Me and MaryLou

Hi kennel friends,

So get this out here in the "real world" just like in the kennel and on the track, we find our friends and pals around us. I didn't know there were so many cool cats (pardon the pun) out here all ready living the "good life." So, here we have me and MaryLou. We are both white. We are both very spunky and funny. We both have super fun brown speckled ears. We're both greyhounds. We both love to snuggle and nuzzle with humans. We are both very food motivated. We both love kongs. We both LOVE to play with toys and run around in the backyard. We both like to chase birds, too.

We both know to wait and refrain ourselves (which is SOOO hard) while we wait for our dinner. See, we have to wait while the other hounds are served dinner first. It's SOO hard, because we are both always so hungry. It's like we haven't eaten in YEARS every day. AND our bowls are the last to be set down....but we're SO good, we both hold back. We wag our tails and jump with glee as we watch all the hounds start eating and we wait for our kibble to arrive. Of course, we're not totally alike. MaryLou is shorter than me. Oh, and MaryLou is not available for adoption (Editors Note: Well, money does talk).

Prospective adopters: I'm talking to you now! Please call Keri today! Not only can she tell you how fun it is to live with me now, she can also tell you, from her experience, how fun it will be with me for years to come. Please, will you call her? (Call Patty & Suzanne first, of course).

Signed,

Athora (as told to Keri)

Happy 8th of July!

Whew. Already July 8th? Well, my kennel friends I made it through my first "Independence Day" as Miss Independent. Well, I like people too much to be completely independent. I guess I'm a little more Miss Co-dependent, want to follow you everywhere than anything. But still, it's fun being able to run independently when I feel like it.

It's pretty great being "free" to be what I want to be. What a great home of the brave....brave world of greyhounds who can survive all the 4th of July hoopla that is! So, I hear there is some question regarding how greyhounds (and all dogs for that matter) will react to those pesky, noisey 4th of July fireworks. Well, here's what I have to say about that:

These photos were taken DURING the fireworks set off less than a mile from our house. Loud, sure. Ground vibrating. Yeap. Me...well, napping.

Oh, and for anyone who knows and was wondering. Here's my foster house mate, Beth. She's pretty scared of most things. But apparently not fireworks (pardon her demonic eyes, she's really quite angelic, just not when the flash is too close).

Keep on rockin' in the free world,

Athora (as told to Keri)

Shoulda' had the camera moment

Foster "mom" Keri missed it. This morning there were dogs barking and ducks quacking on the news. I had to get a closer look. I couldn't smell them, though. I sniffed the tv. And I sniffed the tv. I don't get it. Why didn't those dogs smell? Bummer. I had to walk away, dejected.

Until next time,

Athora (as told to Keri)

Brown is the new Black

Ok, so I hear a lot out here about dalmations, and I'm just here to say that I don't get it. My coloring is so much more chic. Fashion-forward if you will. I don't sport your run of the puppy-mill spots. Rather, I have nice chocolate, cocoa, even chesnut, auburn, coffee colored spots on my body and especially on my ears. My mostly ivory coat is snowy white, and accented by my flecks of colored fur. So, black has nothing on me. What can brown do for you? Well, you're just going to have to meet me, huh? Take that all 101 Dalmations. There can't possibly be more of the black and white variety could there?

Love to all my kennel friends,

Athora (as told to Keri)

For the Love of the KONG!

I have fallen in love and that love is for the KONG. Oh my, do I enjoy licking out the peanut butter in the center of a kong. Have you kids heard about this miraculous invention? Delicious. Every morning when Keri leaves, she loads all of us up with kongs. I jump right into my crate awaiting this tasty morsel. I can hardly contain my excitment for the kong, and my tail spontaneously wags like crazy as the heavenly bliss approaches. And then -- bonus! I get to round up everyone else's kongs in the evenings. The pups around here are not nearly as accomplished as I am with the kong. I am a determined lady, and I will work on that kong until there is just no more peanut butter to be found. In fact, I'm so good that I have a tricky green kong and my foster friends here have the simple red ones. Not that I'd turn down the original. I just love a challenge.



So that, my furry friends is what you have to look forward to outside of the kennel. KONGS! When we have fresh kongs in the morning, we're all like "Keri Who?" when she leaves. A.mazing!

Signed,

Athora as told to Keri

Day 2. Check.

Hello again, my kennel friends. Oh, you should be SO jealous of me....I mean, I'm kickin' it out here with the foster fam, and I'm doing fine. So, I keep bugging Keri to get a picture up, but she said something about that Jason guy taking the camera to work. Tomorrow? Hopefully, she'll work on that.

So, I teased it, and now I'm going to tell it....the television is this amazing, crazy, awe-inspiring thing. I'm fascinated. I have to get up close to see what's really going on. The people are talking, but I can't seem to get them to pet me. I even tried standing on the "surround-sound" speaker. That didn't go over so well. I hear them, but I just don't understand why they aren't petting me. THEN, and here's the crazy thing, there was a dog barking in there. How did a dog get in there. I was very perplexed....I got really close. So close that I really did try to jump into the TV. Keri asked, and she was right, I was trying to figure it out. Anyone have tips?

So, this is very fun to be hanging around in a house. I experienced some sensory overload when I arrived, but I've since chilled about the whole sit.u.ation. I have been sleeping nicely on my assigned bed at night and I'm even starting to figure out which food bowl is mine, and which ones belong to the other dogs here. I think they might let me stay -- until my forever family comes along. Which is cool.

Gotta run! "The Office" is on, and I"m trying to get that Michael guy to pay attention to me. He's really funny - just like me.

What's up for tomorrow? New Obession: The kong. And, oh how sweet it is that there are 3 left-over kongs waiting for me out on the carpet at the end of the day.

Check ya' later,

Athora as told to Keri

PS I have to give a great big shout out to my first foster mom in Florida, Lynn. Lynn, you rock! Miss you. Mean it.

It's an exciting world out here...

Hello there --

Just a quick note to my (former) kennel mates. I am here to tell you that it's pretty exciting being in a home. There are so many things to see and smell. There's hardly any time to consider sleeping around here. There's so much activity in this very cushioned, extra large "crate" with a backyard full of grass and not sand. Fascinating. Also, out here in what they tell me is "suburbia" they have these amazing little holes in the ground filled with water and a waterfall. I'm told they are fish ponds. Well, let me tell you, I like to refer to them as pools with pretty little gold toys to chase. Had a hard time catching one of those things through my muzzle, but I'm told that the fish have not all been accounted for yet. And. I'm. not. telling. No, ma'am. My needle nose is sealed.

Really, I don't think the homeowners particularly loved my obsession with the pond. They told me that I can look, but no more jumping in. It's ok. There's not that much room for me to swim in there. I have a very supermodel sized body, I am so very leggy. Anyway, there's not that much room for me. I am scoping out the neighbors pool, though!

That's all for now. I'll tell you more about foster life tomorrow -- such as an explanation on the TV and how interesting it is to watch the TV reflection in the window. It will be a lesson on how barking at things doesn't always achieve the desired result.

Sincerley,
Athora - as told to foster "mom" Keri (a.k.a. human caretaker, a.k.a. lady who really likes the word "No" when I just want to dive into ponds and bags of kibble)