We are celebrating two Gotcha Days this week. :) First up is Maggie. Her Gotcha Day is tomorrow. Hard to believe it has been 3 years. Whew....where does the time go? I can still remember that radio interview that I heard on 1140 AM that got it all started for me and I will never forget the greyhounds name who they were talking about that day, Charlie Brown.
I knew nothing about the breed. Hey, I mean I was really ignorant when it came to information about greyhounds. I did not even know they were used as racing dogs. I only knew of them from the greyhound buses. Yes, I must have been living under a rock all my life!
I started researching by looking at different sites. Mitch and I discussed it and once he was on board we submitted our application. During the adoption process I read the Dummies book and Cynthia Branigan's book so that I could be as ready as possible for our new family member. I can still remember the day I got the call that we were approved and more distinctly I remember the call I got asking if we would consider adopting a grey that was almost six. Age was no factor for us, so Twisted Stix was put on hold for us. I already had her name selected and to be quite honest I don't know how we could have made her track name work. I certainly was not going to call her Stix. Besides, Maggie suits her pretty well.
She was in heat when she came up and went into foster for a week. We were not prepared, nor did we have any experience with a dog in heat, as all of my pets have always been spayed prior to me adopting them, so we let the experts handle that. We got a couple of pictures of her via email from her foster mom and I was ecstatic! I showed all the girls in the office her picture and told them all about her and greyhounds in general. Looking back on it now, I am sure they thought I was a bit loony, but that's okay. :)
The day finally came for the official adoption and I was nervous and excited. When I saw her for the first time, I knew she was a special girl. She was super sweet, very pretty, petite and very inquisitive. It was hard to focus on the information during the adoption, but we did the best we could. We adopted her on a Thursday and I stayed home from work the next day to help her get acclimated to her new life. KC had no issue with her and gladly shared her bed.
The first few days were interesting. She was a nervous nelly about everything and would not go potty or for that matter even go outside. She was scared of the sound that the crickets and frogs made. I slept downstairs in the spare bedroom with her for the first few days. We had her for few days and then had to take her up to Northern, VA to get her vet work done. She was gone for two days and then came back home. When she was dropped off at our house by a volunteer in the Gum Springs area, I was told she lifted her leg and pee-ed on their coffee table. I apologized for her behaviour. The volunteer said "we did not mind that too much, but when she lifted her leg and pee-ed on our male greyhound we were a little upset with her". I remember thinking Oh my, you really are very alpha.
Well, three years later, she still lifts her leg to pee and she christens every dog that visits our humble abode. She has overcome her fear of frogs and crickets but still fears fish tanks and anything new. But hey, nobody is perfect, right? She adapted pretty quickly to her new life. She even taught herself stairs. Mitch came home one day on his lunch break to find the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs had been knocked down and Maggie was sitting upstairs in the hallway. She is still very inquisitive and does not like change! If anything in her environment changes: new placement of furniture, trashcan or the like, she barks and has to investigate it by slowly approaching with her shaking body.
Such a goofy girl, but we love her very much!
She is my heart!!! I wouldn't have it any other way.
Happy Gotcha Day Maggie! We look forward to many more quirky, memorable, fun, loving years together. :)
Next up is another heart dog, Cueball. His Gotcha day is this Saturday. All of you who personally know Cueball, know that he is 100% daddy's boy and daddy's heart. We adopted him 2 years ago. By that time we had the newbie drill down pat. He was part of the group of 12 greys that came up from Florida. They named that group of greys the Delightful Dozen. It was a special group. A kennel in Florida was closing leaving 20 dogs with no where to go. VAGA and a group from Canada stepped up to help and all 20 were saved. :)
Unlike Maggie, Cueball made himself right at home very quickly and adjusted to home life like he had always been in one. He is a very quick learner. He has a lot of confidence. I think he could have been fine as an only dog. In my experience I can't say this about too many of the males. ;-)
He has a lot of character and personality so his name really suits him. Not sure why his racing name was Flying Eightball. We were expecting to find a large black speck of ticking on him somewhere when we we got him, but nada.
He was the first roacher to join our family. He has such a sweet face and the most adorably unique ears. He loves sleeping on blankets. He loves to run and still has huge hammies. He has always been very strong. We can't walk him with a regular leash and collar. We have to use a harness and even with that he still pulls, but is manageable.
He loves to romp around the yard with his brother and tease his sisters. No one can catch him in our pack and he knows it.
He loves to sunbath and enjoys rolling around in the grass. He is also very photogenic. We think he knows he is a stud! :)
We love his goofiness and are so pleased he is part of our family! Happy Gotcha day Cueball! Daddy says you can never leave him and you have to live forever. :)
And finally NFL Football is back. Wahoo.....Sunday Ticket! GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And, Tuesday we are making the trip down to MB for the Beach Bound Hounds event. =)
Lots of things going on in September, so stick around.