Tom Edelson: Greyhounds

My Dog Died

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:20:24 GMT

Toofus was a fifteen-year-old retired racing greyhound, who had been part of my household for five and a half years. Fifteen is really old: the median longevity of the breed is a little more than thirteen years. He had various health problems, particularly gradual loss of some of the function of the hind legs; so I knew that he was slowing down, and that I should not be surprised if he came to the end of the road within the next year, or even in any given month. But there was nothing acute, nothing to indicate that it was imminent ....

... until 5 am on Sunday, October 12, when I was awakened by noises, and went and found that things were a good deal worse. He had fallen, struggled to get up, and fallen again -- several times, apparently, because all four legs had places where skin had come off as he staggered against the legs of the dining room table.

This was on a hard-floored surface. When I got him on to the carpet, he was able to stand and walk. But shakily.

I began to face the question of whether it was time to euthanize him. I talked to various people on the phone.

Meanwhile, I was observing that he was somewhat stabilized, but not showing any signs of returning to the previous day's level of functioning. He could get up, and walk around some; but he fell down several more times.

I became more or less clear that it was the right thing to let him go, to "send him to Rainbow Bridge", as the current expression has it; but I thought that it could wait for the next day, when the regular veterinarians would be open. Then, in the evening, it got worse yet: he fell down again, and, after twenty minutes, had not made any attempt to get up. So then it became clear, intellectually but also emotionally, that the more merciful thing was to grant him his honorable discharge, and do it quickly.

I ended up using a "pet ambulance" service to get him to the Cary pet emergency clinic. He was given the lethal injection, an overdose of a sedative, at about 11 pm. It was over in less than a minute.

I cried some, there and then. The next day, I was sad, but not intensely so; I was at peace with my decision. However, a month later, I am under no illusion that I am done grieving.

I loved that dog.

Categorie(s) for this post:

Greyhounds

Just plain Frazz

Tue, 01 May 2007 15:48:36 GMT

An update of last Friday's post: Saturday's strip, which can be viewed online here, also features Mario the Greyhound, and I guess this strip is really "about" Greyhounds: it purports to establish, by two different arguments, that Greyhounds are smarter than humans. (Love them though I do, I don't really buy that particular conclusion.)

The sequence of consecutive appearances was broken after those two (April 27 and 28), though. The author, Jef Mallett, probably just didn't think of any more hound-related punchlines right away.

The URL which will always show you the then-current Frazz strip is http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/.

Tempting though it might be, I don't think the community should, ahem, hound him for more Greyhound-related strips. The muse strikes when it strikes.

Categorie(s) for this post include: Greyhounds.

Frazz 'n the Hound

Sat, 28 Apr 2007 00:51:20 GMT

So this morning, I'm looking at our Raleigh newspaper, the News & Observer. I don't always look at the comics, but today I did, and it's a lucky thing. There's "Frazz", the comic about a musician who works as an elementary school janitor. He's out for a walk with his lady friend, and what does she have on a leash? You guessed it: a retired racing Greyhound.

What's that? You don't live in the N&O's circulation area? Or you're reading this too late to pick up a copy for today, April 27, 2007? Don't worry about a thing. This is a full-service blog, and I have spared no effort in tracking down the strip online. Here's a link which should bring it up, for the next thirty days, at least: http://www.comics.com/comics/frazz/archive/frazz-20070427.html.

Alerted by today's strip to the fact that the author knows a little somethin' somethin' about Greys, I searched further, and found another Frazz strip where the same dog is spoken of, but not seen. It's on the page at Cafepress.com where you can shop for t-shirts and things with Frazz strips printed on them: http://www.cafepress.com/cp/category.aspx?category=fzstripdesigns&storeid=frazz&type=strip. Look at the last color strip on that page.

But neither of those strips is exactly about Greyhounds. Ah, but I've saved the best for last. I found a third example of a Frazz strip, this one with the hound actually in it again ... and to me, this one's considerably the most likely to bring a smile to the heart of anyone who knows Greyhounds.

This one has also remained online longer than either of the others, and likely will be there for a while: it's been fossilized, so to speak, by being reprinted in the newsletter of a Greyhound rescue organization, Greyhounds Only, Inc., of the Chicago area. You can download a PDF file containing the appropriate issue of their newsletter (namely, Fall 2003) from this URL: http://www.greyhoundsonly.com/news%20letter/GOIncFall2003.pdf. You'll find the strip (and confirmation that its author, Jef Mallett, is a Greyhound person) on page five.

Happy hunting!

Categorie(s) for this post: Greyhounds.

Her Majesty's Hounds

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 22:13:11 GMT

The North Carolina Renaissance Faire, at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, has one more weekend left in its run this year: this coming Saturday and Sunday, April 14 and 15. By all means, go! It's good fun.

And stop by the pavilion of Her Majesty's Hounds, a group which promotes the adoption of retired racing Greyhounds. I believe (based on my visit last weekend) that you'll find them located just to the left of the Royal Court.

What, you might be wondering, is a Greyhound adoption group doing at a renaissance faire? Actually, it's very logical; in fact, the concept is downright brilliant. In the times of England's Elizabeth I (which is what this faire, at least, means by "renaissance"), Greyhounds were greatly favored by the nobility; this included the Queen herself, who is said to have owned about two hundred of the hounds. They were used in the sport of "coursing", in which a brace of hounds [that means two of them] would be loosed to chase after a hare, to see which one would catch it and, um, kill it. (Though sometimes, neither did: the use of only two hounds at a time was prescribed by Her Majesty, and intended to give the hare a "sporting chance".) Another sense of "sporting" that applied to the activity was that the ladies and gentlemen were accustomed to bet, sometimes large sums, on the outcome.

It is from this sixteenth-century practice that the modern, American form of Greyhound racing evolved. And Greyhound racing, in turn, gives rise to the need for active Greyhound adoption groups. Every year, thousands of Greyhounds are retired from racing. Some have been injured, but most have simply become too old to be competitive.

And before the Greyhound adoption movement began, those thousands of dogs, each year, were simply euthanized. Some of them still are: nowadays, the adoption groups find homes for a majority, but rarely, if ever, for all of them. So, the volunteer dog lovers who make up the adoption movement are always desirous of finding ways to make more of the public aware of the advantages of adopting a retired racing Greyhound.

Which brings us back to this particular group, "Her Majesty's Hounds", and what a special contribution it is able to make to this public awareness. Any Greyhound group can hold a "meet and greet" in front of the local branch of Mammoth Pets. At such an event, they can talk to you about what great pets these dogs make; and they can let you interact with some of their hounds, which will be standing quietly, or lying on dog beds, on the concrete.

(I certainly have no intention of disparaging such events. The people who put them on are dedicated; and I'm sure that many folk, having their first encounter with Greyhounds this way, have formed the idea of adopting one; and, in good time, done so.)

But at Faire, HM Hounds can engage your imagination at a wholly different level. Here, if you make your way to one of their coursing demonstrations, you can experience the beautiful sight of Greyhounds running at full tilt ... briefly, because they cover the length of the "jousting field" in a few seconds. (In deference to the sensibilities of the present day, a scented lure is used, rather than a living hare.)

And here, between demonstrations, you meet the dogs, not on a 21st-century sidewalk, but in a tented royal pavilion, where they are pampered in the manner that such noble beasts deserve. Thus, you are introduced, not merely to a great potential house pet, but to the romance that adopting a Greyhound can bring into your life. With a Greyhound by your side, those in the know will always recognize you as one of life's nobility (though today, nobility is not conferred by betting money on your hound, but by saving its life, and showing it love).

To be sure, to some extent, this is a fantasy, induced in me by my first encounter with the HM Hounds group. But I'm here to tell you that something like it is also literally true. Early on, during the four years that I've now had my Greyhound companion, Toofus, I lost count of how many complete strangers had spoken to me about what a beautiful dog I had. And quite a few of them also express admiration for my having adopted (or, as they commonly say, "rescued") a retired racer.

The advantages that one might derive from this ... especially if one were single ... will be evident.

Before I spoil the whole effect by talking about it this way, let me hasten to assure you that I'm not as calculating about all this as I'm making myself sound. (Nor, I hope, as conceited.) And, if you let the hounds work their magic on you, and adopt one, trust me ... there won't be anything calculating about it for you, either.

If you're nowhere near Raleigh, or for some other reason can't make it to the North Carolina Faire, be aware that HM Hounds grace a number of other faires, as well, with their presence. For a list, you can visit the group's Web site at http://www.hmhounds.org.

Categorie(s) for this post: Greyhounds.

A Few Words About Me

Sat, 04 Feb 2006 17:07:48 GMT

I live in Cary, NC, with Toofus, a thirteen-year-old male brindle Greyhound.

I work as a software developer for SAS Institute. (I do installation programs.)

I don't expect to be blogging here about SAS -- the company or the software.

I do, however, expect to be posting about other topics in computer software and programming.

Among other things.