In July 1997, John and I adopted our first Greyhound, Kain, from Linda Brown at Retired Racers. Bally followed six months later, and Molly six months after that. Since then they have been joined by two 9-year-olds from Operation Greyhound, two girls (5 and 7½) from Hemopet and Canine Causes, a 12-year-old whose deceased owners adopted her directly from the track (Needle Nose Crew called us about her) and a 2-year-old from San Diego’s newest group, Greyhound Connection. This is truly a "mixed" family. We have loved, and lost to cancer, two special Greys, Lady (from Operation Greyhound) and Drew (from Retired Racers). Through all the joy, worry, learning and heartache of loving all of our Greys and losing Lady and Drew, and the help and support of all of these Greyhound groups, we have learned a very important lesson: It doesn’t matter where you find your Greyhound, so long as you have at least one Greyhound in your life! (If you can stick to just one, you can probably eat just one potato chip and be satisfied, too.) In working with all of the groups, talking with members, volunteering, and reading newsletters and other communications, we have sometimes seen competitiveness between the groups for adoptive families. Several times we’ve been working a show and advised a prospective adopter to contact all of the groups and gather all the information they can in their efforts to find the right dog. Once we were chastised for "sending people to the competition," but for the most part, everyone has agreed: The goal is to find homes for as many dogs as possible, no matter from which group, and make room for more dogs to come off the track to be adopted. As a member of many civic and charitable groups over the years, I have seen competitiveness between groups overshadow their initial purpose. Even the local clogging (dancing) clubs for a while forgot that the original purpose was to have fun dancing, not to compete for members! If we all keep in mind our original goals of educating people about Greys and finding homes for as many Greys as possible, it won’t matter which group does the home study, who the adoptive family first contacts, or which group ultimately provides the dog to the new home – the bottom line is, another home has been taken over by a Greyhound, more human and canine lives have been enriched beyond description, and there is a vacant space in a Greyhound group available for another dog still at the track awaiting his or her new home.

THANK YOU, PETSMART

The Needle Nose Crew would like to thank Director Frances Marquez of PETSMART #108, Irvine, Director Kathy De Los Monteros, PETSMART #102, Aliso Viejo, and Acting Director Cory Otero, PETSMART #95, Foothill Ranch. The Directors, Managers and Associates joyfully allow us to invade their stores to help promote greyhound rescue. We greytly appreciate the help, patience, loving pats and treats for our greys, and the large amounts of space we sometimes take over. In June, we had 22 greyhounds in Irvine, including fosters from both Canine Causes and GPA-CA-OC/GLA. We regularly talk with people who have adopted greyhounds (and other animals, too) as a direct result of these monthly events. The PETSMART philosophy of supporting animal rescue groups and generous donations from PETSMART CHARITIES are greyt assets to our communities.

THE YEAR 2001

Can anyone believe it? We were just celebrating not only the New Year of 2000 but also a new millennium. Now, all of a sudden, the publishers around the world are ready for the year 2001. Greyhound Project is no exception to this timing. Their new calendars are being printed and orders from rescue groups around the world are being taken. We all expect shipments to begin no later than the middle of August, with stock available for our members by the end of the month. We have always been delighted to offer these wonderful calendars to our members. From the rate of sale, you are all delighted to have them available to you. For those of you who purchase multiple copies to give as gifts during the holiday season, please send in your orders and checks now. We’ll be happy to set aside your copies and let you know when we receive the first shipment from Greyhound Project. We always have someone who cannot get all the copies they would like to purchase because they leave their ordering too late. Please, help us to help you and place your larger orders before it is too late of us to help out with your holiday shopping.

Suddenly, the end of September and the beginning of October are proving to be really busy weekends for the Needle Nose Crew. When we participate in scheduled community events, we can’t control the timing and often find ourselves with back-to-back weekends filled to the brim with greyhound promoting opportunities. As delighted as we are with these opportunities, they do demand extra effort for those off us staffing the events. We have decided to send out a request for help well in advance of the actual shows. For those of you who can, please give us a call at 949 552-1373 and sign up for the shifts of your choice. This will help the volunteers staffing the shows and assure that we have positive, well-balanced coverage at these special events. If you have not volunteered in the past, please consider one of these events. It’s a great excuse to brag about our dogs! We will be attending the NEC Home Remodeling & Decorating Show at the Anaheim Convention Center on September 29, 30 and October 1. The hours of the show will be Friday from Noon to 8PM, Saturday from 10AM to 8PM and Sunday from 10AM to 6PM. There will be three shifts each day, which will cover morning/early afternoon, mid afternoon and late afternoon/evening. We will also be attending the Irvine Harvest Festival at Culver and the 5 Freeway on October 6, 7 and 8. The hours of this show will be Friday evening from 6PM to 9PM, Saturday from 10AM to 9PM and Sunday from 10AM to 6PM. The shifts for each day are as follows: Friday, one evening shift from 6PM to 9PM. Saturday, four shifts from 10AM to 1PM, 12:30PM to 4PM, 3:30PM to 6:30PM and 6PM to 9PM. Sunday, three shifts from 10AM to 1PM, 12:30PM to 4PM and 3:30PM to 7PM. So give all this some thought and call us with your favorite times to help out. Each of these shows has proven to be an excellent opportunity to promote our wonderful greyhounds to an ever-changing Southern California population.

Congratulations to Lane Kussman on winning Second Place Ribbon at the Orange County Fair for her beautiful stained glass greyhound head. We hope to display it at community events to help Needle Nose Crew in promoting greyhound adoption.

NOTE FROM ED…

I know I’m not the only one who is crazy with a camera! And Sharin cannot possibly be the only greyhound that does really goofy things. I want to read your story and see your greys. Where did you get your greyhound(s)? What is your favorite tail (yes, pun intended)? How about some tips from those of you who camp and travel with their greyhounds. And what happened to that great picture of your grey - on the beach, or at the park. Dig it out of the shoebox and send it to me! We have even heard rumors of a grey with a chicken!