Anda One, Anda Two, Anda Three?

This past weekend the kids and I enjoyed ourselves at the Maine Greyhound Placement Service’s annual Open House. This year they are celebrating their 20th anniversary. As we usually do, we spent a lot of money, brought home new collars, ate our fair share of grilled meat and we even won one of the raffle prizes.

I happened to be speaking with Scott Bruns who founded MGPS. He has a wonderful grey named Cider. 


This is Cider visiting our friend Pat

This handsome fawn boy is ginormous. He is almost as big as a Great Dane. And he is utterly bonded to Scott. If Scott leaves Cider’s sight for even 30 seconds, it is a huge party when Scott comes back. Cider celebrates as if Scott had been gone for years.

When Cider arrived at MGPS, he was all the talk amongst volunteers. It was thus that he came to my attention. Carol, Blue and Bettina’s Auntie and our friend, volunteers at MGPS. From time to time she lets me know about special greys that arrive at the center. She knows my deep dark secret. That I long for a third greyhound. I’ve been thinking about what life might be like if we added a third greyhound to our family for years.

There always seems to be a very good reason why I shouldn’t do it. At first my car was so tiny we could barely fit two greyhounds in the back. Then that car caught on fire and we got a great new greyhound mobile (Honda Element, best dog car ever). Plenty of room for a third and possibly even a fourth greyhound in there.



Blue joins in the group roo

 Then Girly Girl got ill and our savings was wiped out. Money was tight. The price of everything was going up but due to the economy, no ones wages were. Lately those worries have eased a bit and I’ve actually started to rebuild some savings even though we’re a long way from recovering from Girly Girl’s medical bills. I still live in fear that Blue or Bettina gets that diagnosis.

Still Cider was pretty special so Carol told me about him. I obsessed over Mr. Cider for a number of weeks. I had, against all good sense decided to call and make an appointment to see him. The next day I found out that Scott had adopted him. Cider is so clearly happy in his life with Scott; it’s hard to be sad about that missed opportunity.

I shared that story with Scott and he asked if I had been thinking about adding a third greyhound. He told me about a sweet female who was currently onsite but not in the general adoption population currently. She was earmarked to go to someone who already owned or had owned greyhounds. My stomach knotted up.


Blue has a spa treatment at Open House

  My heart wanted a third hound. I always thought it would be another big dopey boy but a loving little female would be good to. There were still some obstacles but this was probably the best time there ever had been for adding a third baby. I asked Scott if I could see her when he had a moment.

Not long after that, he was placing a leash in my hand and I was walking this little peanut. She was just out of the kennel so she was wound up a bit. And she was overwhelmed by all the people, noise and commotion of the Open House. I took her for a little walk outside and away from the crowd. She wanted to check everything out. But for a few moments she’d come and bury her head into my chest for a snuggle. Or she’d lean against me when something frightened her. We walked over to the ex-pen under the shade of the trees to say hi to Blue and Bettina. Oddly, neither Blue, nor Bettina got up from their prone position to greet a new greyhound. They lay there looking at me and then at her. No wagging tails, no baring of teeth, no reaction what-so-ever.

We walked around a little more and I sat on the grass next to her. I asked her flat out if she was meant to come home with me.  This is a question I've asked each greyhound who joined my famiy.  I wasn’t sure in my own heart. I didn’t want to preclude something just because I was a little worried about whether or not I should get a third hound.  I have never had a clearer answer. I heard her in my head as though she were speaking to me in English. “You are not my person.”

I am pretty sure I have the cutest greyhounds ever, but maybe
two are good for the time being.

I walked her around a little more. I asked her again. I got the same reply. With a heavy heart I brought her back to Scott. Now did I really get a message from this greyhound? I don’t discount the possibility. But it also may have been a message from my brain speaking to me in the guise of a little greyhound. Or perhaps they were both speaking to me.

The end result was the same. We enjoyed the Open House. We won a new dog bed! My heart still has its little secret wish. Given how special the little female grey was, I have no doubt she will shortly find a great home with people who know and love greyhounds already. And someday, maybe someday, Carol will let me know about a great new arrival at the kennel who will tell me just as clearly that I AM his (her?) person.

The Queen is Dead. Long Live the Queen.

From time to time I still write a piece about my heart dog Girly Girl. Losing her to osteosarcoma was incredibly painful and I think about her every day since she left me. Sometimes the pain of that loss is closer to the surface than others. This past weekend was one of those times. 

Maisey at MGPS' Annual Open House

Maine Greyhound Placement Service held its annual open house. Girly Girl was my first hound and I remember the day she picked me when I paid a visit there like it all happened just yesterday. Part of the open house weekend is about remembering and honoring all our hounds that crossed the bridge. So I guess it isn’t surprising that that wound felt like it had been ripped open yet again.



But the annual open house is also a time when I can count on seeing Maisey. Maisey is a beautiful brindle girl who was known as Nita’s Daisy during her racing days. Maisey has adopted a wonderful family who loves her quite a lot. Maisey also happens to be a near twin to my sweet Girly Girl. It’s not chance that they have such a strong resemblance. Girly Girl was known as Nita’s Girlygirl when she was racing. They came from the same breeder. Girly Girl was born in February of 2003 and Maisey was born in May of 2003. Amazingly they didn’t share the same mother or father but they do share the same grandfather and great-grandfather. They are the spitting image of their great-grandfather HB’s Commander.

Maisey and Girly Girl both raced out of the same kennel in Birmingham Alabama. Both ladies were good racers and both retired from racing in 2006 (April for Girly Girl, December for Maisey) due to a hock fracture of the same leg. I am not sure if they ever raced each other, but they did meet in retirement at various meet and greets here in Maine.

Maisey has a personality and temperament strikingly similar to Girly Girl’s as well. Both hounds are/were reserved. Not really shy, just private. Maisey does not fawn on people and she chooses very carefully who she will love. The list is not long. The rest of us, she tolerates. Girly Girl was exactly the same. Maisey’s family and I noticed at our very first meeting how alike the girls were and we have a special bond thanks to these sisters from another mother.

Girly Girl with Blue

But most importantly for me is that Maisey is still here. I would give just about anything to have Girly Girl back. But I know that can never happen. Still, I get to see what my girl would have looked like and been like as she aged by spending time with Maisey. I can see that my girl would have been the most spectacular old lady, just as Maisey is becoming. While I am not on Maisey’s short list of people she loves (wouldn’t that have been too perfect), she does allow me be in her presence and that is enough. While Maisey still exists, it feels like a little piece of my girl still has a toe hold in this world. Long live the Queen.