Week #7 – Friday?

Is it Friday yet? Usually, I love the sound of word, unfortunately the only thing that comes to mind just by hearing it is the new one hit wonder ‘Friday’ by Rebecca Black. I can honestly say that upon hearing the song, that went viral over night, I was instantly humming it in my head for the rest of the day, today, and probably tomorrow.  I’m always so entertained by what becomes quickly popular, despite the content. Lately, for instance, I have heard too many people around me make statements along of the lines of “I did this or that, which equals winning”, which can only bring one man to mind, Mr. Charlie Sheen.

However, while I am entertained, I now start to look at why and how these things become so popular. I feel that I am working pretty on becoming a more knowledgeable advocate for Greyhound adoption, and in doing so I would like to be able to raise more awareness about the cause on an individual level; not only for Janie, but for all Greyhounds.

I think the next step in this journey is to finally begin a topic for research. Since adopting Janie I have become very interested in learning more about Greyhound racing. I’m constantly reminded of the sport every time I go to rub her cute little ears that are both tattooed from her years as a racer. One ear is tattooed with her birth information and the other with her racing number. Almost like two little barcodes that owners use to tract the dog’s lineage. To me it just seems mean to do so to an animal. So at this point I can only make an emotional stance on the subject, which is just the thought of how these animals were treated only leads me to believe that dog racing is cruel and should be stopped. However, in my next few posts I think I will gather some more facts, ask around the Greyhound community, and find out what a day in the life of a racer was like. So stay tuned, and remember tomorrow is Thursday which means it will finally be Friday! (the humming begins again)

Week #6 – Couch Potato

Greyhounds, greyhounds, greyhounds! Hopefully everyone at this point can learn two things from my blog:

1. I am in love and completely adore my Greyhound Janie

2. I am continuing to learn the ups and downs that come from owning such a dog

Growing up, I was raised with small dogs like Shih Tzus and Chiuauas. Some obvious differences in those particular breeds compared to Greyhounds are that both are considerably smaller and for lack of a better term ‘yappier’.  I had mentioned in a previous blog that I did my research before choosing the Greyhound breed and initially many of the websites that I had looked at provided the basic positives and negatives. Which was all fine and dandy; however, I wanted information first hand from Greyhound owners.

Finally, after only a few minutes of searching I found what I was looking for. It was a forum for Greyhound lovers called GreyTalk. This forum allows individuals who register to participate by sharing pictures, events, information, and experiences about the breed. I learned so much very quickly. Particularly, I remember reading that Greyhounds are lovingly referred to as ‘couch potatoes’.  I couldn’t believe that these dogs, which were trained only to race, were any kind of lazy. Now, almost a year later, I can attest for that information to be very true.

Case and point. While Janie has been called an assortment of nicknames by myself and others, I most often refer to her as my ‘lazy Jane’. And that’s usually because 95% of the time you will find her curled up on her bed, or even on the couch just dozing away, most likely hoping that Skully is far away from disrupting her slumber. She even has a morning nap that takes place before I even leave for work!

Every morning I get up, take her out, feed her, and begin my morning routine. When I emerge from the bathroom ready to start my day, you could bet your bottom dollar that Janie is in her number one favorite bed – and that would be my bed. So allow me to depart with a one key piece of advice: if you have a full size bed or smaller, it’s time to upgrade, because these ‘couch potatoes’ love to hog the bed!

Week #5 – What I Like About You

 

It was the ‘face off’ of the year, well maybe not, but from the looks of it Janie and my roommate’s Dachshund Skully look like they mean business. When in reality, it was really just a perfect picture capturing a brief moment when Janie was actually able to chew her own treat.

Looking at this picture always makes me smile and today it provoked a thought. If you’re an animal lover or owner I’m sure at some point you’ve come across articles that ‘scientifically’ prove that pet owners look like their pets, or something along those lines. My thoughts today, however, drifted more towards the likeness between our pets and our personalities and relationships.  If you spent a day with all four of us (Myself, Janie, Skully and my roommate), I think you’d find that we are eerily quite the reflection personality wise of our animals.

My roommate and her “little rat”, as she so affectionately likes to calls him are carefree, outgoing, curious, and playful. All traits that are typical of the Dachshund breed. Janie and I on the other hand are a bit more reserved, timid at times, and are like walking emotional detectors; we can sense a change in a person’s emotions almost immediately.  And like Greyhounds, I am typically quite shy at first and hard to coax out of my shell, but once I’m comfortable it’s hard to shut me up, literally.

Anyhow, where I’m going with this is that I find it unique, a bit quirky, and oddly similar how Janie and Skully’s relationship progressed quite like my roommate and I’s.  While we quickly found it easy to bond over our dogs, like many dog owners do.  When we first met it took us a bit of time to get to know each other.  My roommate was this outgoing, loud girl with fantastic heels that I was a bit apprehensive about meeting, but after ‘forcing’ me to join her for Sushi more than once or even twice as I recall, we couldn’t have become better friends and obviously now roommates.

I think it’s safe to say that we are more of a reflection of the type of animals we own than we think; we may not look like them, but we probably reflect a few of their personality traits. For some of us that may not be a good thing, but its food for thought, or at least just a thought. So the next time your furry friend makes you laugh or gets on your nerves, take a moment and think, have you acted the same way?    

 Oh and has for the puppies, well let’s just say their learning to get along quite nicely…

Week # 4 – A Somber Weekend

I would have to say that it has been quite a weekend for Janie and I. Sadly, my grandmother passed away on Sunday and it’s been a rough week. My grandmother was a wonderful woman who I loved very much and someone I wish I would have spent more time with as I grew older. Now, I am left with many precious memories to wrap myself in when I miss her most.

Some of you may be surprised that I’m sharing such intimate details of my life on a blog. But when I started this blog I had one main goal: be honest. I think it’s important that I give my audience the same respect that I expect when reading other people’s blogs. Blogs can be as personal as a diary and an outlet for someone to express themselves in a way that at times can be better captured in writing than in a conversation. For me, I’ve always found it easier to express myself when writing, which was one of my main motivations for starting a blog. And as I’ve mentioned before this blog is as much about Janie as it is about me and our journey together. Beyond that, this blog is a place to share the special qualities and traits of Janie and Greyhounds.

As a Virgo, (guilty – I believe a bit in Zodiac signs), I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve. Oddly enough, however ‘oddly’ may not be the right word, I think Janie has sensed my somber mood over these past few days. While she normally sleeps on her own bed on the floor, the past few mornings she has quietly slithered her way onto my bed and I’ve woken up with her always wet nose against my neck. And since this isn’t the first time this has happened I have come to believe that Janie is quite intuitive. Yes I think many of us would like to think all dogs are, however, Greyhounds are one of the only breeds I have been around that can keep constant eye contact. Like a friend who knows when you need a hug, Janie always seems to have the same instinct. Instead, her hug is more of a head press into your chest and a quick lick on the face. It’s reassuring and gentle and over these past few days she has made me feel a bit more peaceful about life. I mean honestly, what more could you want in a best friend?

Week #3 – The “Happy” Tale

Walking into my townhouse a few days ago my roommate would have sworn that she had just walked into a crime scene. Beginning inside the front door, up the stairs, into the living room covering the walls and floors were splashes of blood. While she briefly expected to find an unidentified body somewhere in the living room, she instead found Janie, wagging her tale and as excited as she always is when someone comes home. However, on this particular day Janie was covered in blood and our other dog was nowhere to be found.

A few minutes later I received a call at work from my roommate frantically explaining that something had happened and that I needed to get home right away. I hastily explained the situation to my boss and rushed home in record time. When I walked in the door I was surprised by the amount of blood that covered the walls, I had hoped that in the heat of the moment my roommate was exaggerating the mess, but sure enough it looked like a murder had taken place. When I reached the top of the stairs I found my roommate examining Janie and looking completely puzzled. Janie was indeed covered in blood but because she is black it was hard to find the source, and at the time she didn’t seem hurt so she wasn’t exactly cooperating with our inspection of her body. A few minutes later we found our other dog hiding upstairs, all in one piece, clean of any blood, so we let him be and turned our attentions back to Janie. It wasn’t until I got Janie to hold still that I noticed a trail of blood dripping from her tail.

To make a long story short, my roommate and I immediately took Janie to the vet. Two staples, some glue, and lots of bandaging, Janie later emerged with the vet and a tail looking like this:

The vet explained that Janie’s tail injury is a common injury amongst breeds with long slender tails such as Greyhounds and Great Danes, and added that it would take a “while” to heal. What I didn’t know, until I got home and jumped right onto my computer was that that this injury had its own name, “Happy Tail” Syndrome. Reading through many of the Greyhound blogs that night I found that this was indeed quite common and had happened to many people that own Greyhounds. I felt relieved to be finding such information.

You see, the community of Greyhound owners and bloggers had helped me many times before, even before I got Janie. I was so intrigued by their presence online when I initially began my search for a dog that I can honestly say that it was because of the blogs filled with truthful information about the ups and downs of owning a Greyhound that I ultimately went with the breed. It was more than the blogs; it was an online community of people that I still feel connected with today. Even more so it can also be a support group, especially when I find yet another story of someone who’s experienced the same struggles as I have. I often find myself keeping up with these pages just to learn more about Janie, which is what I’ve set out to do in the first place. And hopefully by next post Janie’s “happy” tail will be a healed tail.

Week #2 -The Search

From the time that I had first moved to Virginia in September 2009 until this past May, I had begged my parents for a dog. Now I know that may sound silly, being that I should be old enough to make such decisions, but at that time I still relied heavily on my parents financial assistance. This meant that if I wanted a dog, I would need to convince them that it was a great idea.

My best argument at the time was that I had grown up with dogs and living by myself proved to be lonely and honestly boring. I was constantly calling my fiancé and parents complaining of my need for a dog. My parents argument, that until last May won over and over again, was that I couldn’t devote the proper time to raising a puppy. Reluctantly, I was forced to agree. I worked full time, I traveled on the weekends and I really had no experience in puppy training. But I was determined to have my way, which is one of my best traits being an only child.

So my search for the perfect companion began. I scoured the internet looking at every different breed. As a communications major I truly had to appreciate the ease at which I could log onto the internet and not only find websites, but blogs from various breed owners re-counting the ins and outs of owning a certain kind of dog. In the Cluetrain Manifesto Levine et al (2009) explains in regards to the internet how the “percentage of ‘raw’ content published, direct from a creators fingers to our eyes, is much higher than traditional media. The Web’s low cost of entry to publishers, both small and large, and the amount of unfiltered chat/newsgroup/e-mail text finding its way into search engines guarantees our daily browsing experience has a very strong flavor of individual authorship.” Levine goes on to say that “our heightened awareness of distinct individual voices engenders the urge to talk back, to engage, to converse.

It was through the internet and the ease of accessibility that brought me to many different blogs about Greyhounds. From reading people’s first hand experiences I was able to determine that a Greyhound would be the perfect pet. As I had mentioned in my first post, I hope this this blog will show why these animals make such great companions and, in particular, why Janie has made my life down in VA so enjoyable.