Monday, February 6, 2012

The Retired Racer, newest addition to the Bailey family

Well, I have waited a while to introduce the latest addition to our family.  He came to us about six months ago and he is a joy to us.  But, it was a bit of a hard landing.

Husband and I went to the Antique Mall.  Yes, whod a thought.  We met Chase at the Antique Mall.  I knew that the greyhound rescue had a booth there and soon learned that the ladies that ran the mall let a few of their whippets run freely while the shoppers were perusing the booths.  One of them came up to me one day and I don't know if he scared me or I scared him.  But he ran off quickly.  I hadn't seen them under the check out tables on their beds at that time, so I was pretty jazzed when I came face to face with one of those incredibly beautiful animals.

But Chase (had formerly had another name but it was just tacky) is a greyhound and he is a retired racer.  So, I figured I better come up with a good, appropriate name.  He raced in over 100 races but I don't know how many he won.  He can run 35 miles an hour, the only living creature that can run that fast is a cheetah.  But he can't run very far.  Fast, but not far. 

I digress.

Here is my beautiful boy. He is five years old. 

Anyway, there he was at the Antique Mall.  As was two other rescues and his foster mother.  The three dogs that day were 8, 2 and 5.  We went for not the youngest, nor the older female (who was precious), but to the 5 year old. 

After much ado, we were held to be appropriate parents.  That is always the hardest part.  We also rescued a long haired chihuahua and I must be sure to write up a blog post on him.  He is quite the little lap dog.
Chase came to live with us.  You can't see the scars that he has from the picture (well, I think you can see a few on that side of his body and his legs).  We don't know how he got them, but they are hard to consider.
I don't think they are bites but husband thinks he got them from a cage or something. Big black gashes.

He knew nothing of relating to people.  He had never seen stairs, nor a swimming pool, nor small dogs.  I don't think most of them know much about cats either.  We lost our cat a couple of years ago, but have two smaller dogs.  He really didn't care for them one way or another, which was good.

The stairs were a real issue.  Below where he is standing in the picture above, are several stairs that lead down to the pool area.  And we have a lot of stairs in the house.  He had alot of bloody legs before he learned how to get up and down without injuring himself.  A few more scars.  Probably had he taken his time, it would have gone better.  But he does everything fast.

For the next four months or so, he followed me everywhere I went.  And my studio is upstairs.  But, he was like glue.  I guess that was insecurity.  He is a bit better now.  But, still prefers to be where I am.

I don't feel very good about the way the greyhounds are treated in the racing industry.  And most are not fortunate enough to find a home.  I just have to keep thinking about the ones that do.

Here he is upstairs on his pillow and quilt.  Since I do encaustics (although I am vented properly), I make the dogs stay in another room.  Love you Chase!!!

3 comments:

Artsnark said...

Hi, Glenda. How have you been? It is so great that you are able to give Chase a loving home! I can't even image what those poor racing dogs go through. Big hugs to you both!

Anonymous said...

Chase is beautiful. I can relate to a lot of the the things you spoke about. My oldest daughter adopted a retired racing greyhound last spring. He is the sweetest dog I have ever met, but he had no clue how to interact with other dogs in a home setting. He is finally learning how to play with toys and the other dogs. But he is definately a lover. He will come up and lean against your legs if he wants attention. I hope you enjoy Chase as much as we do Fizz.

Kathleen said...

Wonderful that you adopted Chase! My daughter has two adopted greyhounds and they are so sweet. One definitely would not be good with cats (I keep mine safe when she visits) but the other couldn't care less. I have two adopted dogs, too - not greyhounds, but very cute =)