Intro to Greyhound 101

I am a dog lover. Loved my mutt, Mico, and his parents, Spot and Brownie. Mico looked like a chocolate lab, he was very muscular and handsome. He ate on my palm when he was just a weeks-old puppy, waited for me to come home from school so we could play, scared most of our younger dogs so he could take their food, and terrorized would-be trespassers with his big-voiced bark. We have a big yard and that was his kingdom and he protected it with all his might. He loved the ripe mangoes that fell on the ground and almost anything that we gave him. Then he got sick, he was retaining water so we had to give him water pills. He passed away several years later.....he was 11 y/o. I never got interested in dogs again. It's painful when you lose them....

I became a cat lover (or owned by cats whichever way you put it) when I got married. Husband has adopted 2 wonderful strays (my cat-in- laws)when he was still single....We were planning to adopt a lab someday (we're concerned about upsetting the "balance/peace/harmony" between our 2 middle-aged male cats) like my SIL's beautiful black lab, B....someday, like 10 years from now.

But late 2006, husband & I met our new neighbor's greyhound, T. She is a retired racer (greyhound). We liked her instantly because 1) she is very friendly, 2) she doesn't bark, 3) she has a very regal stance (like a royalty) that commands respect. Everytime she goes on a walk with her people, she would pull them towards our direction and say HI with her trademark happy greyhound face. Husband & I look forward to seeing her everyday and we just couldn't get enough of that greyhound "energy". Then one spring day, husband & I were asked to walk/check on T while her people visit a sick relative. That day was the start of an amazing journey.

After almost a year of researching (what dog breed really fits our personalities & lifestyle) & reading (mostly by husband), several books (If Only They Could Talk, Bones Would Rain From The Sky, Cynthia Branigan's Adopting The Racing Greyhound, How to Be the Leader of the Pack, Playtraining Your Dog, and a couple more I can't remember), and several walks with T, we got our very own retired racer, H. She is 2 1/2 y/o, black female with white tuxedo chest.

Four months into being a greyhound "mom", just as H was easing out from her separation anxiety, husband asked me what I think about fostering/adopting a second greyhound so H will have a brother or a sister. They were raised and trained as pack animals. One and a half months later, we got L. He is a handsome 2 y/o fawn male with very expressive face.

And this will be what this blog is all about -giving these wonderful and very intelligent dogs a second chance in life .....