Dusty and me

Einstein marveling at the view from his new home ---------- A couple of quick turnarounds in the Friends of Greyhounds kennels: Einstein has found his way into a beachside condo in Pompano Beach, and Gabby is on her way to Coral Gables to take up residence with our old friend Kal. Einstein, the 2-year-old white and brindle boy who retired earlier this month, landed in his first home yesterday. Cathleen claimed him about a week after he arrived at Friends of Greyhounds, but Einstein hung out in Sunrise for awhile waiting for his new mom to return home from a business trip. Gabby on her last full day at FoG ---------- Michelle and I delivered him to Cathleen on Friday afternoon. Einstein now has a breathtaking view from his condo on the 18th floor. Michelle was scheduled to deliver Gabby to Rhonda and Eddie on Saturday afternoon. The compact dark-brindle girl was in Sunrise for less than a week. Chris the Kennel Guy handed her over to FoG on Monday afternoon. Rhonda...

Luna finds some respite in a dirt bed originally constructed by Savvy with some help from Dusty. ---------- AccuWeather kept warning there would be rain, but the skies stayed dry all day for a greyt gathering at Dog Dude Ranch. The Friends of Greyhounds-coordinated event gave Dusty a chance to hang out off-leash with a few old friends. We saw a surprising number of hounds of the black variety -- Kal, Frozen, Rainey, Luna and Slinky among them. And we got a chance to see Savvy, my favorite boy hound in the world. I have a short video that shows everyone who was there a couple of hours in. It was easy to get everyone in the shot -- there wasn't much energy being expended at this point.  We always have a great time at these gatherings. Come on out to the next one. Nothing is set on the calendar at this point. I'll let you know when we get something scheduled. There's some new signage at the former barbecue stand at Flamingo Road Nursery that suggests it...

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...

Kal, left, who will be delivered Saturday to his new home in Coral Gables; and Kelly, who will be at the Parkland event ---------- Our old friend Kal, the 3-year-old black hound who has been in the Friends of Greyhounds kennels since July, will head to his new home in Coral Gables Saturday afternoon. Kal first met his new family a few weeks ago when Michelle took him to a book signing in the Gables. Michelle exchanged several emails with the family, who came to Sunrise on Friday afternoon to put in their application and claim the playful boy. He'll be delivered Saturday, after the Homes for Dogs Project adoption event in Parkland. The event is set for 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Equestrian Center at Temple Park, 8350 Ranch Road. FoG and three other adoption groups will be there, as will Chewy.com. The event will be set up in a roofed pavilion, so don't let the threat of rain scare you off. Come on out and meet FoG dogs Logan and Kelly, a couple of the second-chance dogs at...

Stormy cleans up pretty well, doesn't she? (Thanks to Carolina for the photo.) ---------- Congratulations to Stormy. The 3-year-old black girl who had been in the Friends of Greyhounds kennels since April has found her way into her first family home. FoG Veep Michelle delivered Stormy this morning to Carolina and Jorge in Miami. The young couple submitted an adoption application on Stormy a couple of days ago, pending a home visit to see if she would get along with the family's Italian greyhound. The two hounds hit it off just fine this morning, and Stormy became an official family member. Jagger taking a snooze ---------- Stormy was the only female in the FoG kennels -- leaving the roster with six boys. Mercury -- the sculpted, athletic fawn -- has been spoken for by a returning FoG adopter and is expected to be delivered later this week. FoG hasn't heard from the Boca Raton couple who visited last week to look at Jagger. They have not submitted an applicati...

Kelly got dressed up for a photo shoot earlier this week. ---------- Kelly is back at Friends of Greyhounds  looking for another home. The 4-year-old black beauty has been back in Sunrise since August. He spent about four months with a retired couple in Davie who reluctantly gave him up because Kelly wasn't a good mix with the grandchildren. Kelly, born April 27, 2013, was retired in December after 102 races as PJ Loaded Dice. He became simply PJ when he arrived for the first time at FoG in February. Michelle delivered him to his Davie home in April, but he came back renamed Kelly in August. His former adoptive parents are longtime FoG adopters. Kelly was their sixth greyhound. But they reluctantly decided to give up Kelly when it became apparent that he would not be able to get along with their six young grandchildren. They wrote a letter to Michelle to assure her that he adapted perfectly to living in their home. He never had an accident in the house, they sa...

Kal at his whimsical best ---------- It's always playtime for Kal. Kal is a big, strong black dog born March 2, 2014. He wrapped up his 66-race career as Turbo Kal in May and landed in the  Friends of Greyhounds  kennels in July. And he's been collecting every squeaky toy he can get his jaws around ever since. In the time I've known Kal, he seems to always be chewing on some pliable squeaky thing. Wait. Let me revise that: He always seems to be chewing on some pliable squeaky thing only if he's not reaching into his neighboring kennels trying to get at the other dog's pliable squeaky things. When we do turnouts, Kal usually always gets distracted on his way out the door by a toy that might be lying on the open floor -- or by one that might be sticking out of one of the other kennels calling Kal's name. This boy does love his toys. This is how he spends most of his waking moments: Kal, simply put, is a 75-pound bundle of joyful exuberance....

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...

Jagger and Dusty on a leisurely stroll ---------- Hurricane Irma has been gone for about three weeks now, but we still have reminders of her lying in piles all over the place here in South Florida. Everywhere you look, you see missing sections of fencing and heaps of brown leaves and dead tree branches strewn about. For the most part, at least what I see in central and western Broward County, everyday life has returned to normal. People are going to work, restaurants and stores are open, gasoline is flowing plentiful again. But beneath the surface, many of us are still dealing with and paying for cleanup and repairs and working furiously to get our businesses back on track. All of which doesn't leave a lot of time to think about adding a greyhound to our families. Thinking back, I don't believe I know of one person who has visited the Friends of Greyhounds kennels this month to window-shop the available hounds -- and this month will be over in a couple of days. Wh...

Hawk, one of the new arrivals at Friends of Greyhounds ---------- Friends of Greyhounds has delivered a few hounds to new homes the past few days. But as quickly as they're going out, more are coming in. Dusty and I drove over to Sunrise this morning to meet this week's new arrivals -- three of them from the Florida Kennels compound in Hialeah. Thanks, Chris, for keeping those retired hounds coming as quickly as Michelle can make room for them. Kelly was the week's first arrival -- a sleek, muscular black female who arrived Sunday with a broken leg. Kelly then spent the day Monday at Animal Hospital of University Drive . Kelly will spend her upcoming second birthday hobbling and healing in the FoG kennels. But Dr. Ansara told Michelle that he expects a full recovery for the youngster with no long-term issues. Dusty's injury last summer was much worse, and she's perfectly fine now. So we can vouch from experience that Kelly will be good as new in a few ...