How Greyhounds Became a Part of My Life

How Greyhounds Became a Part of My Life

I was inducted into the wonderful world of greyhounds in January of 1996 when my family adopted our first greyhound. We were told his name was "Igor," but his wonderful spirit soon found him a new name -- Dasher -- in honor of both his wonderful ability for speed and our wonderful love of the Holiday Season (think reindeer!). The Friday evening we brought him home was the beginning of the great Blizzard of 1996. It snowed so much that it shut down the state of New Jersey. With no school and no work, Dasher and I bundled up and took many long walks. He absolutely loved the snow! He even stood patiently while I shoveled an elderly woman's sidewalk and porch so that she could safely open her front door.
During his time with us, Dasher blossomed into a wonderful friend. Why he had been named "Igor" was apparent to others -- he had scars on his face, a bald spot on his shoulder, nearly no hair on his chest, belly and bottom, and 1/4 of his right ear was gone. To us, Dasher was the most beautiful dog in the world, because his beauty was on the inside. Dasher spent his time with us making us laugh and teaching us what love truly is. Unfortunately, we lost Dasher to kidney failure in November of 1997. He was put to sleep at our vet's office and passed away in my arms. It snowed that day, as it had on the day he came to us.

Two years later, in the fall of 1999, I decided that it was time that I share Dasher's story with the world. While I was compiling information about greyhounds that would be useful to potential greyhound adopters, I came across the site for Greyhound Adoption Service in Salisbury, Mass. I was taken in my a sweet pair of loving greyhound eyes. As a family, we decided that it was time to once again be owned by a greyhound so we traveled 6 hours from our home in New Jersey to the kennel in Massachusetts over Thanksgiving weekend. Then came the dilemma...do we adopt a grown greyhound or one of the puppies from a recently rescued litter? Well, I couldn't imagine leaving without "Andy" -- he stole my heart. He was perfect with our senior wonder dog (a 12 lb. Bichon Frise/Toy Poodle mix) and fine did very well around the many kitties during his cat test. The puppy, however, seemed like a wonderful opportunity -- and her mother was a sweetie. As I held the tiny, 11 day old puppy in my hands I knew that choosing between "Andy" and the puppy was going to be a very difficult decision.
Two greyhounds in our home had not been discussed, but my Mom was equally as torn over having to make the decision between Andy, who seemed so perfect for our family, and the tiny puppy, who somehow seemed destined to be with us from the moment my Mom first held her. We talked it over and decided it was within our budget to have two greyhounds added to our family.
Needless to say, "Andy" (racing name: JRP Anniversary) came home with us that night. If there were any lingering doubts about whether we made the right decision by adopting "Andy," they disappeared completely when he immediately curled up with me in the back seat of our small car and put his head on my lap as if he had been a part of our family all of his life. The puppy, Vixen, came home with us several weeks later when she was 9 1/2 weeks old. She is an absolute sweetheart, even when she is causing trouble. Vixen is smart, sweet, playful, and bit of a clown. She positively adores her big brother, Prancer (he perked up at being called "Prancer" after not responding to anything close to "Andy" or "Anniversary") and he is wonderful with her. He is stern when she does something she should not do and loving when she is being a good girl. From the day we brought her home Prancer was very much like a surrogate mother and taught her what she needed to know about being a noble, well-behaved greyhound.

Back to Jennifer's Greyhound Page
Jennifer's Greyhound Page/ Dasher's Story/More Dasher Pics/Prancer's Page/Prancer's Pictures/Vixen's Page/Vixen's Progress/Greyhound Links/Meet the Furkids/Our Greyhound Travels

Copyright © 1999 - 2001 Jennifer Costa