vagreys
02-01-2007, 06:09 PM
My boy, Zen, was born at the Twilite Kennels, 7 years ago, today. He raced for 2 1/2 years at Raynham/Stauton in MA, and Shoreline Star in CT, before retiring. He rarely won a race, but he came in second a lot. He likes to have someone to chase, and I truly believe the only time he won a major race was by accident! But he ran well enough to stay in the money and pay his way, so he had a fairly long racing career.
Zen was bounced out of his first adoptive home after less than three months. He was reported to have bitten a toddler. As it turned out, a toddler was left in the room alone with him, and was in the dogbed where Zen had been sleeping, when he was snapped at. I think the toddler toddled into the dogbed and startled Zen out of a sound sleep. He has been nothing but the gentlest of giants, since we first laid eyes on him, and he adores children. He has the softest mouth I've ever seen. So gentle.
We applied to adopt a Greyhound in May of that year, asking to adopt in July, when I had vacation scheduled. In June, we got a call from the adoption coordinator, asking if we would be willing to drop by and see a hound. We met Zen on June 24, and spent over two hours with him. Before we went home, I had written the check and we picked him up on June 26, our wedding anniversary. As a first adoption, he absolutely spoiled us. No trouble, from day 1....well, almost no trouble. Six months after we got him, one of my daughters got up in the middle of the night for a glass of milk and left an empty glass on the living room floor. Zen decided to eat the glass for breakfast. We heard the glass crunch and I ran in there and found the shards on the floor. I got what I could out of his mouth and feed him about 6 slices of white bread. I assembled the shards and was able to account for all but a 1" triangle of glass. I took him to the e-vet and we got an x-ray, and sure enough, the glass was in his stomach. It wouldn't pass. The e-vet had to operate to remove the shard. While they were in there, they did a complementary gastropexy (tacking his stomach in place) so we would never have to worry about gastric torsion/volvulus (where the stomach bloats and flips over, pinching off the blood supply to vital organs). They offered me a discount for being involved in rescue, and it only cost me about $1800.
Three months later, my daughter did it, again. And Zen did it, again. This time, he didn't swallow any glass, though. My daughter has not made that mistake, since. Here are a few pictures of Zen.
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zen4.jpg
at the dog park
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zen5.jpg
roached and asleep...
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zen8.jpg
His first roach, an indication he was relaxing with us...
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zencallie.jpg
definitely cat-safe...
Zen was bounced out of his first adoptive home after less than three months. He was reported to have bitten a toddler. As it turned out, a toddler was left in the room alone with him, and was in the dogbed where Zen had been sleeping, when he was snapped at. I think the toddler toddled into the dogbed and startled Zen out of a sound sleep. He has been nothing but the gentlest of giants, since we first laid eyes on him, and he adores children. He has the softest mouth I've ever seen. So gentle.
We applied to adopt a Greyhound in May of that year, asking to adopt in July, when I had vacation scheduled. In June, we got a call from the adoption coordinator, asking if we would be willing to drop by and see a hound. We met Zen on June 24, and spent over two hours with him. Before we went home, I had written the check and we picked him up on June 26, our wedding anniversary. As a first adoption, he absolutely spoiled us. No trouble, from day 1....well, almost no trouble. Six months after we got him, one of my daughters got up in the middle of the night for a glass of milk and left an empty glass on the living room floor. Zen decided to eat the glass for breakfast. We heard the glass crunch and I ran in there and found the shards on the floor. I got what I could out of his mouth and feed him about 6 slices of white bread. I assembled the shards and was able to account for all but a 1" triangle of glass. I took him to the e-vet and we got an x-ray, and sure enough, the glass was in his stomach. It wouldn't pass. The e-vet had to operate to remove the shard. While they were in there, they did a complementary gastropexy (tacking his stomach in place) so we would never have to worry about gastric torsion/volvulus (where the stomach bloats and flips over, pinching off the blood supply to vital organs). They offered me a discount for being involved in rescue, and it only cost me about $1800.
Three months later, my daughter did it, again. And Zen did it, again. This time, he didn't swallow any glass, though. My daughter has not made that mistake, since. Here are a few pictures of Zen.
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zen4.jpg
at the dog park
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zen5.jpg
roached and asleep...
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zen8.jpg
His first roach, an indication he was relaxing with us...
http://www.dogforum.org/gallery/data/500/zencallie.jpg
definitely cat-safe...