My Mom, the racer!

My Mom and my Dad did a 5K race last Saturday for the Red Cross. They said the Red Cross was nice to our family when there was an accident two years ago. They want to do one 5K race every month for different causes and to get some exercise.

My Mom did good in the race and the newspaper took a picture of her and put it on the front page! That’s right, she was on the front page and lots of people saw it. They said it was a “Fantastic Finish.” My mom looked cute in the paper, and she didn’t try to win the race like me—she just wanted to get healthy.

It’s okay when people do races, because they want to—it’s their choice. Us greyhounds don’t have a choice; the people who race greyhounds for money tell us we have to or we get yelled at. They say, “Go Sky, run faster.” I tried telling the people I was going as fast as I could go! I am Sky, not Jimmy John’s.

If we don’t run fast enough and win the race, then they don’t love us anymore and don’t care what happens to us. They don’t want to be our friends or feed us if we can’t win races.

Thank goodness rescue groups come get us because they give us to homes that love us and don’t care if we can win the race. I don’t care if mom wins the race either. I love her either way.

Seeing my Mom in the paper is pretty cool. I give it 4.0 roos.

Happy Anniversary!

On April 4, we celebrated my one year anniversary of my new family. That might not seem like a long time to you—but that is seven dog years to me!

I will always remember the day I got my new home; it was the day before my Mom’s birthday. That’s what she wanted for her birthday, a retired racer like me!

When I first came to my new family, I was real shy and tried to be real good and not get into trouble. I sat quietly in my bed to see if they liked me. I didn’t ask for any treats, and I stayed out of the kitchen and off the furniture. But I am not shy anymore, I like to run around and dance and roo. I think my family loves me. They always say they love me—and give me hugs and kisses. I think Petey even loves me!

It has gone so fast, I can’t believe it. It seems like yesterday. Now I have a nice family and I hope they are going to keep me forever—I think they will.

I am so happy ESGAO took good care of me and found me a new home!

Anniversaries are fun, I give it 4.5 roos!

A Murder Scene!

So we’re just sitting around last Tuesday when Mom comes home and says that me and Petey are going for a ride. I didn’t know where we were going, it was kind of yucky out for a walk, but I always like a ride so I was excited. Dad picked us up and off we went. Guess where we went . . . the vet! Right then and there I am thinking 0 roos, cause I wasn’t feeling sick or anything. Why I am going to see the vet?

I like the vet well enough, but they are always doing things to me—sticking me with needles, looking in my ears, my mouth (and other places). Turns out this time I was just there to get my nails clipped. No big deal, I thought. So I go in the back area and they do their thing. Clip, clip . . . a couple hurt, but I thought I was okay. I was being a good boy and not causing a fuss.

After I finished, I get into the car and Dad looks at Mom and says, “Look, there’s blood everywhere!” I did not know how the blood got there . . . until I saw my paw. It’s my blood! Mom rushed me back in there to see the vet. Mom also saw that there was blood in the parking lot . . . she told the vet it looked like “a murder scene!”

“A murder scene! Did the vet try to murder me?” I asked myself.

What did I ever do to the vet; aren’t they supposed to be nice to us pets? Mom and Dad paid the bill, so they weren’t roughin’ me up for money. Why would anyone want to murder me? I am a nice dog with funny ears that makes people laugh.

Turns out the vet wasn’t trying to murder me, they just didn’t do a good job clipping my nails. They cut my nail way too short and I bled a lot. Whew! It’s good to be alive!

Going to the vet is 0 roos and nearly being murdered is 0 roos.

Pit bulls and Parolees

Me, Mom and Petey have been watching “Pit bulls and Parolees” on the television. Dad doesn’t watch much cause he’s afraid he’ll see dogs who have been mistreated and that will make him sad. A couple of times Dad came in the room and we were all crying, but they are usually happy tears when a nice pit bull gets rescued or gets a treat.

Petey is an American bulldog mix; he is part of the bulldog family and has a big square head. The lady on the show said she likes all bulldogs. Pit bulls are often mistreated by people. They make them fight and hurt each other. And, if a dog is no good at fighting, they will sometimes just kill them or let them die. People bet on the dogs and who will win the fight, just like people bet to see which of us greyhounds will run the fastest.

The pit bulls are such loving dogs. They like playing with each other and lying around together. They love their owners, they don’t want to fight. People make them fight by doing bad things to them. Some people think that’s okay, but me, Mom, Dad and Petey don’t think it is okay. It’s against the law, and if you know of anyone making a pit bull fight, or hurting a dog, you should call the policeman.

It’s a good show and they do lots of good for the pit bulls, but bad people hurting dogs gets 0 roos.

Please, no touching!

Me, Mom, Dad and Petey took advantage of the nice weather last week and took a walk at the Beaver Creek Park. It was so nice and warm; I can’t wait until it is like that every day. We loaded up the car and got all hooked with our leashes and off we went. Petey must like the warm weather because he was doing good with his legs on the walk. He was having fun; he likes walks almost as much as I do.

There were a lot of other dogs out too, and Mom stopped to talk to this one dog who was walking his human. He was so cute, he looked like Petey a little, but bigger. And he was only two years old, that’s half as old as me, and so he did not know how to be a good dog yet. He was so excited to meet me.

We were just sniffing each other like we do, and our humans were talking when this young dog starts getting frisky with me. I liked this guy, but I don’t like other dogs touching me. When he jumped up on me, I had to give him a piece of my mind. I gave him a good roo and then walked away like the bigger dog. I was just warning him that he shouldn’t be doing that—that other dogs don’t like that so much. It’s not polite—sniffing is okay, but no touching.

But other than that, we had lots of fun. I was so tired when I got home. That’s a tough walk, there are hills and everything. We even got to go down and see the stream for few minutes. I got right in the stream, I don’t mind the water. I slept the rest of the day and all night. Petey too, he didn’t go upstairs all night.

Walks are always 5 roos, even if a young dog gets a little too friendly.

Special Treats

Petey is getting older and his legs hurt sometimes. The vet said he has arthritis and gave him some special medicine. Mom and Dad also bought him special treats; they’re supposed to help his joints. When we’re good boys and get treats, I get a normal treat and Petey gets a special treat.

Well I decided I wanted some special treats too! I have joints. So when Mom and Dad weren’t looking I got on the counter and opened the box of treats and ate some! I thought I was being sneaky cause I didn’t pull the container down, I just put my nose in there and started eating them.

But Dad came in the kitchen and figured out what I had done. He knew many of the treats were gone and he knows Petey can’t reach that high. I am a big dog and that gave me away. I tried telling Dad that I got them down for Petey, cause he was sore, but that didn’t fool Dad—he knew I ate them. Dad called Mom to find out how many I ate to make sure I didn’t get sick. I am not supposed to eat stuff off the counter without asking. Mom and Dad decided to keep the special treats in the cupboard so I can’t get them anymore.

I shouldn’t eat Petey’s special treats off the counter, that’s not very nice and I won’t do it again. But they were good, 2 roos.

Hope springs eternal

Me and Mom and Dad are about tired of winter. We want it to be spring as soon as possible. We’ve been gloomy and spring makes everyone happy.

My Dad has had a rough winter lately and has been pretty depressed. First he hurt his leg, then he was sad for a few days. Then when he wasn’t sad no more, his foot started to hurt and then his other foot hurt too. And then when he was better from that, he got sick.

He said he can’t catch “a break.” He said people who work hard and do nice things are supposed to have good things happen to them. But sometimes that doesn’t always happen. He said you just have to keep trying and never give up. Mom gives Dad support and tells him to keep his chin up.

I told Dad I’d help him too. I said just tell me what “a break” looks like and I’ll catch him. I’m fast, probably faster than “a break.” How fast can “a break” be anyways? I’ll go get him for my Dad and then he’ll be happy. Dad said breaks are fleeting and hard to catch, even if you see one.

Maybe good things will start happening in the spring and it’ll make everyone happy. Maybe if we all roo real loud, Mother Nature will hear us and make spring come sooner. Let’s give 5 roos for spring.

My new logo!

Hey folks, I have a new logo. Ms. Suzie Collins likes us greyhounds and she made this logo for me to advertise my blog. I hope people will see my new logo and want to come see my blog and read about the things going on in my life. I like saying things about what it is like to be a retired greyhound living with a new family. I have some good jokes too! And hilarious ears! This is the place for fun! I hope people will like me and want to adopt a greyhound too.

New logos are fun, I give it 4.0 roos.

One step at a time!

When us greyhounds come off the tracks, sometimes we have to learn things that most dogs learn as puppies—like about glass windows and how to walk up stairs. That’s why we go to foster homes, so we can learn that stuff before we get adopted by nice families.

I am good at going up stairs . . . but I have a system. First thing I have to do is square myself up with the stairs. Petey goes flying around the corners, but I take it straight and slow. Then I take my left paw and put it on the first stair. After a moment to collect my thoughts and remember what I learned about going up stairs, I take my right paw and put it on the first stair too. By then, Petey is all the way up the stairs and is laughing at me. After another short pause, I take my right paw again and go up to the second stair. From there, I have my confidence and I go up the rest of the stairs like other dogs.

It’s a good system and people can tell other greyhounds how I do it if they want to. Petey might laugh at me for being so slow, but the other day he went running up the deck stairs and slipped and crashed his head. He was shaken up, I could tell, he made a big “thud” and Dad had to bring him in through the other door. Good thing Petey has a big hard head. He was okay after a few minutes. Petey is all grown up; he should know to be more careful. Mom and Dad always say, “Easy, slow down Petey,” but Petey didn’t listen and must have been excited to go in the house. Maybe he thought he was going to get a treat.

I say take your time and be safe. Falling down the stairs probably hurts really badly. I hope I never find out. Learning how to be a dog is fun, I give it 3.5 roos.

Rooing Competition

Some people don’t know, but us Greyhounds “roo” when we are excited, being silly or when we want something. It’s fun and we can’t control ourselves. People like it and when they want us to do our roos, they will try to roo. Most of the time we’ll roo back to play along and be silly.

But people can’t roo as good as greyhounds.

The other day, Dad was rooing and he was trying to roo better than me! He was challenging me and I had to show him who was the better rooer.

Dad and me were playing and I would do one roo and Dad would do one roo. Then I would do three roos and Dad would do three roos. I even did three and a half roos—and half roos are hard to do—and Dad even did that. Right then I knew this was a serious competition. I bet the neighbors could hear us and wondered what the heck was going on. We were rooing very loud.

Finally, I got really close to Dad, almost nose to nose, looked him in the eyes, and gave out a bunch of loud roos. I don’t know how many, exactly—but no more than five roos. That’s the best. Mom was smiling and Petey was laughing. Dad knew I was the winner, that he couldn’t roo as good as me. Greyhounds roo better than people. Rooing competitions are fun. 4.5 roos.