Galgo virtual adoption

The Scooby rescue group mentioned in the previous post has a program where people can virtually adopt a galgo. This is a pretty nice idea. For a reasonable fee, you can "adopt" a galgo at their rescue sanctuary and your fee pays for the care of the galgo. In exchange you will receive photos and news about "your" galgo. We can't bring all the galgos to the U.S. and we aren't all in a position to actually adopt one, so a virtual adoption as they call it, is the next best thing. It is similiar to the programs many zoos have where you can sponsor an animal. They also suggest "giving" a galgo in the form of a virtual adoption as a birthday present to someone else who cares about animals. Not a bad idea at all. In thinking about what we can do to help, we thought that one of the best things we can do for now is to let as many people know about the plight of the galgos as possible, and we will use this blog to do so. The more people that know, the sooner we can bring an end to this. The picture is of a galgo they have up for virtual adoption named Socrates. More dogs are on their website. On a lighter note, Greyhound Rescue has a new load of greyhounds in and they are up on the website. That means another foster dog should be in our near future. We are looking forward to that. We will also be at our meet and greet tomorrow at PetSmart from 11-2. Come out and see us!

Dewey Beach

Once again the Dewey Beach weekend has come and gone. This was our ninth year going to Dewey. We never get tired of making the trip and we always have a fantastic time when we are there. As always, we met many great new people and saw old friends there. A bunch of us from Greyhound Rescue met for dinner and it was nice to see everybody. And of course, we picked up the necessary greyhound gear at the vendors to get us through the next year. Who needs department stores when you can buy all your clothes(ok, not actually all of them) at Dewey? My family still can't figure out why every shirt I own has a greyhound on it. All in all it was a great weekend and the weather couldn't have been better. We can't wait to go back next year. On a more serious note, while we were in one of the stores, we met a woman who works with Scooby, which is a leading organization working for the rescue of Galgos(Spanish Greyhounds). Galgos are nearly identical to English Greyhounds and are in a terrible plight in Spain. It seems that the attitudes of the Spanish are entirely different than ours when it comes to animal welfare. Galgos are used in the competitive sport of coursing in Spain. At the end of each coursing season, most of the Galgos are killed, and they suffer a most painful and gruesome death. The preferred method of death is by hanging the Galgos by wire from trees. Truely unbelievable, and absolutely true. We first learned about this some years ago and were reminded about this by meeting this woman. I am not sure how much we can do on this side of the Atlantic, but I am going to put my thinking cap on to see if there anyway we can help these people who are working so hard to stop this senseless slaughter. Here is the link to the Scooby website so you can read for yourself what is going on. http://www.scoobymedina.com/home_en.htm

Annual Picnic Rocked!

We had our annual GRI picnic last weekend and it was fantastic! We had a great turnout and Downs Park was a perfect place to have it. The hounds and the people all enjoyed the park and enjoyed walking alongside the Chesapeake Bay. What a nice day it was. Foster mom and dad also were thrilled to see some of our former fosters at the picnic with their families. Gunner, All Star, and Star Flight all made appearances, to name a few. Nothing makes us happier than to see our former foster dogs thriving in their forever homes. All Star's(now named Hero) family made a long trip up from Virginia to come to the picnic and we were so happy to see them. Denise put on quite a great picnic and we can't wait until next year. We are getting a short break from fostering as everyone is gearing up for Dewey Beach, and the next load of dogs comes in right after that event. We can't wait for our next foster dog. We hope everyone had a great time at the picnic and we hope to see everyone at Dewey!

Lonesome Joanie-Adopted!!!!

Lonesome Joanie will never be lonesome again. Today her forever family came and adopted her! Joanie is moving to Baltimore City and is going to partake in all the nightlife and fun things the city has to offer. She is going to have some blue crabs in Fells Point, take a walk around Federal Hill, tour Fort McHenry, and be the happening girl that she is. We couldn't be happier for her. Joanie has been a pleasure to have at our home and we will miss her. If she ever needs a place to rest her paws, we will always leave a light on for her. Happy trails Joanie! We love you and we will miss you. We hope to see you at the annual picnic!

Dodged a bullet

Tropical storm Hanna came and went yesterday and we got pretty lucky. We received less than two inches of rain and very little wind, so no harm was done. Others weren't so lucky. While it was raining I worked on the blog and added more greyhound related blogs to the blog list. I encourage anyone considering adopting a greyhound to check some of them out as they will give you a good idea of what it is like to live with a greyhound. Some of them are pretty entertaining. If you know of any other greyhound blogs I should have listed that would be useful or just fun to read, please let me know by leaving a comment. Joanie is enjoying the day and is getting ready to watch her first football game today. She has a purple collar on, so she must be a Ravens fan. She will probably wonder why we get excited watching the human players run so slowly. Here is a photo of Joanie keeping me company while I update this blog.

Riding the storm out

Tropical storm Hanna is paying us a visit today. The worst of it should be here in a couple of hours but fortunately for us the eye of the storm will pass to the southeast of us, sparing us the worst of it. So far it has been raining pretty hard on and off, but nothing too crazy so far. We have all our storm supplies ready and will spend the rest of they day inside. The greyhounds are just relaxing as if it is just another day. Nothing ever seems to bother them. Joanie isn't rattled at all by all the rain. She is just sleeping like she does most of the time...typical greyhound! Joanie is a terrific greyhound and she has endeared herself to her foster family. Here are a few more pictures of her and our dog Snoops riding out the storm. The picture of Snopps on the couch was taken the other day. I just thought is was a funny picture and it shows what you can expect when you adopt a greyhound. I have been working on the blog today and added a guestbook. Please feel free to sign it!

Joanie-Doing a great job!

Joanie has been with us for a week and a half now and she is doing a great job as a foster dog. She certainly deserves an A. She runs the stairs like a champ and knows the daily routine just as if she were a resident hound. She eats very well although she is not completely weaned off of wet food. We give her a dollop of wet food, such as Alpo, with her dry kibble as she still expects that. Soon she should be fully weaned off of the wet food. She has had no accidents in the house and she sleeps with the family. We are really pleased with how well she has done. Her personality is coming out a little more each day and we like what we see. She is friendly and playful but not overbearing at all. She follows us around the house but behaves herself very well. I did catch her stealing and playing with shoes from the closet so she can be a little dickens too. She is a terrific all purpose hound and she deserves a great home. If you would like to meet Joanie and let her brighten all of your days, please contact Denise Davis.