Déjà vu

Another benefit of greyhound adoption is that you get both a pedigree dog and a rescue dog in one adorable package.

So when you see a dog (or a wonky ear) that looks eerily familiar, you can do some quick greyhound genealogy to see if your dog is related.

Rocket Dog was just adopted by a fellow member of our local greyhound cohort. After hearing about his wonky ear, we did the genealogy and found out that Rocket and Kilroy are, indeed cousins!  They share the same grand-sire, Dodgem By Design.

Today was the moment I had been waiting for: Rocket and Kilroy met in person!

The resemblance is uncanny…

As we’ve said all along, “the ear” is an indicator of awesome!

They seem to share the same enthusiastic personality, but Rocket is the younger version with adorable mismatched eyebrows and an awesome striped tail.

Greyhounds come with prey drives of varying levels.  Kilroy’s is relatively low and Rocket seems to have a higher prey drive; the birds and rodents at the pet shop drove him nuts!

 

 

The Immortal Ear

A dear wedding present commissioned by a dear friend who knows exactly what our dear, wonky-eared dog means to us.

Bronze sculpture by Jeanie Stephenson.

Kilroy at our wedding reception.

Tremors

After his last walk of the day yesterday, Kilroy, like always, promptly went upstairs and put himself to bed in the pack den.

An hour later, just past 10:00, he came tearing down the stairs, frantic.  Something was definitely wrong: he came down the stairs both alone and in the dark—two things he hates to do.

He stood in the living room shaking violently with fear…then the panting started.  He stared towards the front door with great concern, shaking like a leaf. He was inconsolable for hours, for no apparent reason.  We finally got him to go back to bed, but he panted and drooled for quite some time before falling asleep.  By this morning, he was back to normal.

It wasn’t storming or raining, which is his usual source of stress. Nothing in the pack den had fallen and we didn’t hear any strange noises from upstairs.  There wasn’t anything scary on TV.  He hadn’t eaten anything different, and had been perfectly normal until then. Could it have been the full moon?

Kilroy may be a Diva, but he doesn’t make up sources of anxiety. What other invisible force could have caused such a strong reaction?

I figured it out today: an earthquake!

RICHMOND, VA — A 2.3 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of Virginia late Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor was registered at 10:11 p.m. Sunday with the epicenter located 6 kilometers from Goochland, Virginia, near Richmond. The USGS reports that people in Rockville, Maryland, felt the quake. ~Kingstowne Patch

The earthquake was 130 miles away! Amazing!!

We  noticed some time ago that Kilroy is very in tune with weather systems; he’s our very own meteorologist. His energy, sleeping, and eating habits are clues about what tomorrow holds. Now we have a canine early warning system!

Here’s an interesting Psychology Today article on the topic: Can Dogs Predict Earthquakes?

Keeping Kilroy Handsome

A big greyhound selling point is that they’re generally low-maintenance.

Short-haired and without dander, greyhounds don’t smell doggy. They are known to be vain and finicky and generally don’t like to get dirty, so many people don’t bathe their hounds at all.  In fact, their skin is so thin and sensitive that it can harmful to bathe greyhounds too frequently.

Kilroy’s quarterly bath has turned in to a bi-annual bath.  He gets a bit oily after a while and becomes a little smelly, but it generally takes about 6 months. At least we don’t have to go through the horror of the bathtub very often.

Not surprisingly, a wet greyhound looks a lot like a dry greyhound.

Bi-annual stink eye.

There are a few more regular greyhound maintenance tasks: teeth and nails.

Because of Kilroy’s periodontal disease, we’re supposed to brush his teeth every day.  Just like humans, they say that most greyhounds should brush their teeth daily.  Kilroy hates it, but chicken flavored toothpaste makes it more fun.

Keeping your dog’s nails clipped is also important since it can be painful for him to walk if his nails are long enough to touch the ground.  Greyhounds are typically patient when it comes to nail trims (and being poked and prodded at the vet) since they were handled so frequently at the track.

We outsource Kilroy’s nail clipping since I’m too afraid of cutting the quick and making him bleed again (I tried it…once).

After a horrific trip to a groomer a while ago, we decided that Kilroy would never be put on a grooming table ever again.  We recently found a groomer who was willing to make special accommodations for a skittish hound.

After a few minutes of hugs and the full attention of three doting people, Kilroy forgot to be scared.  He stood still and wasn’t the least bit fazed when they used the electric Dremel.

He just loved having Tony, Heather, and B on the floor fawning all over him.  He may even begin to look forward to the groomer if we can arrange for more Tony hugs!

Dog-iversary

On his anniversary, what do you get the dog who has everything?

Meat with cheese on top!

TWO YEARS!

It wasn’t love at first sight.

Three greyhounds had come in on the recent “shipment”of retirees from Florida, and two were already claimed by the time we got to the rescue agency.

The remaining dog had a strange ear and was, physically, the roughest of the bunch.  He was more emaciated than the others and had more racing scars, including hairless patches on his snout from the muzzle he wore at the track.  Tired and scared (and recently neutered), he wasn’t particularly interested in us.

Adoption Day 2015

As the other dogs left with their new families, B asked, “Well, what do you think?”

After plotting greyhound adoption for 5 years, I dreamed about falling in love at first sight with the dog who would be ours…and vice versa.

It was a let down not to have that immediate, magical moment of knowing that the somewhat pathetic dog before us was the one.  

But we had waited so long and come so far.  We wanted a dog and that scrappy fawn with the questionable ear needed a home.

It’s hard to believe that was 2 years ago because, now that we’re all settled in,  it feels like Kilroy has always been part of our little family…oodles of love and all!

Ain’t life grand?