Joey’s birthday was last week. He’s 8. We got him in August 2006 and we almost lost him in 2007 when his dog food turned out to be poisonous. But he’s doing great these days. In fact, he’s pretty sure he’s the boss of Phoebe and maybe Simon, though Simon is sharp and best left alone.

We learn a lot from our dogs and Joey is a constant reminder to stay optimistic. He is the most optimistic dog I’ve ever known. There is not a single dark thought in his head. No matter what, he knows with absolute certainty that his food bowl will be filled twice a day, and that makes him very happy, especially a half hour before mealtimes when he likes to demonstrate what he’s capable of by battling the biggest toy he can find.

It usually ends in defeat for the toy and sometimes, he likes to pose with his prey just like hunters in the woods like to pose with their kills.

Back in August 2006, we almost didn’t get him. At the time, we already had 2 dogs and didn’t know if we could handle a third. Turns out we could. So happy birthday, big guy, may your couch always be comfy, your bowl always full, and the squirrels plentiful, fat and slow.

Phoebe hopes so too, though the camera might be more interesting.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

There’s a blog post, one that made me laugh silly, of George & Amy’s greyhounds Giving a T. I’ve smiled thinking of it occasionally over the past 4 years, and I’ve been following Nigel and Mookie (and George & Amy’s blogs) ever since. Yesterday, they had to let Mookie go, the most painful and loving thing we can do for our animals when that time comes.

The internet is slower place today. Rest in peace, Mookie.

Ouch!

It’s probably great to be a fast dog, cruising along at 40 miles per hour, until you stub your toe, which is what Phoebe did last week. At greyhound speeds, a stubbed toe dislocates and becomes what the vet referred to as “the greyhound injury.”

The specialists hope that keeping it splinted for a few weeks will allow it to heal on its own without surgery, of course that means we have to keep her supervised so she doesn’t eat her bandage and splint. The whole contraption has her leg immobilized so that when she walks she thumps along like a peg-legged pirate. Of course, she can still sort-of run on three legs.

Three-legged running is too easy for Phoebe, though, so last weekend she decided to somehow slice open a back paw necessitating a midnight trip to the animal emergency clinic. They know us well there. It went something like this:

ER Vet: Hello, Phoebe, what can we do for you this evening? Would you like to hear the specials?

Phoebe: No, thank you, I’ll be having the usual tonight.

ER Vet: Very good, then, two stitches coming up.

We’re hoping she can keep the other 2 paws intact while she heels.

The amazing thing is that she doesn’t seem to mind. In fact, I think she likes going to the vet, and none of this really slows her down. They’re such little heroes.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

Joey, Wolf and Phoebe.

They’re tired from walking, probably. Tired enough that Joey isn’t growling at Phoebe for touching him while he tries to sleep. It seems we’ve all come a long way and I’m not just talking about walking.

We started taking the dogs with us on some of our long walks up and down the neighborhood trails lately. This is new for the pups. R and I walk the trails, but in the past the dogs have typically been too afraid to proceed too far into the teeth of whatever dragons lie on the county regional trail that our neighborhood trails connect to. There could be monsters. Greyhound-eating monsters.

For years we’ve accepted their trepidation and stuck with short walks around the block, but a few weeks ago—to our delighted surprise—Joey and Phoebe were willing to accompany us for several miles and they did this with no tail-tucking or application of the greyhound brakes. This is a far cry from the time I had to carry all 65 pounds of Phoebe half a mile home because she got spooked by a leaf blowing across the street.

We’ve taken them on more walks since, and they’ve been eager to go and enjoyed being out and about. I realized we’d been letting them be the pups they were when we got them and we’d somehow forgotten to recognize how much they’ve run away from being scared (and scarred) ex-racers to becoming just normal dogs. As normal as a lazy stubborn skinny needle-nosed speed pup can be anyway.

Sometimes it seems those changes, those moments of becoming, happen so gradually those closest can miss their occurrences, allowing ourselves to get stuck in the way we’re used to knowing the world. Fortunately for us, we’ve realized how willing they are to adventure out of their normal walks because there’s just something primal and wonderful about a good long walk with a dog whose enthusiasm and simple awareness of the world makes time spent outdoors that much sweeter, something I haven’t experienced since my days hiking with Zephyr.

It’s good to have walkin’ dogs again even if it does make them lazier than ever before. Something I hadn’t previously thought possible.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

After defeating Wolf, Fox, Moose, Tiger and One of R’s Slippers in single combat to show us what he’s capable of, Joey sets his sights on the fearsome Green Dragon Dogstick, which he has here dragged back to his lair where he’ll either attempt to eviscerate it or force it into servitude as a comfy pillow. Apes be warned, this is the fate of any who may delay in feeding the greyhound.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

Sometimes the slow ones are the lucky ones.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

They only look blurry because… well, they’re greyhounds. And they’re fast.

This week, I’ve been teaching the old blog new tricks and we now have the capacity to let the pups tell their own story. Phoebe does most of the narration while Joey huffs and puffs bounces around in the background. Here’s Phoebe telling me about her day:

Since this is our first attempt at audio blogging, let me know if it doesn’t work.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

Sometimes outside isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.

Joey and his wolf

Recently, this blog’s reader (Hi, Mom) called it to our attention that we have been remiss in doing our Friday Hound Blogging exercise. So, here’s Joey and his wolf with the snazzy bandana they gave him at the kennel a few weeks ago.

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Want to make a fast friend by saving a greyhound in Central Texas? Check these pups out. Or go here to find a greyhound near you. You can also go here to find out why greyhounds are running for their lives.

If you have dogs who need proven leadership, go here to find a cat.