| I belong to the Greyhound List which is a wonderful resource for greyhound owners and lovers. Once in a while an adoption group posts about some dogs they have that needs homes. I love Retired Racers, the group I went through. But one day, there was a dog in one of those posts that kind of leaped out at me. I emailed the group to just ask questions and was told she had found a home already. So I didn't think about it anymore. Mom came to visit me and we went up to the ranch so she could meet the Browns and their wonderful dogs. Nothing worked out right away but we are big believers of when it is meant to be, it will happen. Well, I got an email one day about this dog. Her new home didn't work out, were we still interested? Well, we felt like this probably meant she was supposed to live with us so we said yes and then prepared for the Greyt Greyhound Adventure. Angelica was with A Place For us Greyhounds in New Mexico so we had a bit of a trek ahead of us. We also agreed to transport a puppy from New Mexico to my home in Pasadena and his new family would come up from San Diego for him.
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Mom flew to Pasadena and we rented a car, packed up Sapphire and headed out to New Mexico. We drove 12 hours the first day to Gallup, NM and then the next day drove 2 hours further to Albuquerque to meet the ladies with A Place for us Greyhounds! What a couple of neat ladies! And got to hang with a bunch of greys. Is there anything more fun? Fell in love with B.J., who owns Elaine. B.J. is a big goofy guy that truly fits the bill for the dog my brothers have always wanted so they could name him Shecky. Don't ask me why they have this plan... :-) But I have to admit, B.J. did act like a Shecky. Angelica turned out to be a gorgeous butter-colored lady with Dutch Bahama eyes and a multi-colored snout that has a pink polka dot on the end! We had been told Angelica could be shy but we felt like we had a good situation for a shy dog and wanted to help a special needs hound. After a couple of very enjoyable hours (I could have hung out sitting on that front lawn with the dogs all afternoon), we waved good bye and hit the road in a car packed with Greyhounds. We were driving straight through to Phoenix! |
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 many potty walks | The ride was tough, keeping a pup occupied, worrying about the hot hounds (sun beating right down on my black girl!) and taking frequent potty breaks. But it really went well. First of all, the girls in the back seat were very sweet about letting the pup crawl all over them and it seemed to make him feel better to go back with them often. The scenery was really cool and I'm sorry we didn't have time to stop at some of the funny old tourist stops. The freeway runs parallel to old Route 66 so there were some fun old curiosity museums and Trading Posts. We did make one quick stop and Mom ran in to get pretty Indian blankets for each girl. The pup had taken over a pretty piece of blue fleece I had gotten with the new dog in mind. We got home exhausted but all the dogs were very happy to be out of the car and meeting the pack that lives at my Mom's house. Angelica did fantastic those first few days. Friendly with everyone, checking everything out. Not a trace of what I would call a shy dog at all. The closest to shy we would see is a head duck and a graceful exit to the gazebo in the back yard. Finally, someone said "I vant to be alone" when she did that and we all just stopped and looked at each other. That was it. That was exactly what she was saying. So we dubbed her Garbo. It fit, and she answered to it right away. |
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Now the pup is with his new home and doing spectacular, Sapphire is back with me in Pasadena, and Ms. Garbo is settling in with Mom. At first, she would be fine in the morning, but in the evening started hiding behind a chair in my Mom's room. Then she wouldn't come out from behind that chair at all except for food. Slowly they have had breakthroughs. They discovered she loves walks, so she and the other dogs (all mutts) go for walks in the evening and it perks her up a little. She and Mom have come for a couple short visits to see me and Sapphire and she does wonderful then. Each new adventure is a little challenge at the time, but afterwards, she seems to gain a lot of confidence. She has taken over Mom's bed and is totally devoted to her. Kind of a one-woman dog.
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