We had so much fun last week, Dusty and I decided to do it again and drove to Coral Gables this morning to hook up with Dawn and her girls at Chapman Field Park.
Dusty got a little dusty after a couple of runs on a humid day.
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It was a humid day, a bit less comfortable than our outing last week. Dawn, Rosie, Lily, Luna, Dusty and I did have the large enclosed area all to ourselves when we got there. But the two hounds weren't quite as energetic in the dog park as they were last week -- at least in the beginning.
We were joined not too long after we got there by a young local family with one of the cutest puppies ever -- a 4-month-old weimaraner named Shadow. This beautiful, energetic boy was all ears and paws and energy, and he was able to coax Dusty and Luna into a couple of good runs. Catch a glimpse of Shadow at the end of this video.
Dawn got some great photos of the two hounds I really wanted to share:
Rosie got to do all the work on the way to the dog park.
Dusty in mid-stride
Luna takes the lead.
The hounds make the turn.
Another look at Dusty in mid-stride
Dusty taking a breather
A refreshing dip with Lily on the way back to the car
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Another great day with the girls. We skipped our planned return to Panera Bread. We were all too exhausted to extend the day further. Dusty got a quick bath immediately when we got home. Dawn told me in a text a little later that Luna got a bath, too. All of us got a nap.
Lily shot this photo of Dusty, Speedy and Luna. ---------- Speedy officially has been initiated. The 8-year-old Macau import hasn't yet moved into his permanent home with Dusty and me. But he got a taste this morning of what his new life is going to be. Dawn and her girls drove up this morning to meet us for a leash-walk outing at Plantation Heritage Park and got a chance to see Speedy take in all kinds of new sights and sounds and smells. Lily and Rosie chilling with the hounds in a shelter area at the park ---------- Speedy's having quite an awakening. Dusty and I got him out three times last week for a stroll around the block in Friends of Greyhounds' neighborhood in Sunrise. He remained in constant attention, total focus, during those walks. Dusty and I got quite a workout trying to contain him -- he pulled on that leash with everything he had to get to the next place as soon as he could. He wheezed and coughed practically the entire time -- the the ma
W hen a racing greyhound suffers an injury, like Barts Moondust did in a race in Miami last August, her handlers generally drop her into a kennel for a couple of days to see if the injury heals on its own. If it doesn't, the owner retires the dog and in most cases leaves it up to the handlers to dispose of her. Dusty at Friends of Greyhounds, August 2016 ---------- Her injury was really bad -- obviously enough that her owner gave up on her immediately. I don't know the chain of events between Aug. 13, when she hobbled through her last race, and Aug. 15, when a Friends of Greyhounds blog post says she landed in the FOG kennel in Sunrise, FL. I had been volunteering at FOG for just a few weeks at that point. I reported for duty one day after Aug. 15, and Michelle pointed out the new arrival -- a young, gorgeous shiny black dog in the end kennel with a blue soft cast covering the lower part of her right hind leg past the hock and down to her toes. Michelle told me she ha
N ot too many things in the world Dusty likes more than a romp at the dog park. I like to get her out for about 30 minutes a couple times a week to let her burn off some energy. It's still easy to get outside in some pleasant weather in the mornings before the sun gets too intrusive. Taking a breather but guarding her prize: She'll grab that ball and play keep-away for a few minutes if I make a grab for it ---------- I used to buy cheap tennis balls for her. But I've discovered she loves those squeaky rubber spike balls -- even though the squeakies don't last for more than about three minutes. After those things die, you can hear the air making compression sounds inside the ball when she chews on it. But she doesn't mind -- she loves chewing those things, and the balls themselves seem indestructible. Supposedly, the spikes massage her teeth and gums and provide some dental-health benefit. I dropped a link to one for sale at Amazon.com at the end of this
Winning Star is now Noel Star with a new home. The happy family: Pat, Nico, Star and Andrea ---------- Star, who turned 8 years old the day after she arrived at the Friends of Greyhounds kennels three weeks ago, landed Wednesday in her family home in Hialeah with her new name. She was adopted by longtime FoG volunteer Andrea and her mom, Pat. She also has a canine sibling, Nico, a senior chihuahua mix who will help Star get adjusted to her new life as a domestic pet. Star and Andrea met at Miami International Airport as Star was being loaded onto the FoG van shortly after her arrival from Macau. Star was the hound who rode loose in the back of the van with me tucked among the crates of the other four arrivals. I held onto Star's leash to steady her as she snuggled with Andrea, in the front passenger seat. Andrea decided during the ride that she wanted to adopt Star. Andrea sent this photo of Star enjoying a snack on her new bed in her new home with her new toy close b
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,
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