  That smelled bad enough, but then the wood began to rot.  The day after Christmas, we drug the dilapidated tree to the curb and everyone breathed a sigh of relief for their own reasons.  We couldn't stand the smell, the cats didn't like it blocking their afternoon sunshine and the dogs didn't like the way it kept looking at them funny.  We laugh about that tree every year as we get ready to set up one for the new season.

Wordless Wednesday 12/2 -- Everybody Smile For the Christmas Photo (How Many Tries Does It Take?)

A Tale of Two Sisters

I was surprised this week to find out that one of Bunny's sisters had been bounced by the woman who'd adopted her.  I was in contact with the woman when we adopted Bunny because she was supposed to adopt Bunny and the sister from the breeder when they retired from racing.  She found out that Bunny had been sent to the adoption kennel and called the day after we adopted Bunny.  We got an e-mail from her and we replied, explaining that we'd recently lost a beloved greyhound and that Bunny would be working as a therapy dog after some adjustment time and training.  She seemed content to know that Bunny was in a good home.  A few months later, the sister was retired from racing and she drove out to the Midwest from the East coast and took her home. 

One thing that was mentioned several times was that Bunny and her sister were very attached to each other.  They were always together, from what I've been told.  We asked several times for pictures of the sister, but never got a reply.  After a while, we sort of shrugged it off and figured we'd go on and never see her or hear much about her.  Today, when I saw her name on Greytalk, my stomach sank.  Sure enough, when I opened the thread, I saw a picture of a beautiful hound who had to be related to Bunny.  Apparently, the woman who adopted her relinquished all her greyhounds to an adoption group.  She got her dogs from breeders and through other sort of quiet means after being placed on a list of people not to be adopted to.  My heart told me that I should just start driving to Conneticut and beg to bring her back here, but I know we can't do that.  She is almost as beautiful as Bunny and I'm sure that she will get a home in no time.  Actually, I've heard that several people have already inquired about her.  I sincerely hope that she has a new wonderful home who will adore her as much as we adore Bunny before Christmas.

As I learned more of the story about what happened, my heart sank.  If not for a few twists of fate, Bunny could have been left in the same situation.  Tonight, as she lays cuddled up against me on the couch, content to have us home and dreaming of Christmas toys and treats, I want to hold her a little closer, stroke her velvet fur a bit more often and just adore her for the wonderful, special little dog she is.  It's funny how fickle fate can be and I'm very grateful tonight that she was kind to us and our girl.  We hope that she smiles on Valentina as well.