I worked from home this week so Sapphire and I could "bond" with each other. She spends most of her time looking amazed. The first night I invited her up on the bed with me. She got up and went to sleep on the other side of the bed. About 4 hours later she got up and looked at me like she had had a revelation. Then she snuggled and gazed up at me as if I was the most magnificent thing on Earth. It was like she discovered love.

Ahhhh! This bed thing ain't bad!

She is underweight and a little battered. She has the standard bare rump where the hair rubbed off in the kennel (pretty common for racers coming off the track) but she also has such a bony tail that the hair rubbed off along each bone so it looks like her tail is striped but really those are bare patches. I can see evidence of old injuries now healed and she has terrible dandruff. Most the greyhounds I have seen are in a little better shape than this. Especially the ones that Retired Racers has had a while. They take phenomenal care of the dogs, but October is massacre month (the racing season is over so a lot of dogs get put down) so they had a full kennel with more dogs on the way. They knew I was ready for a dog and I had already passed the screening so they gave her to me quickly. It was all only cosmetic tho', they never adopt out sick or hurt dogs. So I can fix what is going on with Sapphire. Love and attention is the antidote for her right now. I have taken her on a long walk everyday; worried about her activity level but she mainly wants to

sleep. She has a lot of running dreams. She runs hard in them, not just the "chasing rabbits" most dogs have but legs-pumping-mouth-open dreams. I have been on the receiving end of those pumping legs a couple times during the night. Rather rude way to be woken up. Between that and the trips out to go potty every few hours have left me with very little sleep. She also started "cockroaching" almost immediately. I'm learning the greyhound vocabulary. Cockroaching is when the dog rolls over on their back and sleeps. They do look like big dead bugs with all those legs up in the air.

Towards the end of the week I tried to start leaving for a few minutes at a time. She did OK, but when I tried to leave for more than 15 minutes she would let out this pathetic little howl. Not loud, but really sad. I did have one day at the end of the week where I had to be at an all-day class so I investigated doggie daycare and I think I found a good place. She seemed a little confused, but not unhappy about all the other dogs. I thought this was a great way to start getting her used to other breeds. She will be going home with me for the holidays and there are 5 other dogs there of various breeds. I want her to be comfortable with them and have fun. When I came to pick her up she looked surprised to see me. "You are back? You came back for me? I thought this was where I was going to live now."

It has been an interesting week though as we learn about each other. She sleeps with her eyes open so I can see that white second eyelid. Toys I give her she buries in the sofa. And the cat terrorizes her. He has no claws but he so enjoys hiding and jumping out at her and making her yelp. The bathroom mirrors seem to amaze her. She goes right up to them, her eyeball right against the mirror and looks in like she is looking through some peephole. She also gets up on her hind legs to look in the mirror over the sink. Like there must be more in that other room. There is too much going on. All the new stuff. I try to keep her in sight all the time since everything else makes me a little nervous. But anytime I feel unsure she hugs and kisses me and makes me feel like things are OK. There is so much food. I eat it as fast as I can and have found more tidbits in round containers in the kitchen. Also on the counter. I take everything I can and if I can't eat it right away I hide it for later. Home ����������������Next

Grant waiting for her to do that crazy running thing