Hug a Grey (or two) Today!

We all have our stories of how we got involved with our greys. You might say we can blame my parents for the four wonderful companions that grace my life today. From childhood on there usually has been a dog around the house. Shortly after my mother passed away my cousin showed me a newspaper article about volunteering at Hemopet in Irvine. I took down the info, made a few calls, and set a date for my friend, Betty de la Rosa, and I to check it out. At first I thought, ‘boy are these dogs big’, but as I walked a few more they really began to grow on me. I knew then that I wanted a greyhound, but I hadn’t fallen for a particular one yet. After walking a few dogs I asked for information on adopting, and filled out an application. Shortly after that I asked Carole Oglesbee to come to my home, as I knew I had some dog proofing to do. Just a few days before Christmas 1999, Carole and Lora Hardy visited with Shadow and Fawn. Well, it was love at first sight but the house and yard needed some work to be ready. Just after the New Year, I called to find out if Fawn and Shadow were still available. Shadow had been placed but Fawn was still waiting for a home, but had to be with another dog. Two dogs? I hadn’t planned on that but I wanted Fawn so why not? Carole made some suggestions of a few at Hemopet but also mentioned a couple of dogs at Linda Brown’s Retired Racers in Acton. So more phone calls were made, and Betty and I went off to check out the dogs at Retired Racers. As I walked over to the kennel a dog caught my eye, a beautiful red brindle boy. Drifter was not even a year and a half old, and so sweet, and as you can guess, I had to have him. Lora, Fawn’s foster mom, happened to be up at Linda’s too, dropping off dog food. Fawn was with her so we were able to introduce the two to see if they hit it off and everything went well. About a week later, Fawn came home and two days after that Drifter. After about four months I noticed that Drifter would not play with Fawn. He wanted to roughhouse which Fawn definitely would not do. So I decided to add one more dog, but it had to be the right one. Betty and I try to take the dogs up to visit Linda’s at least once a month, so we made good use of the visit by checking out other dogs to see if they would get along with our pack. In addition to my two greyhounds, Betty has Sam, a golden retriever and Chip (Sylvester) who she adopted from Hemopet. There was a cute little white and black girl named Cher, who got along with our group but there was one more dog I wanted to see. Again a home visit was arranged with another Hemopet dog that Lora was fostering, Cider. We decided to introduce Cider to our group at Betty’s house to make sure everybody would get along. This was to be Cider’s first home visit, so good or bad, it would be good experience for her. At first things didn’t go so well. Sam was very excited and was jumping around too much. Cider was growling and snapping at everybody, so we backed off and tried one dog at a time. That did the trick and soon all the dogs were socializing just fine. I knew almost immediately Cider was the girl for me. When Cider joined our pack the next week there was no adjustment period, it was like she belonged here. And Cher did find a way into our extended pack - she now lives with Sam and Chip. Five months later at the Retired Racers Play Day, I decided that four was a better number than three. If I wanted to take just two dogs somewhere, at least there would be two at home to keep each other company. This time I felt an older male would be good for Drifter. There were several possibilities at both Retired Racers and Hemopet, but as Carole told me I’m "not a simple adoption anymore". I had to find a dog that would be compatible. One evening in November while talking with Erika Jones, she told me of her foster and he seemed a likely candidate. Again we decided on Betty’s place for the intros. All was well and Crackle, greyhound number four, came home the next week. Will there be a number five? I say no now, but you know what they say about greys - they’re just like potato chips and you can’t have just one!

MY JOURNEY…

January 2002 will be my sixth anniversary to the introduction of the retired racing greyhound. In my wildest dreams, I never expected that what started as a routine trip to Petco in Orange, one Saturday morning in December, 1995 to buy dog food for our rescued animal shelter dogs, would lead to one of the most exciting, challenging and rewarding adventure of our lives. Until that auspicious morning, the only greyhound I had ever been aware of was on the side of the bus of the same name. But out in front of Petco, were a dozen or so of the most elegant dogs I had ever seen, along with their very proud adoptive moms and dads. Within the week I presented myself to Hemopet’s Garden Grove kennel and was given my orientation by the manager, Gary Allison. It soon became apparent that a greyhound would have to become a member of our family, to go along with our Clyde, the terrier mix we had adopted some seven years earlier. The choice, as many have found, was not an easy one. Given a "no holds barred" choice, I would have selected more than one, but sanity prevailed and I made the heartrending decision to adopt tiny Alyeska, a kennel mate of big friendly fawn colored Davidson. We had to wait a couple of months, since Alyeska’s blood donation service would not be completed until the end of February 1996. During this period, I spent most of my leisure time at the kennel, becoming more familiar with Alyeska and the other greyhounds. One morning while walking Alyeska at the kennel, Carole Oglesbee and Mike Gallas introduced themselves and invited me to visit another "Show and Tell", which I subsequently did, and many more over the next five plus years. The adoption day finally arrived on March 1, 1996 and I took Alyeska home to meet Clyde. Alyeska adapted quickly to home life with Clyde and promptly took charge. As many of you know, she is a dominant female with an attitude, but that’s a whole different story to be told, if at all, at some future time. Now, five and a half years later, and with the passing of our 13-year-old Clyde, our greyhound family has expanded to include two more, Heidi and BJ. Then in mid 1999, I retired from my "real job" at American Suzuki in Brea. But with so much time on my hands and this unquenchable desire to be around greyhounds, I went to work at Hemopet. For the first two of my three years there, I worked very closely with the dogs as a kennel attendant. Then I moved to the Irvine facility where I became more involved with the blood donor program. During my tenure at Hemopet, I came to appreciate both the traits and individual personalities of each of the dogs. As they were adopted, transferred to our other facilities, or went into foster homes, I had a sense of pride and loss with each one. Until my kennel experience, I never fully realized just how each dog, while sharing many characteristics, had their very own personality that distinguished them from the others. Why this was such a revelation, I don’t know. I guess I had expected most to be alike. But people are different, and so too are dogs. Now, my wife Toni, of nearly 36 years and I have finally retired from the active job market. We have sold our home of 24 years, located in Orange and we will be moving to Sun City, Anthem in Henderson, Nevada in January. With the best part of six months on our hands while waiting for our new home to be built, we’ll be traveling throughout the Western U.S. in our motor home. (The dogs love it and they are out-standing travelers and companions in the confined space of a 35-foot RV.) In addition to our rewarding experience with the breed, we have met and worked with some very nice, dedicated and caring people. We leave Orange County and many of our friends and acquaintances with much sadness, but to move on with yet another part of our lives. Thank you, Carole, Mike, Joy and all the other fine people of the Needle Nose Crew and SoCalGal. Thank you, Jean Dodds, Jennifer Long, Marion Phillips, Leslie Thorson and Dana Richards of Hemopet for your camaraderie. Thank you, Cara and Jerry Brockhoff of NorthCoast Greyhounds in McKinleyville. Thank you, Cindy Hall of Canine Causes. Thank you all for allowing us to take part in your activities. You all have contributed so much to the salvation of these treasures and to our enjoyment of life. As soon as we have an established residence and are settled in our new home, we’ll let you know, in hopes that when you come to the Las Vegas area, you will stop by and see us. Phil, Toni, Alyeska, Heidi and BJ Epler

• Larry and Lois Jones for their loss of Sonny
• Cindy Hall and Frank Brown for the loss of their gentleman Quentin
• Edith Fagen for her loss of Taylor
• Tony and Eileen Lamparelli for the loss of old Mr. Elvis (Ixodes)
• Mike Gallas and Carole Oglesbee for their loss of 15 year old Able

We received many comments and questions about the statement in last month’s article that an adult male, black dog has a 2% chance of being adopted. This statistic is from the Humane Society, and applies to black, adult males of all breeds that are turned into shelters.

Send your articles and pictures to: Joy Moss, Editor, Needle Nose Notes 4857 Royce Road, Irvine, CA 92612 greytjoy@msn.com  Contributions are always welcome and help our cause. Needle Nose Crew, P.O. Box 3012, Laguna Hills, CA 92654-3012  

Editor: Joy Moss

(949)552-1373 or (949) 951-5444

or e-mail gogreys@juno.com