Dusty and me

Kristi, Lola, Tony, Handsome and Anthony, soon to follow his father into service with the Navy ---------- Another longish van trip, another successful FoG adoption. For the second day in a row, Michelle and I took a long drive in the Friends of Greyhounds van to introduce a hound to a new family. And just like Friday's journey to Vero Beach with Starsky, Saturday's turned into a successfully productive trip. This time it was Handsome's turn. The 3-year-old brindle boy with the gimpy leg went with us to Fort Myers to audition for a family who found him through a Google search. Lifelong dog owners Kristi, Tony and Anthony were looking for a greyhound to live with their 3-year-old English bulldog, Lola. Lola checking out Handsome checking out a stuffy toy ---------- Kristi contacted Michelle a couple of weeks ago to start the process and spent several days asking questions via email and doing some research into the greyhound breed. It was a little touch and g...

Starsky meets his new family -- mom Debbie, brother Heff and sister Tara ---------- Dusty got to spend the day Friday with her buddies in Sunrise while I made the drive with Michelle to Vero Beach to deliver Starsky to his new family. Starsky is the 13-year-old white greyhound who landed at Friends of Greyhounds a couple of weeks ago via a Palm Beach County vet and animal shelter. He put a couple of pounds on his skinny frame while in Sunrise and got a clean bill of health from Dr. Ansara a couple of days ago. Dusty, Luna and the FoG dogs: 'Can we go to Vero with you?' ---------- His new mom, Debbie, is a retired nurse who adopted a greyhound from FoG several years ago. She loves taking in special-needs greys and is dedicated to providing them a great home and the day-to-day care they need. Debbie's friend Laurie, another greyhound lover, helped greet Starsky, Michelle and I when we arrived at Debbie's home in early afternoon. And all of us got to meet S...

Dusty and Rosie taking a breather ---------- A stroll in the park with greyhounds and girls to start a summer Sunday -- that's as good as life gets. Luna resting with Dawn and Lily ---------- Dawn reached out to me on Facebook and told me she would love to give 5-year-old Luna some social time with Dusty at one of the parks I have raved about here in western Broward County. So I invited Dawn and the family for a morning stroll at Plantation Heritage Park, which has plenty of acreage and shade. Dawn loaded Luna and the two human girls, Lily and Rosie, into her SUV this morning and made the trip up from South Miami-Dade County. And we had a fabulous time. Dusty and Luna spent a few seconds checking each other out, they both approved of each other, and the bunch of us started on a short walk under the not-unpleasant morning sun. Lily had Luna's leash in her left hand, I gave her Dusty's leash to fill her right hand, and a great stroll was had by all. At some...

Starsky shortly after his arrival at Friends of Greyhounds ---------- The kennel population at Friends of Greyhounds has doubled with the arrival of 13-year-old Starsky, who arrived Wednesday by way of Delray Beach. Handsome (right) with FoG residents Yahtzee (left) and Mitzi ---------- The way I understand the story, Starsky was given up by his adoptive mom to a vet's office in Palm Beach County. The vet sent the boy to a nearby animal shelter, which then contacted FoG. Michelle agreed to take in Starsky, who was driven to Sunrise by a representative of the Delray shelter. Starsky is pretty skinny and has some dental issues. His back legs are shaky, and he's slow in standing up and walking. But he appears to be in good spirits, happy to interact with his kennel mate, Handsome, and his human friends. Michelle gave him a standard FoG meal of kibble, rice and canned food, and he happily ate it up. He tried to eat a Milk Bone biscuit but couldn't break it up. So...

Handsome after his Monday visit with Dr. Ansara ---------- Our new buddy Handsome has had his vet workup -- he's been neutered, he has all his shots and bloodwork is done. And he's hanging out at the Friends of Greyhounds kennels waiting for someone to take him home. Dr. Ansara's crew at Animal Hospital of University Drive  also took an X-ray of Handsome's injured right hind leg while he was there Monday. FoG matriarch Michelle has sent the picture to an orthopedic surgeon to have a look. But she thinks the injury happened several months ago and there's probably nothing to do to fix it at this point. Handsome's a tall 3-year-old brindle boy who landed at FoG last week through a back door. Michelle will tell you his story if you ask her. He's really friendly and loves hanging out in the FoG backyard with the resident dogs and humans. He gets around pretty well on that gimp leg. He'll walk a couple of steps on it now and then, but for the most...

Dusty making a call to action for Yes on 13 ---------- Michelle and I drove into Fort Lauderdale a couple of nights ago to hear from Grey2K USA , spearheading the drive to end greyhound racing in Florida. As you probably know, November's ballot will include a proposal to add an amendment to the state constitution that would make greyhound racing illegal. If it passes, track owners in the state would be required to shut down racing operations by the end of 2020. Sonia of  Elite Greyhound Adoptions  and two Grey2K leaders gave the presentation at the Humane Society of Broward County  -- one stop on a state tour over the next few weeks. Basically, it was a rally to fire up grassroots support and explain their strategy for reaching voters. They hope to raise funds to air as many TV ads as possible over the next several months and focus on their basic message that racing is barbaric and cruel to the dogs. Opposition to the measure, obviously, is coming from dog owne...

Hi, all. Dusty and I are back. Let the blogging resume. We went radio silent three months ago after delivering Sly to her foster family. Dusty and I looked up at that point and realized that our buddies at Friends of Greyhounds had decided to close their kennels to new dogs and our favorite gathering haunts would no longer be available to us. Dusty hasn't gotten the hang of doing a proper selfie. ---------- So we decided to take a blogging break, at least for awhile. We did make the mistake of letting our domain expire, which is why you could no longer find the website if you went looking for it. But the domain was still ours to claim, which we did yesterday, about three days before it expired completely. As many of you know, an amendment to the Florida Constitution to ban greyhound racing will be on the ballot in November. Most everyone fully expects it to pass, and racing kennels are starting to move out of the state in anticipation of the shutdown. If it does happen, ...