The Water Dog

My very first greyhound, the one we found, hated water. She drank it, of course, but she did not like to be surrounded by it. She did not enjoy baths. She hated the rain. She wouldn't even go out after the rain when the grass was still wet. Heaven forbid her little paws get damp! Because of her annoyance of all things wet, I assumed that all greyhounds must not like water. So you can imagine my surprise when I was adopting Uma and her foster mom told me she's a water dog!

Uma's foster mom had 2 greyhounds of her own, and her neighbors also had 2 greyhounds. While Uma was in foster care, the neighbors invited her mom and all the dogs over for dinner one night. Five greyhounds were playing in the backyard while the humans were feasting away inside. At some point, they looked outside and only saw four greyhounds.... of course it was Uma who was unaccounted for. Fearing the worst, they all rushed outside. But no worries... Uma was lounging. In the neighbor's koi pond.

Uma enjoys all kinds of water. Baths. Buckets. Pools. She doesn't dive right into a pool, mind you. She's too dainty for a big splash effect. She prefers a more subtle approach, one step at a time to get acclimated to the temperature, then a nice dog paddle around once or twice. It's my goal to give her a pool of her very own one day. I bought her a kiddie pool - one of those hard plastic things from Target that's about a foot deep. I think she confused it for a bath. She stood in it, but wouldn't sit down. Either she thought it was a bath or, the ground was too hard for her. She absolutely refuses to sit on the ground. Grass, concrete... She gives them a big NO THANK YOU and will prefer to stand. She must have at the very least, a soft blanket between her bottom and the grass. One cannot have a special dog without special circumstances. But I digress...

One day, Uma will have her pool. Her very own pool. Little dachshunds and beagles wearing loincloths will be serving her martinis and dog biscuits, and fetching her doggles when the sun moves overhead. She will be happy, because.... we are all here to serve her.

Starting at the Middle

Welcome to my new blog, dedicated to my two special pumpkins: two lovable female greyhounds named Uma and Britta. These are my babies, my kids, and my life. There's a stereotype that exists about "the cat lady", a single woman who lives with a bunch of cats. I hope I'm not the "dog" version of that, but to be honest, so what if I am? I'm proud of my babies. I love my babies. It's not like I'm a dog hoarder. I just love greyhounds. So this blog is devoted to them, and all the things that make them special.

So I guess the first question is, why greyhounds? All I can say is when I was a teenager, we found our first greyhound wandering around the neighborhood. A local business said they had already called Animal Control, and here was this big beautiful dog just needing a home. So we opened the car door and she just walked right in, sat on the backseat, and fell fast asleep. That was almost 20 years ago, and now I can't imagine my life without a greyhound in it.

So, why does this blog start at the middle? Because Uma and Britta are middle aged dogs, and I did not just adopt them. I've had them for a few years now, so I'm not their new mom, and they are not puppies. It's the middle of the middle for all of us, and I intend to make the most of it, even if they have no idea what intentions are.

Like children, my girls are spoiled. It's the day after Christmas, and they've gotten new squeeky toys. They've squeeked themselves silly. Squeeked themselves tired. Britta has replaced her baby, her orange squeeky monkey, with a new one, and I can't figure out what it's supposed to be except that it's blue. Uma played with her new hedgehog for about 5 minutes before she lost it to Britta. Infact, Britta has stockpiled all the dog toys. A new year is upon us. New toys are upon them. I'm not normally someone who really gets in the holiday spirit, but for the first time this holiday, I am looking forward to the new year!