Peanut and Simba

What an eventful week it has been!!

Sunday night: the dogs finally completed their journey, which had started three days ago in Kansas. In the driving rain we went to the rendezvous location and saw the entire haul of dogs. There were only four in Victoria; the other eight had been sent up to Nanaimo already. The news crew arrived before the dogs did, and Mark got stuck out in the pouring rain, in the dark, trying to hoist kennels into the back of our truck at the same time as he was being filmed and interviewed.

The dogs finally pulled in, and we got to meet Persuasion (call name is Peanut), our girl, and Iruska Simba (Simba for short), our boy.

Monday: The dogs were exhausted. They discovered our bed pretty early on but, despite their considerable height, they both had a bit of trouble actually getting their entire bodies onto the bed. It was funny to watch. Anyway, halfway through the morning the phone rings and it's the same news station that was at the pick-up on Sunday. They want to come over and do a follow-up on the dogs in a home environment. "Great!" I tell them. When? Now? NOW??! ...I think this is where I should tell you that, on that day, our tiny two bedroom apartment was sheltering one feral cat, our regular dog and rat, the two new greyhounds, me and Mark, two other (human) guests from out of town, and in the smallish living room/dining room area, are two gigantic dog crates taking up half the room. Oh, and because of all the bustle, it was a MESS. Yikes!

Anyway, we put on a brave face, cleaned like mad for twenty minutes, and when the reporter and cameraman arrived the place was almost passable. The cameraman got some shots of the dogs doing various things, and I got interviewed, and then the story apparently aired three separate times later that day (I didn't see it). As long as the greyhounds are getting publicity, I guess I can stand to have my messy hair showcased on the local news.

Tuesday: Peanut and Simba did some more recuperating from their trip, and then in the evening they came along with us to Arlo's obedience and agility classes. They did great! Everyone at class was commenting about the news story and wanted to come say hi to the greyhounds, and the dogs were curious and fairly calm and just did wonderfully. Simba learned to "stay" and Peanut, who is having trouble with stairs, did some jumping/walking over low obstacles to learn where her back legs were. They were very brave in the face of so many new experiences!

Wednesday(today): Well, Simba went calmly out into the yard for his morning pee and then walked calmy back into the house again, but there was suddenly a trail of blood behind him! He must have stepped on a sharp rock, because he sliced the pad of his foot very badly. After a quick call to the greyhound people, we were off to the emergency vet instead of going to work. Simba ended up getting stitches in his foot. He seems tired this evening, but he is so stoic - he is not limping or anything.

We got a call this evening from the father of the woman who is adopting these two cuties. She lives on the mainland and he lives here in town. He very kindly offered to take over the fostering for the rest of the week, as he is retired and can be with them for the days we would be at work. He was also very excited to meet them, as he owns two greyhounds himself. This actually works out very well - his wife is a nurse, so they will have no trouble monitoring Simba's foot, and after the weekend is over they will be driving Peanut and Simba to their daughter's house - their new forever home. Life is good.

So tomorrow morning we will drop them off at their grand-dad's house, and we might just get a minute to breathe if all goes well! After that we'll likely be getting another greyhound which was seized from a neglectful situation in the states. That may not happen for a few weeks, however. I'll post more on that once I get some details.

AND...Trinity the puppy-mill Pit Bull is still on. Maybe. We don't know when and nothing is confirmed, but I thought I'd give an update all the same.