Family Projects

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(12/13/07)

Nash Requests a Companion

Irene and I adopted our Greyhound "Nash" last January, and he is a very sociable guy. Although we spend quite a bit of time with him, he is very smart, and thus easily bored. Perhaps for that reason, he has been asking us to help him find a "buddy". Also, other Greyhound owners have said owning two is easier than one, as they keep each other company.

Here's Nash, daydreaming about his ideal companion...

Here he is at the dog park, spying some other dogs in a lake he wants to check out...

and getting to meet some of them...

Here's Nash listening to a practice session of romantic viola music (one of his favorite activities). He often starts by lying down several feet away, then gradually moves over until he is touching Irene's feet.

Checking Out Some Options

Last Saturday, we took Nash to the home of Mid-South Greyhound Adoption Option on the grounds of Southland Park. That's where we adopted him. They currently have 26 available. Over a one-hour period, agency director Vickie Cohen brought each of four dogs from the kennel into the office/kitchen area where we could check them out.

Click the photo below to see a video of Nash visiting with a male dog, Takota--who played with a chew toy during most of their visit...

(This is a 16 MB file, so it can take a while to download. I recommend saving it to your hard drive first, so your first viewing will be smoother. To do this, use your mouse's right-click button to click on the image, then choose "Save Target As" from the menu that appears. Then specify which folder to put it in--"My Pictures", "My Videos" or "Desktop", etc...) Windows should prompt you to open the file when it's finished downloading.

Meeting Miss Right

When I asked Vickie how to determine which dog would be best, she said Nash's personality would allow him to get along with pretty much any of them after an adjustment period, and that the choice should be based on our preference. She said she favored Angel, Felicity or Miss Silver. We had seen the first two, so Miss Silver was next. She turned out to be the most compatible with all three of us. We decided to commit to bringing her home, and will do that this Saturday, now that she has fully recovered from her manadatory spaying surgery.

Here's a photo linking to a video of their first meeting. (This one's really big (25 MB), so expect a long download time...)

Miss Silver is currently at her "racing weight" of 66 lbs, which is 5-7 lbs lighter than she'll weigh when she adjusts to home life. Nash went from 78 to about 83 lbs. He is still all muscle, since he takes Irene for two brisk walks each day, and regularly romps around in our backyard.

Cavorting In the Sun

After they were introduced inside, Vickie put a muzzle on Miss Silver before letting her out to play with Nash, in case she didn't yet know how to play carefully. This is a common practice when Greyhounds are together before they've been tested and trained to be around other animals without one. Even a small, playful nip can apparently turn into a nasty wound, since their skin is so thin & has little fat underneath.

Here's a video of Nash chasing Miss Silver in the yard outside the kennel.

Here's the lovely lady looking in the mirror for the very first time. Actually, this was after she tried desparately to get into the mirror for several minutes, sniffing the "other" dog's nose up and down from floor to standing height while "it" tried to do the same with her. This mirror was actually a gift from Irene to the agency, after she heard Vickie saying she wished they had one to help get the dogs adjusted before visiting their new homes for the first time.

Click the photo to see a larger version...

After we bring Miss Silver home, we'll post a video of Nash showing her around our backyard. Meanwhile, if you'd like to check out the options for adopting your own ex-racer, visit http://www.adopt-a-greyhound.org/

See y'all later!

Jeff