Dawson & More Snow

We recently had an ice storm come through. The kids love the snow. But ICE... That’s another story. I think the look on Stella’s face says it all. She is disgusted at the fact that we made her go potty under those conditions. Looks like she is waiting for us to cut a path to her favorite potty spot. With their higher center of gravity, the greys are not nearly as sure-footed on the ice as Parker.

In between the ice storm and the recent snow storm, we had a bit of a lull. That did not stop this guy from from running his dualie truck into the ditch. I was woken up on Saturday to the sound of screeching tires and a loud dull thunk. Then spinning tires. I look outside and what do I see? Looks like he tried to take the right turn a bit too early and landed in the ditch. Don’t think it’s too easy to rip the rear end off of a dualie truck, but as the picture shows, the rear end ain’t really connected to the truck anymore.

We have been babysitting Dawson (Italian V) this past week. He is such a love bug. When he wasn't napping, he was chewing on bones, eviscerating stuffies, or chowing down on his food. He is probably the most food-motivated grey we’ve seen. He needed a little fattening up, and we were happy to oblige. It was fun just watching him woof his food down.

What was supposed to be a ‘flurry’ turned out to be probably the best snow of the season so far. As you’ll see in the following pics, the kids are thoroughly enjoying it. It was a nice wet snow which gave the kids plenty of traction for ripping around the yard.

I am being charged by Stella, Lucas and Dawson

Here are all four of the kids running around. Parker even got in on the action.


Stella is practicing her final leap for the finish line for when she makes her triumphant return back to the track someday.

Does Lucas enjoy running in the snow? Just look at that crazed look of enjoyment on his face.

After all the running, Stella thought it necessary to regain her dignity by posing for a regal shot.

Ripley & Ming
We had unexpected guests Saturday night. We got a call that a fellow VAGA member was in a car accident. We went and picked her up and watched her furkids for the night while she went to check on her husband at the hospital. He was later released with a minor concussion. We are already watching Murphy for a week. Kris’ dad is in Florida for his annual fishing trip this time of year. So we had our crew, Murphy, and Ripley (grey) and Ming (Pekingese). Aubry was also spending the night, so we again had a house full. Ripley is about two and Ming is about one and a half. Much younger than our crew.
Ming was a bundle of energy and wanted to play with everyone.
In this shot, Ming is playing with Parker and Ripley decides to get in on the action. Ming was also trying to play with Murphy. Funny to see Murphy getting a taste of his own medicine. Murphy is always the obnoxious one bothering everyone else.
Jason and Trina got a new grill. I’m looking forward to the pictures. Jason was out in the cold on Sunday assembling it. It’s a stainless steel 4-burner with rotisserie and side burner. Looking forward to some nice cookouts. Jason will have fun breaking that sucker in.
With no fosters for a week, Noah has been out and about. At one point this weekend, we were taking a nap with Stella, Lucas, Parker, Murphy and Noah. That’s two people, two greys, two medium size mutts, and a kitty cat on a king-size bed.
Here is a pic of Noah snuggling with Stella.
In the last shot, Stella looks like she has a tumor in the shape of a cat head.

Debbie's Newest Granddaughter

        Let me just start by saying that I am so glad that neither Stella nor Lucas have any offspring. Kris would be obsessed with tracking them down and adopting as many as we could. We check on the greyhound database periodically to see if any of their siblings have been adopted out. No luck so far. Stella was one of eight. Lucas was one of two pups. He’s such a big boy, that there wasn’t room for any more. Trina’s Dana was one of seven, and greyhound database says four of them have been adopted out. Guess it’s luck of the draw.
        Now on to Debbie. She has opened the bag one more time and ‘chipped’ again. Her Ally had 14 offspring. Now Debbie has two of them. LnL Fast Ali now known as Leah, and the newest addition is LnL Fast Lori.
LnL Fast Jake is in the same town with a fellow VAGA member. Now that makes five greyhounds and Toby. And Crystal the cat. That beats our two greys, Parker, and three kitties. Sounds like a game of furkid poker. This last pic is of one of Debbie’s kids, Dream.
As you can see in the pic, she has a serious overbite. Doesn’t she look cute in her pj’s.

2 -2 +1 = 1 & Greyhound Tattoos

        I was at a meeting all last week in Orlando for work. When I left, we had Jassy Gal and KB’s Road Test. They both went to new homes while I was gone. But I returned to a new foster, Blue Boy, soon to be renamed by his forever home as Chatham Blue. His new family has met with him already, and he will be officially adopted this weekend. So my kids have this week to teach him the ropes. Here is a picture that Trina took of Blue in her backyard this weekend while we were down there for the Super Bowl. I was going to take some pics, but I was so worn out from my meeting that I ended up taking a nap. By the time I woke up, it was almost dark. Luckily, Trina had gotten some good pics of the kids in the yard. Check it out at FastGreyz. I’ve been slacking on my photography duties lately.
        On Saturday, I helped Aubry get a new car. She had previously owned a Honda Civic and was leaning that way. I am a Toyota man, so I tried to get her to buy a Toyota. Either a Corolla or Matrix. Kris had previously had a Matrix, and she really like it. Since we didn’t need three cars, we ended up selling it. Aubry test drove an ‘03 Civic and liked it. Then we went to the Toyota dealer, and she test drove a Matrix. It was a fully loaded ‘05. With a little bit of haggling, we drove off the lot a little bit later with a shiny Toyota. It would have been two shiny Toyotas, but my 4Runner is quite dirty right now. It was quite funny to see the sales guys coveting my ‘98 4Runner because it’s a Limited with only 65,500 miles on it. They are always thinking of the resale value.
        Trina and Kris both got tatoos this weekend. Of what? What else would two greyhound cult members get? Tattoos of greyhounds, of course. Trina got one of an outline of a running greyhound. Kris got one of a VAGA-designed greyhound with a heart tail. Check out more pics of them at FastGreyz.


She also got one of an apple in memory of her mother who was an elementary school teacher. There are more shots of the tatoos on FastGreyz. It’s not that I was too chicken to get one. I just can’t decide on a design. Once I do, I will get one too. Stella votes that her daddy gets a tattoo of her portrait with a heart outline around it. She’s such a queen.

First MnG of the Year, Fosters Jassy and Roady

        We had our first Meet ‘n Greet of the Year. It was held at a brand new PetSmart in Fredericksburg. We had quite the turnout with about 20+ greyhounds. I love the fact that we always have a great turnout. I think it’s because it’s as much a meet ‘n greet for the furkids as it is for the humans. Of course I forgot to take my camera with me. Trina brought hers, so she has a couple of pics on her blog, Fastgreyz. Here is one of those pics of my Stella and Lucas. Some people think we are being cruel by putting a hat on Stella. Unlike Lucas and Parker who actively try to remove any headpiece we put on them, Stella will actually seek you out if you are holding one of her hats.
        We went from zero to two fosters in one weekend. We got Jassy Gal on Saturday. She’s a sweet girl. Kinda built like our Lucas. Stocky body with a big head.
She’s just come around to using the dog beds. Not quite to the stage of squeaky toys. She has a serious case of happy tail. Both Stella and Lucas have broken their tail and sprayed blood everywhere from too much happy tail. She was just spayed this past week, so I’m sure her personality will change as she starts to feel better.
        Our second foster, KB’s Road Test was a surprise. He had also come up over the weekend, but his foster home decided they couldn’t foster more than a day. So off he comes to ‘Hotel Park’. He is quite a handsome fella. Also very rambunctious. He always seems hungry. He’s either countersurfing for food or sticking his head in other kids bowls after he’s done woofing down his food. He will be going on a home visit this week, so he may have a new home by the time I get back from my week-long meeting in Orlando.
        I will be in Orlando all week. Just minutes from the Sanford-Orland track and GPA rescue kennel where we get our dogs. But I hear that they have after-hours activities planned for us every day. So probably won’t be able to sneak out to watch the doggies run. Oh well.

Whip Cream & Snow Zoomies, Both Fluffy & White

        We’ve been fosterless for a couple of weeks now. You can see it in Stella’s face as she relaxes on the couch. No new greys to boss around, ahem, I mean, show the ropes. This has given our kids a chance to bond with each other again.
I removed the blanket off Stella and Parker to find this. Parker had been snuggling with the dangerous end of Stella. Stella is known for her ETS and being gassy. Parker was definitely taking his chances on this one.
        We tried an experiment with whip cream and the kids. Sometimes we stick peanut butter to the roofs of their mouths just to watch them walk around trying to lick it off. How would they do with whip cream? We first tried to shoot it on their noses, but that didn’t quite work out a planned. So we shot some out in our hands, then smothered their noses with it.
Lucas’ tongue had a mind of its own in search of the elusive whip cream.
Stella is going cross-eyed in her attempt to focus on the white stuff on the end of her nose.
Without any fosters, Noah has come upstairs to see what is going on. Whip cream is what is going on. Taking a nap nowadays includes Stella, Lucas, Parker and Noah. He likes to lay on my chest and purr while I nap. Sometimes I wake up to see his cute little face. Sometimes I wake up to his other end.
        Some greys don’t like snow. Our kids love it. They were getting frisky a good hour before the snow actually fell. They knew it was coming and couldn’t wait to get somma that action. They know that it would be all melted in a day or two.
Lucas was running around the yard with his usual big stick in his mouth, or with the hedgehog stuffie which is still his all-time favorite. He always has a crazed look in eyes when he’s ripping around the yard. With such focus and determination, you would think he would’ve been a good racer.
Stella loves the snow. She’s not one to just race around the yard, but when it snows, she doesn’t bark as usual, she actually runs.
They were racing around the yard together. Stella wasn’t going to let her brother win the zoomie race. Stella and Lucas were picking on Parker, so we put them inside so Parker could have a bit of time to himself.
He loves running in snow. Especially without Stella and Lucas stalking him.
        Let’s play a game of chicken. Lucas is usually oblivious to his surrounding when he’s running. Lucas was zooming around, and Stella thought she would cut him off. Let’s play Chicken.
Game On.
        Here he comes.
        I can see the fear in his eyes.
        Oh jeez. He’s not gonna stop.

        Not gonna flinch? Well get a whiff of this?

Alexi Goes, Bella Comes Back

        We had Alexi as a foster for a few days from our last haul. She is a small black girl, and an absolute sweetie. No accidents in the house, learned how to use the doggie door by watching others, ravenous eater. I wish all foster were this easy. I had to attend a meeting in San Antonio for most of the time she was here. Hard to get back into work after being off for a week and a half. She fit in really nicely into our family. She was the foster that went.

        Alexi went, and Bella (RJ’s November) came back. She was adopted out in mid-August. She was returned to us because the family is in the military, and they were being transferred to a housing facility in California that didn’t allow dogs. At first, they were told that dog’s were allowed, but were supposedly told at the last minute that they were not. She was left with a friend who called and let us know what was going on. She was a bit on the skinny side, and a trip to the vet showed hookworm and roundworm. Panacur and a few extra cups of food a day should take care of that. She’s going on a home visit on Thursday, so she may already have found a new home.

        I managed to take a few shots of the kids sleeping during my vacation. Not hard to do since they don’t do much else. Stella is well known for her ETS. This usually involves roaching and having her tongue hang out over the couch so she looks like road kill. In this shot, she is imitating how Lucas usually sleeps; mouth open with a little bit of tongue hanging out the front.
This pic of Lucas shows one of his many goofy sleeping positions - this time it’s ears up and mouth open.
The couch shot shows everyone sleeping comfortably taking a break in between fosters coming and going. Just another afternoon napping on the couch.
The last shot answers the question of whether greyhounds can actually sleep standing up. I heard cows and horses do it. Why not greyhounds?

Holiday Grey-sitting

        As much fun as Winston had playing with our kids, he was quite happy to see his mommy and daddy when they came to pick him up. Hercules and Daisy had no problems settling in to our household. Hercules had been fostered here, so it was no big deal for him. Daisy, the 10 year old beagle, was happy to see another dog her size. Looking at her convinced us that Parker is definitely mostly a beagle. There are 13“ and 15” beagles. Parker is more like a 16“ black beagle. It was amazing to see how much they looked alike. And Parker’s food-obsessiveness is definitely a beagle thing. Daisy and Parker were always on alert in case a plate needed cleaning before going in the dishwasher. Here she is claiming a dog bed for herself.


        Hercules was initially thought to be a cat-safe dog. Later testing with Noah the crabby cat at our house proved otherwise. Look at the focus and concentration while he waits for a kitty to pop out the cat door. We locked both doors to prevent the kitties from coming up during the night and not being able to make it back down before the morning stampede of dogs. Once Hercules and Clay are gone, the kitties can come back up. Don’t feel too bad for them. They have it pretty nice down there. A sofa and loveseat and lots of other cushy places they don’t have to share with the dogs.
        Behind Hercules is Daisy, then Winston, and if you squint, you can see Stella’s head behind that.



        Speaking of Clay, at 10 years old, this is the first time we’ll have watched a senior greyhound. People are always making a fuss over the seniors. Now we know why. Look at that face. The graceful ‘greying’ of the face. And he is such a sweetie. He’s smaller than our Stella. His daddy said he was the runt of the litter. He’ll be with us for over a week. Last time they put him in a kennel, he didn’t eat the entire time. Supposedly he is a grazer, but with our guys noisily chowing down, he has learned to eat all in one sitting.
        What does Parker think of all these guests coming and going? I’ll let the picture speak for itself.

Winston the Couch Hound

        Winston won’t get on the couch unless asked. Here is a pic of all the kids on the couch. From left to right, it is Winston, Parker in the corner, Lucas, and Stella tolerating Lucas’ head against her butt. Looks like there is room for another grey. Sometimes I wonder how they ever survived at the kennel in a crate. Considering how much they crave a soft dog bed, couch or human bed, it’s a good thing they didn’t know about such things until after their racing careers. Otherwise, they may have formed a union and gone on strike at the track.


        Winston is quite the snuggle hound. Very touch-feely. When we ask one of our guys to get on the couch, they jump up next to us and then back into us or lay their head against us. Not Winston. We would tap the cushion next to us and ask Winston if he wanted on the couch. Next thing you know, there is a dog in your lap. As much of a lap dog as Stella is, she never jumps straight into my lap.
        It’s a dreary rainy day. Winston will stay through the weekend, but he will be joined by extra guests before his parents come back. This afternoon, we are expecting Hawk (Hercules in his previous life) and his new sister Daisy (10 yr old beagle). Wonder if she will recognize the beagle in Parker. They will barely have had time to finish sniffing each other’s butts before our next guest arrives. A greyhound owner in Northern Virginia who wrote to our group looking for a dog-sitter will be dropping off his 10 yr old grey on Saturday for a week. So we will have quite the houseful for the weekend. With a soggy yard from all the rain expected today, that’s 28 paws tracking in the mud. Need to replace that broken steam cleaner ASAP!