Dusty and me

It was sunny but cold for the FoG gathering at Flamingo Road Nursery. Hounds and humans alike were bundled up and preferred the sun to the shade of the usual hangout under the canopy. ---------- The hounds and their humans were bundled up Sunday for their gathering at One Last Stand BBQ at Flamingo Road Nursery. The sun was bright, but temperatures stayed in the low 60s as a stiff breeze made it feel even cooler. Considering, the turnout was pretty good at the monthly Friends of Greyhounds event. Joy's hound David sporting his football jammies ---------- Michelle handed out a few more kennel collars and had some hound jackets and jammies to sell. And Lynne turned up with a nice spread of martingale collars to sell. Dusty picked out a nice holiday-themed collar she plans to wear for her Christmas visits to the FoG folks and the grandparents. The day featured Andy's first public appearance since his scary heat-stroke incident about a month ago. Andy appeared in gr...

Dusty and Kelly at the Parkland adoption event Saturday morning ---------- That's two black greyhounds in two days for Friends of Greyhounds. Four-year-old Kelly will be delivered Sunday evening to Sam and his family in Palmetto Bay, a day after Michelle took Kal to his new home in Coral Gables. Kelly isn't officially adopted yet -- he's going to spend a few days with Sam's family on a home trial. But I would be very surprised if Kelly came back to Sunrise after visiting with Sam and his young son Saturday afternoon in Parkland at the Homes For Dogs Project event. Sam and his family lost their hound to cancer a few weeks ago, and they are ready for another one. Their previous grey came from FoG several years ago, when Jerry D. and Michelle were operating in Hialeah. Sam keeps an eye on FoG's website  as well as Dusty and Me, and he and his son got interested in Kelly. He called Michelle when we were at the Parkland event and decided to make the drive all...

Mercury out on a leash walk ---------- It's easy to see on first sight that Mercury is a beautifully sculpted, classic greyhound. If you commissioned an artist to paint a portrait of the perfect hound, this is the picture you would get. He's solid red, long, lean and muscular with that same face you've seen on every greyhound portrait ever. Mercury, born April 27, 2013, landed at Friends of Greyhounds on Aug. 15 after a career of 146 races. I met him a day or two later and caught myself staring in admiration at his awesome beauty.  His racing name was JJ's Fandango. Jerry D., Michelle and I were tossing ideas for new names for him and Oshkosh Fella, who arrived at the same time. Fella was easy. But we thought Fandango was a little off. Of course, Fandango made me immediately think of Bohemian Rhapsody. Obviously, we couldn't name him Queen, so I threw out "Freddie." We did settle on that, but Michelle resisted the "ie" spelling that...

Nothing like a shortage of fencing after a hurricane to get a re-homed greyhound out of the kennel for a couple of days. Dusty and Jagger enjoying a morning walk ---------- As most of you know, the good folks at Friends of Greyhounds lost a good chunk of their wooden fence a couple of weeks ago to Hurricane Irma. The fence enclosed a good-sized backyard at the residence and provided a perfect area for the FoG dogs to run loose a few times a day. But once Irma had her way, FoG was left with large gaps in the fence and a statewide shortage of supplies to get a new one built promptly. Michelle and Jerry improvised with some plastic netting and some spare fence rails and scraps of lumber to close up the holes as much as possible. Most of the house and kennel dogs were fine with the temporary solution. But one of the dogs, brindle beauty Jagger, found a breach. He found a way through the temporary fencing, and twice in a day, Michelle and Jerry had to chase him through the nei...

Hot, humid summer nights in South Florida sap the energy out of greyhounds and sitters fairly quickly. But there's always time to pose for photos while waiting for a snack. "So drop the camera already and give us a snack." From left are Dusty, Honey, David and Turtle.

Turtle, Honey and David (from left) recognize the sound of a rattling bag of Grillers. ----------  This is what happens when you go to Joy's new house in Plantation to walk her dogs and then you reach into the pantry and grab the bag of Grillers. They know that distinctive sound of a human hand grabbing at that bag. It's music to their ears.

Boogie (formerly Oshkosh Pumped) ---------- Friends of Greyhounds has had a busy couple of days: Two hounds came in from Florida Kennels in Hialeah on Sunday, and three were delivered to new homes Monday night. Turtle ---------- New to the Sunrise kennels are a sleek dark brindle boy, Oshkosh Pumped, and another big fawn male whose name I don't yet know. Meanwhile, Casey, Stormy and Annie were delivered to new homes Monday. That leaves FoG with five male guests at the moment -- the two new guys, Kango, Logan and Taylor. I missed Michelle's trips the past couple of days because I was finishing up my weeklong job driving to Plantation to walk Joy's dogs -- Honey, Turtle and David. I had a great time bonding with those three -- and got to meet felines Sugar and Jasper as a bonus.  David ---------- Having breakfast with Michelle and Jerry B. in a few minutes. I'll get caught up with all the FoG details then. UPDATES:  Oshkosh's new na...

That's one glorious hound, that Savvy. ---------- Debbie and Hayley stopped by the townhouse about an hour ago to pick up Savvy and take him back to his Coconut Creek home. Savvy was here with Dusty and me for four days, and we loved having him here. That big fawn fella is nothing but a big hunk of joy. With the possible exception of devouring his big bowl of kibble twice a day, all Savvy cared about was his hosts. For the entire four days, all he wanted was to be wherever I was at any given moment -- especially if I had a leash in my hand. The boy loves that leash. All I had to do was reach for it, and he would become a whirling dervish. He'd start spinning, jumping, pirouetting and steamrolling any other dog (Dusty) that might get in his way. Sorry I didn't get a video record of it, but I had to use every bit of concentration and dexterity I could muster to protect life and limb. Savvy and Dusty loved their walks together. I got them out several times each day ...

Dusty took the spare bed so her guest could be comfy. ... Nah, that's not how it went down. ---------- It's a good week to be an amateur hound sitter in South Florida -- Dusty and I have been hired to look after seven hounds over the next few days while their families are taking a vacation, on a business trip and working long overnight shifts. The day started with Debbie dropping off Savvy at the townhouse this morning. Debbie and the family are going on a short vacation that was planned before they adopted Savvy a little more than three weeks ago. Dusty and I have plenty of room to share with a big fawn greyhound, so we happily agreed to take him in for a few days. Dusty was excited about having a visitor: Savvy and Dusty both are asleep next to me now. The two hounds get along great. Floyd the fawn and Ace ---------- Savvy has shown me so far that two things he loves -- his leash and to be wherever I am. Dusty will follow me from room to room, upstai...

Luna says I'm working too hard. ---------- I've made a new best friend during my time here house sitting for Frank and Janice. Luna, the inside cat, has taken a liking to me and has become my shadow for the past couple of days. It started Thursday night, my second night here, when she climbed into the bed with me and stayed there all night. Pretty much since then, if I'm in the house, Luna is right there with me. Dusty settled down the second night. She doesn't spend much time stalking cats any more. She's gotten used to them being around. She seems to be fine with this arrangement as long as I give her some leash time, which I've been doing a couple of times a day. Holly, though, hates that because she really wants to go with us. I feel really bad every time I have to leave her in the house to whine. But Janice thought it would be a good idea not to take her on a long walk. Not much sign of the other four cats. I'll see P.B. up and about every ...

Dusty and Holly size up Oliver just outside the patio door. Seconds later, Oliver led the greyhounds on a mad dash across the yard until Oliver disappeared over the fence. ---------- Neither Dusty nor I got a solid night's sleep last night, while Holly and at least a couple of the cats spent most of the night wondering what the hell was going on. Dusty is still having a great time playing with all these new toys, exploring every corner of the backyard and going on a couple of walks with me around this new neighborhood. And she has decided it is her responsibility to protect Holly, Luna and me from those evil cats who keep turning up out on the patio and suddenly appear as she turns a corner into another room. Luna minds her business on the patio while Dusty and Holly do theirs out in the yard. ---------- She is taking that responsibility seriously and spent most of the night on sentry duty. About once an hour throughout the night, just as I would drift off to...

Holly shows Dusty around the backyard. ---------- Dusty and I are settling in for our first evening with Holly and her cats. We arrived here right at noon, just as Frank and Janice were on their way out the door for a five-day trip to an out-of-town family event. Holly is an older red greyhound. Janice told me her age a couple of weeks ago, but I don't recall exactly how old she is. I'm thinking she's 10, but it might be a year on either side of that. She shares her house with five cats. I've become friends with Luna already. Dusty expended a lot of energy barking at Luna on a couple of previous visits here but by now mostly ignores her. Making herself feel right at home ---------- I have yet to see any of the other four cats. I think Dusty might have seen one of them because she bolted through a couple of rooms barking a couple of minutes ago. Janice told me one of them stays outside and the other three come and go, though they mostly hide. I have feedi...

Buford loaded into the FoG greyhound bus for the long drive south ---------- Herman ready for the road to retirement ---------- Dusty spent the day today in Sunrise while Michelle and I drove north to Sanford Orlando Kennel Club to pick up a set of brothers to add to the Friends of Greyhounds guest list. Buford and Herman, who turned 3 years old a couple of weeks ago, are now officially looking for a family. Obviously, it would be great to keep them together if someone is ready to take on both. But both will be fine if they do happen to end up in separate homes. That makes four new dogs in the FoG kennels in the past couple of days, with two more scheduled to join the gang Wednesday, putting the guest residence at capacity. Randy and Ric ---------- Michelle delivered Doc on Monday to his new home with a father and son in Wilton Manors. She made a solo trip later in the day back to western Miami-Dade County to take Ringo to his new family. Now she'll be beating ...