I notice that in a previous post I mentioned "the little dog." That got me wondering whether I've really said anything yet about my 2 roommates, both of whom have 4 legs.
Part of my silence has probably been because I have a hard time believing that any strangers are actually reading this, and my friends already know about my girls. LOL
After years of living alone, in May 2003 I gave into a 5-year dream, and adopted a retired racing greyhound named Angie. She came from a greyhound adoption group here in the Atlanta area, and was not just a retired racer, but also a retired brood mama. That means she was older than the average retired greyhound when she moved in with me. Most greys retire from racing at anywhere between 2-5 years old (it depends on how well they raced). Angie was 10 when she moved in with me, and we celebrated her 12th birthday last month. That's her picture out on the front page of the blog. She doesn't really look 12, does she? Oh wait - she was only 11 when I took that picture last year. Even so.... when I look at her today, her muzzle is a little whiter, but that's really the only sign of age that I can see, besides the days when her arthritis flares up.
Angie settled in nicely to her new life as a couch potato, and resigned herself to riding in the front seat of my little Ford Ranger (not extended cab). Then, almost a year later, I brought another dog home. Jessie is also a senior at 11 years old, but she's an Italian Greyhound (IG). They're sometimes called miniature greyhounds. I'm her permanent foster mom, because I really wanted to give her a home, but she's on some daily meds for the rest of her life, and I was concerned about being able to keep them up while I'm unemployed. Once I'm working again, I'l lofficially adopt her, and then I'll be responsible for her meds, but for right now, I give her a home, and the local IG adoption group pays her vet bills and buys her meds.
The 2 girls get along together, and I can fit them both in the cab of the truck for short trips, so it works out. But since the trip home was over 600 miles each way, I just took Jessie, and left Angie with the dog-sitter. When I'm working again, I'm going to look for an inexpensive station wagon as a second car, to make it easier to transport the girls to the vet and the dog-sitter, etc.
And this weekend, I'm looking at adding a 3rd dog to the pack. May is a very sweet, very shy, 5-year old black retired greyhound. I've resisted this since last May, but she hasn't been adopted yet, and in January she'll have been with our group for a year. Not only that, but she loves me (I dog-sit for my adoption group), and has half-way bonded to me already. I'm told that the last time I visited my group prez, after I left, this sweet pup laid down by the door where I left, and just whined. When she told me that, my heart melted, and I knew that we just need to bite the bullet and make it happen, if we can.
So I'm bringing her home this weekend, to see how she does in my own home, with my dogs on their own turf. If she can handle it, and doesn't freak out when left alone, I'll be her foster mom for awhile, and as soon as my life stabilizes, I'll adopt her.
I'll try to post pictures later.
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