Wicked Awesome Pics

In 2008 the people of the commonwealth of MA decided that dog racing was cruel and voted to ban the practice. No matter how you feel about dog racing, the problem with the outcome of this vote was no one really thought through what would happen to these dogs once the tracks closed in 2010. I've been impressed with all of the publicity that the track closings in WI, MA and AZ have attracted recently and the great job Twitters, Bloggers and other greyhound groups have done banning together to try and get these dogs out of the now defunct racing kennels and into final homes. I also love the fact that they point out that many of the animal activists that were once picketing and lobbying for the closures are no longer there to help with the actual "saving" of the animals.

I firmly believe that we all give to a cause in our own way. I discovered Lisa Prince-Fishler of Printz Photography through a posted link on Twitter. She donated her time and talents to capture the journey of a group of volunteers taking a group of greyhounds from the now closed Raynham/Taunton track to their adoption group. To say this series of photos are amazing is an understatement. For those of us who have participated in hauls, washed those pups, removed hundreds of ticks, watched as they relax as the fleas fall off for the first time in forever, and finally discover the comfort of a soft bed, Lisa really captured this transition in a greyhound's life and the people who take the time to make it happen for them. Thank you, Lisa.

Faux Pas

It has happened to all of us. You make a visit to the ladies room to freshen up. Plump up your lips with your new hot lipstick. Make sure you don't have any left over dinner stuck between your teeth. Re-fluff your hair. Maybe apply a little perfume in a few key areas. You've checked and rechecked yourself before you make your way out of the powder room fortress back to whatever or whoever is waiting for you.

Half way back to where ever you might be going you catch someone whisper and glance your way. It only builds your confidence. Yes, you look good tonight! You see another person give you a second glance. Whoo hoo! After a third person steals a look, paranoia begins to stir.

Is everything zipped? Check.

Did you tuck your skirt into your pantyhose? No - whew.

And then it hits you. A sudden glance behind you reveals the the truth. It's not the way your rear looks in those hot new $150 jeans that everyone is whispering about. It's the toilet paper stuck to the bottom of your knock-off Manolos.

Roxy thinks us humans have it easy. At least when toilet paper gets stuck to us, it's usually on our feet. Not on our face.

Dog To Dos

I'm the kind of girl who likes to break rules. OK, not really but I like to pretend that I am. If you ask me knowing that I'll just break them is a good excuse for not making New Year's resolutions. I mean, I know I could always eat better, exercise more, lose weight - the usual suspects - but I could make those commitments anytime of the year and I never do, so what's the point of doing that on January 1.

This year I am starting a new tradition. I have compiled a list of to dos for 2010 as far as my girls are concerned. I thought I'd post them here so the universe would have a record of it. So in no particular order:

Attend Sandy Paws: everyone I've talked to tells me the greyhound shopping there is fabulous. I think my debit card is aching as I type this.

Attend an Agility Workshop: there is so much to learn and you can learn something new from each handler you talk with. I'll take any suggestions from all you agility pros out there... Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?

Run at an Agility Trial: this may not be with Roxy. This may not even be during competition. It could be during a practice match. I would just love to have Roxy (and myself) confident enough to perform in public.

Find a Great Place to Take the Girls to Run: yes, we have a huge back yard, but I'd like to find a fun place to take them to run on a regular basis, especially since Seka is back to her OCD ways about her ball.

Go Back to Mountain Hounds and Beach Bound Hounds: we loved these events and hope that Trina and Kristen meet us there too!

Teach Seka to Sit: yep. This is a big goal. But if Samson the hippo can open his mouth on cue, Seka can put her bum on the floor.

Check back with me in a few months and we'll see how far I've come in accomplishing any of these off our 2010 to do list. It's fun to plan fun things. But unlike traditional New Year's resolutions, the follow through should be just as fun.

Animal Nerds Click

I am a self-professed animal nerd. Pick a species any species and I can usually find something I love about it. I guess that's why I love going to the zoo or aquarium (those that are accredited and focus on conservation, mind you). I have a habit of staying at one exhibit for hours, just watching, without thinking twice about it. So when Kev and I spent Christmas week 2009 at Disney World, it wasn't a shock to anyone who knew me that we spent 2 of our 6 days at the Animal Kingdom - and it wasn't because of that awesome Everest roller coaster they have there.

One of those mornings we took Disney's "backstage safari," which allowed us access to the animal habitats, zoo keepers, researchers, vets, nutritionists and other non-public areas that most visitors never get to see. They only allow 12 guests per day on the tour and it does cost extra, but it is totally worth it for animal nerds like myself.

Now the folks at Disney tell you up front that you probably won't see many animals on the backstage tour, because they prefer their animals to be "on stage" where the guests can see them and not behind the scenes. But the morning of our tour was very cold for Florida - 42 degrees - and the trainers and zoo keepers kept many of the animals behind to do some exercises since most weren't in any hurry to get out of bed that day anyway. Jackpot!

We spent time at the white rhino barn and spoke with the head trainer and keeper. She introduced us to Samson (Sammy for short), a 40 year old white rhino who is her favorite due to his playful nature even at his ripe old age (you can see him on the right getting in the way of our safari vehicle "on stage" later on that day). After answering about 100 questions from our tour group - which consisted of a handful of other animal dorks like myself, a vet tech, a researcher from Costa Rica, and a vet from Mexico - Sammy's trainer showed us how and why they train these huge animals.

You may be thinking Sammy was going to get his giant rhino hiney on a pedestal and spin around or something spectacular, but you'd be thinking wrong. All of the animal trainers/keepers are required to work daily with every animal to teach them to help assist with their own vet care. And how do they do that - clicker training!

They teach the animals how to tolerate sticks from needles by poking them with a paper clip. All are trained to open their mouths on cue so that their teeth can be cleaned and inspected without it being a big deal. The lesser primates are taught to present their arms to receive shots, while the larger gorillas understand language better and understand the word "yes," which also helps to improve their vocabulary. The large animals, elephants included, are taught how to walk onto the scale and wait until they are released. The big cats are taught to tolerate their tails being handled, which I can only imagine is a bit challenging if my "little" cat is anything like a lion. All animals, great and small, are placed in the situations for blood draws or possible moving on a regular basis to desensitize them.

I watched Sammy show us how he could open his mouth on cue and expect a treat (hay) for his good work. Sammy showed us how he could touch a pool buoy when asked, something that helps when moving the animals, as keepers/trainers are not allowed inside the barriers with any of their animals for safety reasons. With the rhinos, elephants and giraffes they have found that whistles work better than clicks. They think it is the pitch of the sound that they respond to vs the dull click.

At Rafiki's Conservation Station, I watched as a trainer for the domesticated hoofed stock showed kids how they could teach a sheep to recycle. It was a cute trick where the sheep put a water bottle into the bin, but of course it was done with a clicker. I pulled the trainer aside once he was done with his demo and he told me that the bottle is something the sheep are naturally interested in due to the sound it makes. All of their domesticated hoofed stock - goats, sheep, donkeys and llamas that are in the petting area are all clicker trained. He said that the goats are the smartest and catch on so quickly that they can't use them for the demos because they usually learn something on the first or second try.

So for all of you out there (me included sometimes) who get totally frustrated with your greyhound not being willing to do something, think about Sammy the rhino. If all 3800 lbs of him can figure out how to open his mouth on cue for a bite of hay and a whistle, I think my 54 lb greyhound can figure out how to sit, pick up something, or even open her mouth on cue for her teeth to be brushed. Maybe Seka should have been on that backstage tour to get a lesson from Sammy.

She's Crafty

My whole family is crafty. My father could build anything out of wood. My mother can create amazing dolls out of a few rags. My sister can bake and decorate a cake like no body's business. Me, well, I like to knit and most recently I like to sculpt beads out of polymer clay. My crafting time is relaxing to me. I get that creative itch and I have to scratch it.

Maybe that's what Seka has had the last five months while she has been hurting and recovering - a crafty itch. However, hers is the sneaky type. I present to you her latest crafty hobby: hole digging.

Now I would have blamed this behavior on Roxy if I didn't catch Seka in the act yesterday, and I guess I'm still not sure who actually started the hole since I did watch them both take turns making the dirt fly. I almost felt bad for correcting them because they looked like they were having so much fun, but our backyard is not the beach.

Roxy could care less that I covered up the hole, but this afternoon, I caught Seka outside getting the hole back to where they left off yesterday. Needless to say, she is very proud of her dig site - even if it really isn't that big. I can only wonder what she might be after. Roxy did bring me a dead mole one afternoon about three weeks ago. Maybe Seka is trying to match her hunting efforts by digging one up herself? I can only imagine what my silly girl has dreamed up while she was on her rehabbing on the sofa.

Getting Your Groove Back

Yep. I checked out for awhile. Totally and completely checked out without any warning to my readers. For that, I apologize. I guess I was just sad and just didn't have it in me to write and despite what my husband will tell you - I really don't like to whine.

It wasn't that we didn't do cool stuff in September and October. Quite the contrary. We took the girls for a spontaneous trip to LSU to meet Mike the Tiger, check out Kev's old stompin' grounds and attend the LSU/Vandy game. It started the month of September (aka road trip month) off with a bang.

We attended our first Beach Bound Hounds at Myrtle Beach, SC., and had a total blast playing in the sand, meeting new friends, and drinking, er, hanging out with old ones.

Then we were off to Boone, NC., to see the Mountaineers stomp Ga Southern Eagles.

And through all of this the girls were perfect travelers. Roxy only got car sick once. After all that driving, I would consider this a huge success.

What I didn't realize was lurking was the pain that the GBD was in. Seka put on a brave face through all of our ramblings. Let me put her walking boots on and never turned down the opportunity to go on a car ride, but once we got home and settled down, she went from bad to worse and couldn't/wouldn't walk at all on her 3-toed foot.

Now this wasn't all that strange, as we have had our battles with corns on that foot which caused lameness every now and then, but what worried me was that she lost all interest in being a part of the family. She didn't want to come downstairs. She only wanted to potty in the morning and at night (2 times a day). She didn't want to go for a walk and even turned down car rides. She wasn't my girl.

Off to Auburn we go, after receiving the report from Dr. Hottie that there wasn't anything else he could do for her. X-rays showed nothing. No fever. Corns didn't seem to bother her. They were out of ideas. I cried. I'll admit it.

After a 45 minute exam with Dr. Gillette, he determined that Seka has sesmoiditis in both of the outside toes of her 3 toed foot. This is why, despite her therapaws, pain pills, corn surgery, padding, and treat bribery, she would not use her foot as this injury is very painful, even at rest. So after a steroid shot in both joints, we soak the offending foot 2 x a day in epsom salt, apply heat wraps 2 x a day, and crate rest for the next 14 days. After this time, I scraped the little hard spot from her corn off and the most disgusting puss poured out of the opening. I don't know where this was living, but once it was out of her foot, she has been using it ever since.

Now Seka's got her groove back. And so do I. She's back to playing in the house - something she hasn't done since June! She and Roxy are now running and playing in the backyard - something they have NEVER done. Their games of tag are something I will never get tired of watching. We're taking walks again - still in our therapaws, but she's along for the ride and no longer crying at the door when left behind.

The funny part is that Seka seems to have a new attitude toward life in general. She's spunky, something that she wasn't like before. She's underfoot in the house, curious and more playful than ever before.

Seka's got her groove back - and thanks to her, so do I.

Kindred Spirits

People think I'm crazy when I tell them I have lots of "blogger friends." But it's true. And the great part about it is I've actually met a lot of them in person at various greyhound events. We all share a special bond that walk on four feet and are covered with fur.

So when something tragic happens to one of my friends that is oh so far away from me, it impacts me as well, even if I've never met their silly, wild, funny, muddy, pup. I've loved them vicariously through the musings of their person's blog.

Today, one of my favorite blog friends, Katy, lost her sweet Tamale very suddenly to a stroke. Many of us miss Katy's blog (I Hate Toast) and look forward to her witty comments on our own entries. Katy is one of the most fabulous people I have ever met. And that could be an understatement. So without ever meeting them in person, I know that her hounds are as fabulous. Isn't it said somewhere you are like your dog in some way?

So today all of us who may never have had the joy of actually rubbing Tamale's ears, or bathing all of that mud that she loved to roll in, are mourning right along side Katy. That's what makes blogging so special. It makes the world a bit smaller. It creates kindred spirits across the seas. It ties us to one another in ways we never imagined 20 years ago. It allows us to share our grief and offer support in small ways all over the globe.

Godspeed Tamale.

We love you Katy.