July 26, 2010
Life With A Greyhound

Let’s start out with a little bit about the Greyhounds. Many people do not realize that a Greyhound is a very lovable animal. They come in all colors, sizes and weights. Usually the males are about 60 pounds and the females are about 50 pounds when they are retired. After their racing career is over, they usually only gain a few pounds due to the decrease in their activity. All they want is love and attention. They sleep approximately 18 hours a day. People hear the word Greyhound and the first thing that comes to mind is they are racers. They are born to race but bred to love. A Greyhound can run up to 45 miles per hour and see up to 1/2 mile away. They can never be off- leash because they don’t have peripheral vision. If they hone in on something and start running and a car is in the way, they are hit. We call them our “speed bump” or “couch potato”. At one time we had 13 Greyhounds and our living room looked like Custer’s last stand. We had large pillows and blankets everywhere. We now only have 2 Greyhounds still living, Crimson who is now 13 and Misty who is 11. As you can see, Misty wants more than one pillow.

They do not need as much exercise as many people think. If they do not have a yard, a couple of good long walks a week will suffice. Some say Greyhounds don’t get along with children or cats. This is not true. They are like any other breed, some do and some don’t. Many of our foster homes had children and cats so we knew which would be good with children and cats. However, I always told my adoptees that when the Greyhound is sleeping or eating to monitor the children so that they don’t jump on the dog or take food out of its month. Remember, you wouldn’t like someone to take food out of your mouth or jump on you when you are sleeping, neither do they.

Let’s talk about the racing greyhound. In Florida, our race tracks are very strict. Everyone who works at the track or picks up the greyhounds for an adoption agency must submit to a criminal background check. If you are not “squeaky clean” in Florida, you don’t get a license. Our tracks are very strict on who is employed or allowed to go into the compound (kennels). Ed and I ran a Greyhound Adoption agency for over 8 years so we are well aware of how the animals are treated. They race once or twice a week. Each race lasts about 30 to 45 seconds. After the race, they are given either a vanilla cookie or a marshmallow depending on whether they won or lost. They then get a shower, go into the whirlpool and some even get a massage. What a life! These animals are treated better than some people treat their children. We have seen the trainers and owners of these beautiful dogs cry when they give these dogs to the adoption agencies. Many have raised these dogs since pups and now that their racing career is over they are leaving the only home and people they know. Greyhounds usually race until 4 or 5 years of age. However, some are retired earlier. I remember one beautiful white female we picked up at a year that was retired. When it came time to race, she just stood there and wouldn’t move. We always said she was too interested in the butterfly. In Florida, the racetracks must keep a retired greyhound until one of the agencies has room to take it for adoption. They cannot euthanize them.

After the adoption agency picks up the Greyhound from the track, they are taken to the vet to be spayed or neutered, checked for heartworms and vaccinated. Then they go to a foster home to learn what a house is all about. Remember, they have never seen stairs, TV, glass doors etc. They might be 3 or 4 years old but everything is now new to them just as if they actually are a puppy. They learn very quickly what a house is all about. The hardest part of being a foster home is that the foster dog is going to leave to live in a new home. We do keep in touch with the people after the dogs are adopted so that we can answer any questions they might have. Most people learn that they can’t just live with one Greyhound. They adopt a second. They are like potato chips “you can’t eat just one”. Many people say that it is easier to raise a Greyhound than it is to raise kids. Greyhounds are great listeners; they don’t talk back and don’t want money for “frivolous things”.

Now let me tell you how Ed and I got involved with the Greyhounds. After our Irish Setter died many years ago, I commented that we should go look at the Greyhounds and see what they are all about. Ed said OK but under no circumstances would we adopt one. He didn’t want any more animals. Well, as soon as he saw a fawn female, he changed his mind and we adopted Bangle a one and a half year old Greyhound. A few weeks later, he decided we should visit the meet and greet (the location that they show the Greyhounds). While there, he decided to foster a year and a half black female Greyhound named Lily. You notice, I keep saying “he”. Remember this was the gentleman who said we weren’t going to adopt. Well, we became so attached to Lily and she got along so wonderfully with Bangle that she never left.

We were advised to crate when we weren’t home and to muzzle whenever two Greyhounds were together. The muzzles are humane. They can eat and drink through them. Greyhounds have very thin skin and if they play rough like normal dogs they can injure each other. Of course, we didn’t believe in crates or muzzles. My daily routine was to come home around 3 and take both of the dogs out and play with them. Well, one day I took them out and left without playing with them. Bangle got upset with me because I changed her daily routine and tore up the soft side of our water bed and punctured a hole in the mattress. She looked so funny when I came home. She still had part of the cotton from the soft side in her mouth. She also had that look like “I didn’t do it, you didn’t see me and you can’t prove anything.” Ed wasn’t a happy camper when he came home and found out we had to buy another bed but that didn’t discourage him. We did however learn to crate and muzzle when we weren’t home.
The next Sunday we went back to the meet and greet and fostered Frilly. Frilly had been returned by a family that had a 12 year old. Mom decided after the dog was adopted, that the 12 year old would be responsible for taking the dog out and feeding it. Of course, the child didn’t keep the dog out long enough and there were accidents in the house. Frilly never had a problem at our house. We took Frilly to several meets and greets and one day we stopped at a store. While Ed went in, Frilly started crying for him. Well, Frilly never left.

Then came Tommy which was Bangle’s brother so you know he couldn’t leave then Rocket, Track, Hardy, Bunny, Roo Roo, Baby, Taft, Crimson and Misty. These started out as foster dogs but became adopted by us. They each have their own story. We had all except Crimson and Misty when we lived in a smaller house. When we moved our foster homes each took a dog, so that they would all arrive together. Our other house had a small yard. Now we have a large yard with a swing set/slide in it. When they were younger they used to run around the swing set and we actually had a racetrack in the back yard. In fact it was then that we learned why Lily never made it on the track. They were all running counter clockwise and here’s Lily running clockwise.

Shortly after moving, Ed was out in the pool area and forgot to close the sliding glass door and screen porch door. Several of the Greyhounds jumped into the pool. This was in December and it was about 50 degrees in Florida which is cold for us. Greyhounds are not known swimmers because they are missing a layer of body fat so you guessed it, Ed had to pull them out. Rocket thought this was funny so whenever Ed pulled him out he jumped back in. What a night.

Our house has a fireplace and I remember the first time we had a fire we were worried that the Greyhounds might get too inquisitive. We were wrong. They just dragged their pillows in front of it to keep warm. Can you picture 11 Greyhounds on pillows in our living room in front of a fireplace keeping warm. It was a beautiful site.

Many people say they want a Greyhound puppy. I fostered two six- month- old puppies at separate times and never again. They have more energy than 10 two year olds in a small room at the same time. I crated the first puppy and put a nice fluffy blanket in her crate. I came back and she had torn her blanket to shreds. I then learned that at the kennel they have shredded paper in their crate. She just wanted it to be like home. I would take something away from her and turn my back and she had it again. She was a trip.

Greyhounds are thieves of course, that was what the Egyptians used them for. They will take a t- shirt or something of yours out of a laundry basket or wherever when you aren’t home. They won’t destroy it but will lay on it. They love to play with stuffed animals and will actually play tug of war with you or another dog. Yes, as you can imagine I not only had pillows and blankets on the floors, I also had stuffed animals all around. These Greyhounds had more toys than most kids. Due to their size they can also be counter surfers so until they are trained you learn very quickly not to leave food on the table. I had a foster home that had just cooked a prime rib and left it on the table to go outside. When she came back both her greyhound and foster dog were having a feast. I thought for sure I lost a foster home and probably got a her dog returned along with the foster dog but she was laughing so hard and admitted she knew better and it was her fault. Greyhounds are intelligent and can be trained easily. You just need to show them that you are the “boss”. Remember this is all new to them.

Greyhounds can also be opinionated. I remember one foster home that would tune their car radio to a channel that had classical music and the Greyhound would howl. They finally realized that the Greyhound liked country music and as long as that was on he quit howling.
Greyhounds are early risers. On the track they usually start feeding around 6 AM with training to follow. Ours have been off the track for a long time and they still get us up at 6 no matter how late we take them out. They definitely are creatures of habit. When the 13 were alive, they would wake us up by rooing. We call it rooing, others call it howling. At one time if one started barking then they would all start rooing. It would be hilarious to hear them but now that we are down to 2, they just bark to get us up.

Feeding time at our house is funny. I free feed. I learned after I caught Lily playing in the water dish to get a pedestal feeder. It was nothing to see all the Greyhounds lined up to eat. It looked like a mess hall. One would eat a little bit, and then leave and the next would come up. We never had a disagreement at the food bowl. In fact when they first started doing this, Ed felt “sorry” for them and laid out 13 bowls of food, one for each dog. They wouldn’t go to one of these bowls they just waited in the mess hall line. I think they were telling Ed that “sharing is caring”. In fact Greyhounds normally get along with all dogs. We have been to Greyhound picnics and there have been over 300 Greyhounds and never a growl or squabble.

Greyhounds make great therapy dogs. They are just the right height for people confined to wheel chairs. They can pet the dogs and the dogs can lay their head right in their laps.

We fostered over 300 Greyhounds and only kept 13 so that wasn’t bad considering Ed didn’t want any more dogs. If you want a loyal companion, you might consider adopting a Greyhound. We have had many breeds of dogs but the Greyhound is the best.

May 24, 2010
From Sea to Air and Back to Land
In 1977 when Ed and I were first married in Florida, he wanted a boat. Well, I fought him on this because I am not crazy about the Gulf, but eventually gave in. I can swim like a fish in 3 feet of water but get me over my head and I panic and you can plan on coming in and getting me. Well, all went fine as long as I had land in sight. Then one day we were out and the sea fog started coming in. I panicked and that was the end of the boat. I never even took a picture of it. I put a “for sale” sign on it as soon as we got in and luckily it sold within a few days.

In 1993 Ed flew with a friend in a small plane from Tampa to the Keys . He then got the bug to fly. I found a 1963 Beechcraft Musketeer in Venice, Fl . with only 2500 hours on the engines. The engines had just been overhauled. Planes are not like cars. Planes have to go through a rigid annual inspection every year to make sure that they are air and engine worthy. They check everything and seem to break down every part. I know when we would go to check on how the mechanics were doing, the wings were always apart. If a bolt is showing a slight sign of rust, it has to be replaced. This plane had landing gear like a Sherman Tank and it held 4 people. This was a great period for us. However, each time we went up I worried (no– more like panicked) about what would happen if Ed had a heart attack while piloting. Then we learned that while one of our flying buddies and his wife were on a short flight he had a heart attack and they crashed and burned. I then decided that we would not crash and burn. Our landing might not be the prettiest but we would survive.

I learned about the “pitch hitters course” and I decided this was for me. This was a course designed to teach you to fly from the right seat. Real pilots fly from either seat. We were taught takeoff, landing, piloting the plane, navigation and everything a pilot does except you couldn’t fly alone. I took the course but then wanted to go for my pilot’s license. Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting my medical since I had a brain aneurysm ten years prior but had no problems after the surgery. After many hours of medical tests and “bookoo” dollars for those tests, I finally got my medical and went on to become a pilot. We used to fly off with the club just for breakfast, lunch or dinner. We would go up at night and watch the sunset or just cruise around. We flew in to MacDill Air Force Base for the pilot’s fly in many times. What an experience. There had to be hundreds of planes in the pattern and they were landing us 2 and 3 on a wide runway at a time. SCARY. We also would fly to the local air shows. Our daughter, Christy soloed in it. She never got her pilot’s license because she gets lost in a closet and even though this plane had all the navigation equipment you could want, she was afraid. We had this toy for about ten years. Then we sold it because our business got very busy and when we were busy working, the weather was great but when we had the time to fly the weather was stormy. Good old Florida weather.

When we sold the plane in 2004 Ed wanted a 1973 Ford Mustang convertible and I wanted a screen porch. So we both got what we wanted and even had money left over. This was a fun car. We entered it in many shows and drove it around town.

The ‘stang looked great with the top up but it really showed its beauty with the top down. The picture with the top down was taken in our barn. It was parked out in front of the restaurant one day and someone made us an offer we couldn’t refuse, so we sold it.

When we were teaching all over the southeast US, we purchased a 2004 35-foot Tropi-Cal motor home. It was a beauty. It had three slides, microwave, double door refrigerator plus many other extras. All the comforts of home on wheels. This was really traveling. We drove it every time we had to teach a CPR class out of the area. It sure beat staying in hotels. We always found a great campground and met many wonderful people.

Ed and I don’t know what it’s like to work one job. We have always been teaching and having something else to do to keep us busy so we bought a bar and restaurant in 2006.

We had an outside bar with Karaoke and Country and Western Bands on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  In the picture, I am front left. Behind me the blond and brunette were my bartenders, our daughter is the short one, the lady next to me in blue was one of the cooks. My husband Ed’s in the background with the blue shirt and our bar back is in red.

Several of the bands that played at our bar were in competition in Nashville for the Annual Country & Western Music Awards. Of course, being true devotees, we took the motor home to Nashville for the week of competition. We found a campground at the bottom of the mountains. We were there in March and even saw a little snow which I hadn’t seen since leaving Chicago in 1972. We closed the bar and restaurant in 2009 and now only teach full time.

Ed finally retired from the volunteer fire department in 2007 but he missed his fire trucks. So our final toy (at least so far) was a 1926 Child’s Fire Apparatus. We bought it in Connecticut and had it trucked to Florida on a flatbed. We couldn’t drive it down because top speed is 50 and it was December (22 degrees when we left Connecticut). It would have been a very cold, long 2000 mile ride. Can’t you just picture Jethro and Jed Clampett riding on this beautiful fire truck with Granny in the back in her rocker? I always called it my Clampett-mobile. We had a ball with this. We entered it in the local parades and just enjoyed driving it on our main road, US 19, and waving to people going by. Ed drove it to the restaurant about 4 miles away from the house every day when the weather was nice. Then one day I decided to learn how to drive it. Ed drove it to the restaurant where we had a very large parking lot (so I couldn’t hit anything). I tried to drive it but the steering wheel was huge and it was power by Armstrong, five on the floor, standard transmission with a double clutch. I’m short. With the seat up all the way, I had to stand holding the steering wheel with one hand so I didn’t fall down, double clutch with one foot and use the other foot for the gas and my other hand to shift. I drove it about 10 feet straight forward but then I had to turn the wheel. I admitted defeat. There was no way I was safe on the road but everyone watching did have a good show. I asked Ed for training blocks for the clutch and gas pedal but he said “NO WAY”. There was no way to install a different seat because then your stomach would be up against the steering wheel.

As you can see, the fire truck didn’t have a windshield. In Florida we have lovebugs (they are about the size of a fly and are doing what they shouldn’t be doing in public. They come out about 10 in the morning and leave about 4 in the afternoon in May. They love the highways due to the gasoline vapors. Well, they were brutal on the way to the restaurant slapping Ed in the face and getting squashed on his sunglasses, so I always told Ed to smile pretty for the lovebugs. When Ed had the stroke in 2008 and didn’t have the strength to drive it, we put it up for sale. Now it is living in Michigan.