Bye Bye Bèbè

No, it's not the name of a musical. We had Beth for a week shy of her one year Gotcha Day. A month shy of her 14th birthday. I had big plans for her Quinceañera, but it wasn’t meant to be. I started calling her Bèbè, and soon, Kris was too.

Not sure why she was given up after being an only dog with the same person for 8 years. Never was given a satisfactory answer. Must have been quite a shock to come to our house.
She was a bit on the skinny side. We fattened her up in no time.
She was still in good health. Her ears were always up.
Yes, Stella, she is coming to stay. You can be Queen of the couch, and she will be the Hall Monitor.
This is the only pic of all the kids on the couch. She was more of a dog bed kinda girl.
We tried to help her relax by playing some soothing music.
It snowed right after we got her. She was all about playing in the snow.
Mommy, I’m ready to play. Throw it already.
We had a ramp built, so she wouldn’t have to deal with stairs. We did carry her upstairs every night, so she could sleep with us.
Since it was bit hard for her to get up by herself, she took to the bolstered beds. She would lay with her rump on the bolster, which gave her leverage for getting up on her own.
She was Ms. Grouchy Pants, aka, the Hallway Troll. If she didn’t like you, better to go thru the kitchen.
We tried to show her a good time. She even got to meet Katy of Needle Noses fame.
At Grapehounds Virginia.
At a waterfall during our trip to Barkwells.
Managed to do a little hike at the North Carolina Arboretum trail.
Hanging out at the annual VAGA picnic.
Hanging out with Trina’s kids at a winery.
Slowly denuding her favorite hedgie.
For her last dinner, each of the kids got a cheeseburger and chicken nuggets with their regular food. She woofed it down. She always ate well and had the best poop in the house. She had a cast iron stomach for a greyhound.
I won’t miss getting up at 3am every night to carry her down the ramp, holding on to her sling while she looked for a good potty spot. We could have kept doing that. But the pain meds couldn’t cover her pain anymore. Run free little girl. We miss you!
Say Hi to Lucas for us. Tell him we still miss him too.

Musical Beds

It’s been a while since we’ve had a real foster dog. Trina’s group, James River Greyhounds, was nice enough to bring up a dog for one of our adopters. Her new family hadn’t decided on a name yet, so we called her Brown Dog while she was with us. Brown Dog learns the ramp. Stella has her back.
Parker and Stella break way for the Brown Dog, while Sabrina and Dottie urge her to keep moving.
Stanley and Stella trying to coax the Brown Dog to come down the ramp. In truth, the Brown Dog figured it out in no time by watching everyone else.
A blurry picture of siblings: Dottie, Sanburg, and little Carly. Funny that they are all black and white dogs. The other brother/sister we were watching were Milo and Charlotte who are both dark brindles. Just worked out that way.
I caught Sanburg and Carly behind the bushes. What are you guys doing?
Is that a skateboarder, someone walking a dog, a Harley? Better check it out.
Yeah, Carly is not impressed with the greyhounds and their antics.
Brown Dog played in the yard with everyone, but when it was time to rest, she quickly figured out the dog bed.
Later, she even took a dabble at the stairs.
Sanburg doing his best Nigel Buggers impression.
Kris' dad came over the watch the Hokies play UVa. Beth on her double mini couch bed, Kris’ dad with Murphy, Parker, Sabrina, Stella, Jaime, Stanley, Sanburg, Charlotte, Dottie, Milo, with Lucy next to Kris.
Pee break. Time for Musical Beds. Beth, Kris petting Lucy, with Carly next to the table, Stanley wedged behind Kris, Sabrina, Stella, Jaime, Parker Charlotte, Sanburg, Dottie, Brown Dog, Milo, and Murphy glued to his daddy.

Photo Copyrights

Maybe I’ve been reading too many articles recently about photo copyrights, but I was a bit perturbed to see one of my pictures going around on Facebook without any credit. It was the top shot of 10 dogs that made it onto the back inside cover of the CG 2012 Calendar.

   I read some of the hundreds of comments, and they assumed that because the original FB page had to do with greyhound rescue from across the Pond, the dogs were from there too. Some were interested in knowing the backstory behind the picture. A link to my blog would have answered that. One person even said it is their background screen now. Some said they had seen it on other FB links.
   The person we saw post a link to it had no idea it was local to him. The more I thought about it, I figured this site got it from somewhere else, who may have gotten it from somewhere else, from whomever snagged it from my blog, and any vestige of where it came from was lost along the way.
   Oh well, I will get off my soapbox. I’m all for people enjoying my pictures. That’s why I blog. I have recently started watermarking my pictures after I saw Tales and Tails and Greyhounds Can Sit doing it.
   I am not a professional photographer, so this is not a monetary thing. I recently read on Sarah Reagan Snavely’s blog about someone who had copied her work and actually profited from it. Now that’s just plain wrong.
Editor's Note: I do not have a Facebook account, so I did not post this on Facebook.

Wyatt & Rocky

I recently visited my friends in North Carolina to meet their new English Cocker Spaniel puppy, Wyatt. What a cutie pie. He’s 16 weeks at this point.

Run Wyatt, Run!!!
Rocky, an English Cocker Field Spaniel, is just over a year old and still has all his puppy energy.
Rocky is being trained as a hunting dog for dad.
He is proud of his ‘catch’.
Since this doesn’t work well with mom’s desire for obedience/agility/tracking, cue Wyatt.
Wyatt admires his big brother, and wants to be wherever he is. Watch out Wyatt, I think you’re brother is slowing down.
Too late.
What does Elliott think of the new additions?
Not much.
If the kitty won’t play, guess we’ll just have to play with each other.

Wobbly Butt and Acupuncture

Beth has Hindquarter Weakness, aka Wobbly Butt. This is the way she came to us, but recently, it got a bit worse where she was falling down in the yard multiple times and couldn’t get herself back up. we took her to Caroline Animal Hospital to look at our options. We decided on acupuncture. By the end of the 20 minute session, Beth was actually sleeping. Sorry for the blurry picture from my Blackberry.

She eats around her glucosamine/chrondroitin pills, so I got a mortar and pestle to grind it up, and she seems fine with that.
We also got her herbal biscuits from the vet that are supposed to be good for her condition. I think they make her gassy.
It didn’t help that a tick managed to swell her foot.
Ugly little bugger.
She can’t really get up on her own, but once up, she is pretty steady on her feet. We’re not expecting miracles. Don’t think she’ll be making any moves like this. Hopefully she’ll be steadier with each acupuncture session.
A parting shot of more recent boarders. Beth under the blankie, Kris’ dad with Murphy, Kris with Parker, then Stanley, Stella, Jaime, Billy, Jack, Allie, with Savannah and Sunny in the middle.

M&M Kids

We watched Mitch and Michelle’s kids while they took a little tour of Virginia wine country.

Cueball patiently waiting for me to get all the breakfast bowls together.
Pippi is very interested in breakfast.
With a belly full of food, time for a nap. Too much coffee?
Maggie is much better at the nap thing.
Cueball is a grand master roacher.
Booyah says he’s not impressed. His mommy follows him around with the camera too.
Clockwise from the couch is Pippi, Stanley, Stella, Jaime, Parker, Maggie, Booyah, with Murphy and Beth in the middle. The yard was still sopping wet from the rain, so we put sheets down to try to minimize the muddy feet. Steam cleaning is definitely in the carpet’s near future.
As seen on Trina’s blog, we went to a nearby wine festival held next to the local airport. Skydiving was the entertainment for the day. The plane was ‘pooping’ out skydivers every thirty minutes or so.
Looks like the landing will be between the gyro and crab cakes.