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VoI 9, issue 10 |
Febuary, 2005 |
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Speedy waiting for a treat! DAYS OF OUR LIVES By Roger and Sharyn Deeringer Thirty years ago, in a land very far north, before the days of affordable microwave ovens, we bred Miniature Schnauzers. Work had shipped us off to North Dakota with one child and a schnauzer puppy from the Granddad. One year and an additional son later, we thought the new baby boy should have his own puppy. So enter Joe Boy, a cute little male puppy to complement Janie, our year old female. Another year passed and those new microwave ovens sounded like a real time saver. Then the idea hit, “Let’s augment our income and raise AKC registered Miniature Schnauzer puppies.” A few months later we had 4 balls of fuzz running about our apartment. Over the next three years we did our best to populate eastern North Dakota with Miniature Schnauzers, a total of 4 litters, 17 pups in all; that about covered the total population of N.D.! During the North Dakota years, we learned about placing dogs; a skill that would lie dormant for many years. While our experience was profitable; raising puppies is no easy feat and it is not something we want to repeat. When we moved back to the real world (Illinois) in 1976, Janie and Joe Boy moved into the neutered world; no further adventures in puppy-land for us. The boys went off to college, the last small doggy went to doggy heaven and we remained dog-less. That is, until our oldest son came home from college with a Norwegian-Elkhound Shepard mix named J.J. (for Johnson & Johnson, our son was an athletic trainer). We fell in love with that big dog and when our son moved away, he said, “You’ll miss me.” Sharyn said, “We’ll miss the dog.” Sharyn really missed having a big, lovable, wet-nosed galumph around the house. (Roger doesn’t count!) As luck would have it (maybe it was fate), we moved to California. We still missed J.J. Then a good friend saw Carole Oglesbee walking her beautiful Greys and a new, black, gorgeous foster Greyhound. Our friend called and said, “Sharyn, I have found a dog that is perfect for you.” Enter Fisher, our wonderful big boy and our introduction to the exciting world of Greyhounds. Over the next 8 months, we learned all about these wonderful animals and the super people that are the Needle Nose Crew. Well, as many of you know, we went Greyhound stupid. We started talking about a second dog. Greyhounds really are like potato chips; it’s hard to have just one. We decided that we could care for two dogs. While thinking about what kind of Grey we should get to buddy-up with Fisher, we thought, “Why not foster, Fisher wouldn’t mind.” Two words describe Fisher’s temperament: Laid Back!! He is so calm and accepting that getting any companion should work out just fine. During the Wednesday evening Greyhound walks around Woodbridge Lake, Roger learned he was pretty good at handling the spooks - those scared greyhounds. |
After talking things over, we entered the Southern California Greyhound Adoption League’s cadre of foster homes. The very next week we had our first foster, Manny, and a start to the newest adventure in our lives. We have been lucky enough to have had Manny, Dax, Mirror, Snowy, Fat Fanny, and Clayton pass through our care on their journey to their real homes. Our current resident foster, Bones, is a loving, black Grey with a great disposition, a Mr. Happy Tail. Over the next few weeks, we will get to introduce him to this big, wide, wonderful world. Perhaps, by the time you read this, Bones will have a home of his own. The experiences we had “marketing” Schnauzers, those many years ago, have helped us in presenting the Greys to potential new owners. Schnauzer puppies are cute and cuddly but they are also bundles of energy; bouncing off walls, pulling at a leash, and yappy barking is the norm. Greys are very different; calm and easy is the norm. Of course, there are exceptions, and we all know a few, but that is another story. A lovable face, coupled those big sad eyes aiming right into the hearts of a prospective victim… er owner takes little marketing effort on our part. A simple walk around the neighborhood or local park with our foster generates interest. We spend all the time necessary talking to folks about our Greys and explain what wonderful pets they make. We are always handing out Needle Nose Crew cards and inviting folks to visit a “Show and Tell”. Getting folks to adopt a Grey takes much less “selling” than trying to place 17 pups. Selling those Miniature Schnauzers was real work; the Greys sell themselves. The real lesson learned of the last 18 months is with so many dogs to rescue and adopt, breeding any dog for profit seems indefensible. We wish that the rescue and adoption programs had been well advertised 30 years ago. Instead of populating North Dakota with 17 dogs, we could have possibly saved 17 dogs. We now believe in and encourage adoption. Being a foster home for Greyhounds brings us special, emotional rewards. Those of us who foster these truly great animals know the satisfaction of finding one of our “children” a permanent home. If you are thinking about another Grey in your life, maybe you, too, can help get adoption-ready Greys introduced to the world. They need our help, and we have found that an extra Grey requires very little extra effort. Your reward will come when you see your foster Grey with a happy and excited new family. SPRING IS COMING We went through a winter with more rain than usual and find ourselves quickly moving into spring time. Of course, we doubt very many of us will object. We thought that an early reminder of some of the fun things expected during spring would be a great boost to morale. First on the agenda will be the start of our Wednesday evening walks which occur during Daylight Savings months. Our first walk will be April 6th. We meet in Irvine at Lake and Barranca in the Coco’s parking lot. We start out at 6PM and are usually finished walking around the north Woodbridge Lake by about 7PM. Often we have twenty or more greyhounds and their human companions taking part in the activity. |
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Please remember that although all breeds of dogs are welcome, many greyhounds are not small animal safe. It is the responsibility of each human companion to control and protect their own canines. Please consider joining us on any of the Wednesday evenings starting April 6th and ending October 26th. Everyone is welcome! Next on our list of springtime events will be the America’s Family Pet Expo at the Orange County Fairgrounds. This year the event will move out one weekend to April 15th, 16th and 17th. The Needle Nose Crew will have a double booth and be staffing morning, afternoon and evening shifts for each of the three days of the event. If you are interested in participating by volunteering at the NNC booth just e-mail your preference of shifts to gogreys@juno.com. Remember that giving us a first and second choice of shifts helps us staff our booth with the best combination of humans and greys. Let us hear from you! Last on our list of springtime activities are the reunion picnics that occur throughout the southland. Since many of you on the NNN mailing list have Retired Racers, we wanted to give you all a heads up on a reunion that is in the works. Linda Brown is working with the NNC and several of her faithful volunteers to put together an event that everyone will be welcome to attend. We are shooting for a location in the Los Angeles area that will be convenient for Retired Racers adopters and the bulk of the NNC members who are located in Orange County. We have also been sighting in on a good weekend and have come up with May 21st or 22nd. Nothing is set in concrete yet, but we will keep you all posted. In addition, please feel free to check out the new page on our web site for Community Events. This page will list those events, such as greyhound adoption group reunions, that the Needle Nose Crew will not be participating in but will be of interest to some greyhound guardians. Check it out and watch for future additions as the year progresses! ADDRESS LABELS The volunteers who put together the Needle Nose Notes spend quite some time making sure that the mailing list and labels are correct. We enjoy adding new greys to our labels and have heard from many members that they also enjoy seeing the newsletters addressed to greys as well as humans. As much as we edit, we do know that many grey listings are not up to date. So please, let us know if we need to change your greys’ information. We’re happy to do the updating. For those of you who have lost a beloved greyhound but would like to continue receiving the NNC, don’t let that stop you from contacting us with the information. We’re happy to continue to send a NNN copy out each month and are pleased that you would like to continue reading our articles and news each month. You can e-mail your updated information to gogreys@juno.com or call 949 552-1373. Either way we’ll be happy to hear from all of you.
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Submit an article for publication. Send your story and pictures to: Editor, Needle Nose Notes 4857 Royce Road, Irvine, CA 92612 or, e-mail to: |
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Contributions and donations are always welcome. Please send to: Needle Nose Crew P.O. Box 3012, Laguna Hills, CA 92654-3012 for more information e-mail to:
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