Seizure Salad

More fun with recent keyword searches

People have finally stopped arriving here by googling "gigantic nipples", I'm a little melancholy about that. Pixie hasn't had gigantic nipples for a while, she had recently had a litter when I got her, and as a breeding dog, many before that. Now they're just huge, not gigantic.

Gigantic nipples aside, some recent thought provoking keyword searches:

This one is actually kind of heart wrenching: "why do I have thoughts of breaking up". I assume that person means ending a relationship, but theoretically they could mean breaking up as in "she's breaking up Cap'n, the ship can't take the strain! We need more dilithium crystals!" If that's the case, godspeed yon stranger.

I totally sympathize with "social interaction exhausts me" and "mixed feelings about moving to the USA". I am really intrigued when people just type a question or statement into a search engine. Sometimes I feel like doing that - today, for instance, it might have been "why the fuck is someone on my street constantly putting their dog's shit into a bag, but then throwing the bag on the ground".

Always, always the ceezer/seezur/siezer/seizure salad recipe inquiries. I'm linking to this one by Bob Blumer (actually called Seizure Salad) just because it looks really, really good. As I was thinking about this, I remembered that I was seduced once by a man who brought all of the ingredients and prep for an authentic caesar salad over to my house, including the well used, garlic-scented wooden salad bowl and a loaf of french bread for croutons. Wonder what happened to that guy.

"Dog behaviour/ humping and seizure". Wow, that's a drag. This one is just ever so vaguely creepy: "supermodels lying down".

Pixie says she doesn't care how people get here, she just wants them to look at a picture of her in her handsome winter coat and hood.

Greyhounds - Urgent need for adoption in Southwestern Ontario and beyond

Regular readers of this blog probably know that I am a very happy Greyhound owner:

(That's a picture of my Pixie, race name Krafty Dixie, the day we met her at the kennel. Who wouldn't have taken her home?)

Daniel and I adopted Pixie from a great rescue organization in London, Ontario called Greyhound Adoption and Relocation Canada (GRA Canada) in March of this year. GRA is the brainchild of a great guy named Bill. Bill drives down to the States a couple of times a year and picks up dogs fresh off the racetrack, and brings them back to his farm where they live in a kennel in a converted barn until re-homed. Volunteers help him to keep them warm, fed and exercised until they can find their homes.

Every autumn there is a particularly urgent need for homes for Greyhounds. Racetracks in the Northeastern U.S. run on a seasonal basis, tons of dogs are "purged" from these tracks every year at this time. Bill does what he can, and this means taking as many dogs as he can handle at his farm in the autumn. Last year he took over 100 dogs, and had a real struggle to keep them in food, blankets etc...but eventually with the help of a lot of volunteer effort they were all re-homed!

If you have been thinking about adopting a dog, please consider a retired racing Greyhound. They make wonderful pets. Here's my own personal Top 10 Reasons to Adopt a Greyhound, in no particular order:

1) If you're a laid-back person, they are the dog for you. Greyhounds are nicknamed "45 mile per hour couch potatoes" for a reason - they sleep a lot, love to laze around and actually require less exercise than some other dog breeds (I'm looking at you Jack Russell).

2) They adapt to urban/apartment living especially well - Greys don't really need a lot of space. Since they can't be let off-leash in an unfenced area anyway, leash walks are going to be their primary form of exercise. You don't need a backyard to own a Greyhound.

3) Greyhounds are generally very affectionate, goofy dogs who live to please you. They bond very strongly with their owners and just take over your heart. Although dogs are individuals and this might not be true for every Grey, in general they are not aggressive and get along very well with people and other dogs. These are not the kind of animals that start barking when someone comes to the door.

4) That last bit really deserves its own point - Greyhounds very rarely bark. We have only heard Pixie bark 3 times...and two of them were when she was asleep and probably dreaming about chasing bunnies.

5) Greyhounds actually smile when they're happy, which if you're lucky, is most of the time.

6) Adopting a Greyhound is a great way to give a renewed lease on life to a dog that has spent the majority of its time in a cage. There is a fair amount of argument about the Greyhound racing industry and just how badly these dogs are treated ... the jury's still out for me. One thing I know for sure is that retired racers are grateful  - and it's a wonderful feeling to know that you're letting this dog live out the rest of their life in a warm house, with a soft bed and some love and companionship. You will be endlessly rewarded for it.

7) The Greyhound community is a proud and powerful force - once you meet other Grey owners you'll have a great social network and support system. Since Greys are laid back, goofy dogs I think they attract similar qualities in owners. Every Greyhound owner I've met has been a really decent person.

8) Seeing a Greyhound run is something that takes your breath away. They have been bred for thousands of years to run, and run fast and seeing them in motion is beautiful.

9) What other breed of dog will allow you to trace their lineage back to the early 1800's? Just like horse racing, the Greyhound racing industry keeps stats, stats and more stats. I can go on a website called Greyhound Data and see every race that Pixie ran, look at her ancestors and their races, see the litters that she had. Check out her info page here. (* note - the "owner" information on Pixie's page is the info for her breeder/owner, not for me).

10) There is simply a great need to adopt these dogs. The Greyhound racing industry in the U.S. had come a long way in recent years, most racetracks are commited to re-homing dogs but thousands of Greys retire each year. Most racers end their career at 2 or 3 years old...and Greyhounds can live past 15.  There are a lot of Greys out there looking for a soft couch to cuddle up on, maybe one of them is yours?

In the Southwestern Ontario area, I know of several Greyhound rescue groups:

Greyhounds in Need of Adoption (G.I.N.A.) - Toronto

GRA Canada - London

Adopt A Greyhound of Central Canada

Needlenose Greyhound Adoption - Hamilton

If you live elsewhere, there are Greyhound rescue groups in many countries. Just do an internet search for Greyhound rescue in your area.

Pixie says thank you for reading!

 

This is pretty much the view from the couch these days...

Observations on day 7

Having a dog is fun, and hard work. The rewards are amazing...if you put the time and effort in to make sure the creature sharing your domicile feels secure.

This wisdom, after one week of dog-ownership. I am a fountain of knowledge - just call me the Dog Lisper.

I have badly wanted a dog for a long time, over ten years. For a solid couple of years I was all about the dachshund - so cute and pert and smart. I've just heard too many stories about understimulated, bored doxies who destroy the house when left alone...I think that's a breed best left to someone who is home more than we are. They are also prone to becoming paralyzed in the hindquarters due to the abnormally elongated spine, not something I wanted to take a chance on. I still think they are cute as hell though.

When D first approached me with the idea of getting a greyhound, I thought "well, they sound great but I don't know how I feel about a dog who's neck is bigger around than it's head". I actually thought they were kind of ugly. But man - do these dogs have a way of growing on you. On the way to London to pick her up last weekend, we stopped at a woman's house to drop off some donations for a charity raffle to raise money for the adoption group. She has 5 greys and was dog sitting 2 more. Now imagine yourself knocking on the door of someone who has 7 dogs in their house, what do you think would happen? A cacophony of barking, perhaps? Not so with the greyhound. I got out of the car and knocked on her door, and in a few moments the door opened to one of the cutest sights I've ever seen, I wish I'd had my camera ready. Seven inquisitive greyhound muzzles peeking out through the door, totally silently, smiling and eager to meet me (greyhounds do smile you know). I stepped inside and seven whiplash tails went into a frenzy. Seven hairy beasties jostled to get close to me and just lean on my leg. They were almost like a school of fish, their heads swiveled in tandem.  One great greyhound brain at work...

Ten interesting observations at the one-week mark:

1.    She has gigantic nipples. No, really - teats so large they are worthy of comment. On our first walk an elderly Italian woman in our neighbourhood who didn't speak much English smiled and made the universal hand gesture for "giant tits" and laughed.  Pixie was a brood mom, and she has had 2 litters that I know of and possibly more, so those bazoombas are well earned.

2.    She collects things. On her dog bed at any given time will be all of her stuffed toys, a Kong and a towel stolen from the linen closet. Apparently this is common to the breed.

3.    She hasn't barked, except for once in her sleep.

4.    She doesn't lick your face like every other dog I've ever met.

5.    Her breath could peel paint...the vet says quite a few teeth have to go. At the racetrack dental health is not a priority, and the breed has notoriously bad teeth. She may be in some pain due to these chronic tooth problems and we're eager to have the offensive buggers out.  Apparently they get along just fine with only a few teeth. Also - hello cute pictures of tongue hanging out of mouth.

6.    Last night I cooked dinner for the dog (sauteed chicken livers) and the boyfriend was told to fend for himself. I will leave analysis to the reader.

7.    Many people are afraid of big dogs. She is the gentlest, friendliest thing you could ever imagine, and I can't count how many times people have passed by giving us a look of terror and a very wide berth. This may come in handy some day, if I'm in a shady neighbourhood.

8.    There are an awful lot of dog owners out there who have dogs with "dog-issues" I can't count the number of times this last week where someone walking a dog will turn and go the other way or pull their pooch aside while we pass. There can be many reasons for this, and it can be complicated but it makes me kind of sad. Why can't they all just get along?

9.    In a similar theme, I am shocked by the number of people letting their dogs walk off-leash in a densely populated, urban centre. Some even in our building. Luckily Pixie is pretty cool with other dogs and just wants to meet them, but this could be a real problem for the dogs in #8 above.

10.    I am shocked by how much I love her already.

               

It is our solemn duty...

...as a childless, nearly middle aged couple, to anthropomorphize the dog. I've resisted it, I really have - the intarnets are filled with childless, middle aged people who dress their dogs up in dresses and name them things like "Skyler" and I just wasn't going to be one of them.

Until I saw this pillow cover at Value Village today:

Here's a closer shot of the embroidery:

Yes, it says "Fairy Princess" and it will be the dog's pillow, and I can hear you snickering over there and it doesn't bother me one bit.

The basket of dog stuff is actually overflowing with goodies at this point

Hurry up Pixie, come home!