countrypaws

Thank you for the well wishes. There is a study at Ohio State which uses "killer cells" to attack the cancer. Here are the parameters of the study: As seen in the consent form, if Teagan were to screen and enroll into this trial, you would be responsible for all of the costs of the screening visit (Exam, bloodwork, a cytology of the mass if not already diagnosed at your referring vet, and any additional testing deemed necessary by the clinician). We would also do imaging (a CT of the chest), which the study would cover that cost. After screening, your dog would be scheduled to come in to be hospitalized for a total of 4 days with us, to both receive occasional NK cell infusions and then would also have a limb amputation. You would be responsible for the costs of the amputation surgery itself, but the costs related to the NK cell infusions and additional hospitalization would be covered by the study. Two weeks after amputation, your dog would return to OSU to start standard of care chemotherapy (Carboplatin). Your dog will receive a total of 4 doses of Carboplatin every 3 weeks, and on weeks they are not getting carboplatin they would receive a dose of NK Cells (a total of 13 weekly visits post-amputation). If your dog is doing well and has no evidence of metastasis to the lungs via chest x-rays at the final weekly visit, we will just see them back every 8 weeks for recheck chest radiographs. All of these appointments must be performed here at OSU and are morning drop-offs. Patients typically go home in the early afternoon. All of the costs of the NK Cell infusion and Carboplatin visits will be covered by the study. I realy like this approach. We just live a bit far from Columbus the be part of this study. The study at Penn Vet (the University of Pennsylvania) uses a stream of protons to attack the cancer and then five days latyer they do amputation. We are hoping Teaganm will be accepted into this study. Larry

We just learned that our Teagan has oseo sarcome in his right front leg. He has undergone an abdominal ultasound and seems to have no other cancers in his organs. We are looking at trying to get him into a"killer cell" clinical study at Ohio State University or a similar study at Penn Vet and we wondered if any other greyhound owners have participated in either of those studies?

We just wanted to let everyone know that registration is now open for The Grapehound Wine Tour®, July 21-26, 2020. For those not familiar with the event, The Grapehound Wine Tour is a gathering of sighthound owners hled at wineries in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York near Watkins Glen. The event features wine-tasting, brew pubs, music, greyhound vendors and a Sunday walk to nearby 215 ft. Taughannock Falls. We will be taking steps to avoid large gatherings of people in closed spaces this year, and instead, we will be emphasizing well-spaced outdoor activities. Wineries are working hard to create personal wine tasting experiences without any crowds. We also wanted to announce that we have a great new purple logo three-ply cloth mask which is a classy but economical way to stay safe when you go out and about. You can register and see our new Grapehound logo mask here: https://shop.grapehounds.com/products

You may see and order one of our new Walking the Dog ladies V-neck shirts here: https://shop.grapehounds.com/products/walking-the-dog-shirt All proceeds go to transporting and vetting the Florida greyhounds. Larry

Email going out as we speak! Larry

We hope everyone is home staying safe from this nasty corona virus. We also hope you are using some of the time taking some long walks and enjoying some time with your hounds. Susie and I find that our greyhounds and our walks are one of the bright spots in our daily routine. (I tell people that our life is so boring, staying at home hasn't changed our life much at all!) First, at this early date (and we are still months away) we plan to hold the Grapehound Wine Tour® as planned. The only reason we would cancel the event is if we are asked to do so by local or state authorities. Greyhound groups depend on the money we raise. We think that after these widespread "stay at home" orders expire, everyone is going to be readyby mid-summer for some time with greyhound people, some wine buying (especially some wine buying) and some greyhound shopping. We're adding Boundary Breaks Winery as our Wednesday night venue for Early Birds. It is a gorgeous winery with a view of Seneca Lake. Other host wineries again will include Atwater Estate Vineyards, Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Catharine Valley Winery, and Fulkerson Winery. This is a critical time in the world of greyhound events. As you know, these events--- whether it's Greyhounds in Gettysburg®, Mountain Hounds, The Grapehound Wine Tour®, Beach Bound Hounds, or Greyhounds Reach the Beach® -- raise tens thousands of dollars to help bring ex-racing greyhounds from the racetracks and find them homes. This process of greyhound adoption is not cheap. Groups most often have to pay for transportation and vetting, including shots, deworming and dental cleanings, and that's not counting if a dog is not in perfect health. When you combine the stresses of this global pandemic on these events along with the fact that some Florida tracks are closing their doors early due to the virus, this creates what has been described by one greyhound official as a "perfect storm:" many dogs in need and not as much money available to help them. You know, even without this pandemic, greyhound events are getting smaller or slowly going away. Remember Greyhounds Rock Fredericksburg? Some probably don't. It's gone. Beach Bound Hounds is closing after their event this year. Last year their event was washed out by a hurricane. They did everything right and their event still had to be cancelled. The event held by the Greyhound Gang in Kanab, Utah, is not being held this year. The managers of most events (and I speak mainly for myself) are getting older and the times are more challenging. Harder to find suitable venues, harder to get liability insurance, harder to find volunteers willing to do the hard and laborious task of staging a major event. So what can you do? We know some folks are really financially strapped right now and it's all they can do to get by. We understand that. But if you can help your favorite greyhound group or your local SPCA, now is the time to help. They can't hold the find raisers or picnics which they usually use to support their adoption efforts. So, please support them if you can. The need for homes for dogs does not just go away because we're afraid of a virus. But if you can financially help support your local adoption groups or your favorite events, please do so. Your support will help us to help more greyhounds. Another fun thing thing you may wish to do to help the hounds is to buy one of our specialty greyhound shirts to show off in your neighborhood when you walk your hounds. Our first shirt this spring is about to be rolled out for sale. It's a gorgeous blue shirt called "Walking the Dog," perhaps a most appropriate name for a shirt at this time in history, since walking our dogs is one of the things most of us can still do outside the home. This shirt is cute as a bug. We'll be sending more information in a day or two on this shirt in our monthly email. Look for it. If you're not on our email subscription list, you can add your name at www.grapehounds.com (Look for the the words 'Sign up for email updates...' ) Another thing we're doing is having a drawing for those who'd like to get a shirt but can't buy one at this time. We're going to give away five shirts in your size for free through a drawing. If you have ever bought one of our shirts in the past, then you're eligible for our drawing! More details in our next email. So, please stay safe and hug your hounds as we try to get through this corona virus thing together. Look for our email about the first shirt in a series of fun shirts we'll be offering this spring to pick up people's spirits and help the greyhounds. We think we all need a bright spot at a difficult time and we need to help our adoption groups and help the hundreds of hounds which need homes. Above all, please do what you need to do to stay safe. Larry B., President The Grapehound Wine Tour, Inc.

Oops, sorry I am just seeing some of the questions here. The E-booklet will go out tomorrow, Friday, July 19th. Just a lot of loose ends to check with wineries, and they are so busy this time of year they don't always get back to you when you call or email them. One thing we're trying to do differently this year is to list all the wineries or brew pubs that have entertainment on an evening so that everyone has some evening options which they can find all in one place. So on Friday on our calendar, for example, we'll list all the places we have found which welcome the dogs and offer music. Another thing to mention is that Kent Roberts will be with us this year! He'll be signing shirts for people from 11AM-12PM on Friday morning in the social tent at Catharine Valley Winery, our host this year. As Tricia indicates, temperatures will moderate in new York after our mini-heat wave this weekend. Temps are predicted to run from 78 degrees on Tuesday to about 81-82 degrees the rest of the week. Mostly sunny all week with 40% chance of showers on Thursday. Usually the temps for our event are much cooler in NY than in the mid-Atlantic area (PA, NJ, Maryland) where we live. I know it was hot yesterday when I drove to Baltimore to pick up our wine glasses! Trudy, I hope you'll stop down and look us up. That's so cool that you're in Syracuse during the event. There's a gathering at Rasta Ranch Winery on Wednesday evening with music and food. That's the popular hippie-60's winery. The main event will be at Catharine Valley Winery (4201 St NY St Rt 414 Burdett, NY) on Friday and Saturday, July 26-27. The main host winery (with vendor and social tents) is four miles north of Walmart in Watkins Glen. It's also a straight shot south on Rt 414 off the NY thruway at Seneca Falls. We do have some Woodstock shirts left over if some folks didn't order one but would like one for Kent to sign. Can't think of anything else right now, so look for the booklet tomorrow. I'd better get back to editing right now! Larry

Hey man! Far out! We have our new 2019 Grapehound Wine Tour® custom shirt available online. The theme of this year's event is a commemoration of the 50th annversary of Woodstock. The shirt was designed by greyhound artist and caricaturist Kent Roberts. The design shows a greyhound wearing a garland of flowers driving a VW mini-bus decorated with hearys and flowers. He is accompanied by a way cool bunny flashing the peace sign and another greyhound standing next to the minibus wearing bell bottoms and playing the guitar. The design is printed on a lavender shirt in universal or ladies cut styles. Peace, man! We are custom ordering shirts for everyone who wants one for the next couple weeks, so by ordering now you can get the size, style and printing you want. Once our order is placed in early July, we'll only have various left-over sizes available and you can't be assured we'll have your size and style unless you order in advance. We won't be printing this shirt again so this is a one-time opportunity. Get more details here https://shop.grapehounds.com/products/see-no-evil-ladies-cut-gildan-t-shirtin-lavender-small-only or see the image below for a first glance...

The fourteenth annual Grapehound Wine Tour® kicks off on Tuesday, July 23 for those who wish to start their wine tasting early. We call them Early Birds. We have thirty-four wineries, five brew pubs and one gorgeous distillery signed up to participate with us this July. The event kicks off on Thursday, July 25th at Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards with a Welcome party from 5PM to 8PM. WE serve the hors d'oeuvres, hazitt has the wines (and do they!), and a food truck (the Little Red Wagon) will be serving tasty wraps and other foods for dinner. Friday (July 26) the festivities move to the main venue at Catharine Valley Winery where they have a beautiful view of 400 foot deep Seneca lake from the hill of Seneca Lake, along with a cool summer breeze. There we will have all our greyhound vendors in a big vendor tent sellings coats, beds, collars, leashes, T-shirts, dog treats ... well let's just say "...and a lot more!" We'll also have a big social tent where you can hang out with like-minded greyhound people and sip a glass of wine from your lawn chair. Hang out for an hour or an afternoon. Seneca Lake isn't going anywhere. On Saturday (July 27) at Catharine Valley Winery we'll continue our festivities with our Blessing of the Hounds at 2PM, then our greyhound ice cream social at 3PM with free ice cream for the people and free vanilla frozen yogurt for the hounds. At 4PM we will close out all the tremendous values in our Silent Auction. On Sunday (7/28) the fun continues at 10AM with our easy one-mile walk to the tallest waterfall in the Northeast, 215 ft. Taughannock Falls. People love to have their portrait taken with their hounds in front of the falling water. At 11AM folks may congregate at Fulkerson Winery which always volunteers to be our Sunday send-off winery. Or you can continue by touring around the lake at wineries of your choice until you have to head back home to the real world. (Ugh!) The Grapehound Wine Tour® is an event where you set the pace or set no pace, it's up to you and your hounds. Tour the lake or hang out with us at Catharine Valley. Go to twenty wineries or to six. We don't care! You could not visit all the wineries in a weekend if you tried! Make it your weekend, at your pace! Bring the husband or leave him at home, get some girlfriends and hang out with us! There are still plenty of rooms available, including cabins and hotel rooms within the area. The great hotels in Ithaca are a greyt option this year because Catharine Valley winery is closer to them than any other group of great dog-friendly, pet-fee waiving hotels! Plus they are next door to a huge Wegmans and a Walmart for all your travel needs. They are all listed on our Hotels page at https://www.grapehounds.org/hotels--ny-.html Whoever you bring, dogs or humans, we are glad to see you and hope to show you and your greyhounds a greyt time. You can keep up with all the plans for this year's event at www.grapehounds.org or on our Grapehound Wine Tour® facebook page. And you can enjoy your weekend knowing that all the money we earn for the event wil be donated (after expenses) to area greyhound adoption groups and to the Humane Society of Schuyler County. We hope we see you at Seneca Lake this summer! (Jeff and Trudy: Come back to NY and see us for Grapehounds! We miss you guys! Come back to New York!)

Our fourth annual Winter Houndstm event takes place at Geneva Ramada Lakefront (41 Lakefront Drive, Geneva, NY) February 22-24. Room rates at this gorgeous lakeside resort hotel are $105 a night with pet fees waived. Can you believe it? They even have a dining room overlooking the lake. Some folks come a day earlier on Thursday Feb. 21 to start some wine tasting early. We'll have over forty wineries participating on three different area wine tours (which include not just wineries but brew pubs and distilleries too). If you can't stay the weekend but want to do a little mid-winter shopping or need a coat for your pup, stop down to the Geneva Ramada on Saturday February 23 and do a little shopping! Kris' Koats will be there selling all sorts of coats over the weekend. Harleys Barkery will be "in the house" selling some greyt dog treats. And check out our new 2019 Winter Houndstm shirt! We have a few shirts left in small. medium and XL. Check out the event and the new shirts here: https://www.grapehounds.org/winter-hounds.html See you at the Geneva Ramada!

Thanks to all the hounds and humans who attended Greyhounds Reach the Beach® last weekend. We had nearly 500 people registered and earned between $9,000-$10,000 for greyhound adoption through registrations, T-shirt sales, and our Silent Auction. We won't know the exact amount until all our bills are paid. Each year this event gets harder to manage due to the lack of appropriate spaces, buildings, spaces or locations to host activities. It's also a challenge becasue of the expenses related to the Dewey Beach location. The Town charges all the vendors a $109 annual business license fee, even though our vendors are only in town for a few days. They also want people to buy a Dewey Beach dog license, even though the state statutes are clear that if your dog is licensed in your home state, no additional dog licenses is needed "anywhere in the state." They want us to buy a "permit" for any outside activities. When these onerous fees are added to the very few very available (but expensive) locations that in Dewey Beach, it is a real challenge to use this location to host the GRtB event. Next year the new ballroom will be finished at the Hyatt Hotel. Anyone can rent it ... for $20,000 per day. Yes, that's not a misprint...they want $20K per day. They rent it to rich brides from the Washington D.C. area who want a beach wedding. It sure won't be the greyhounds who rent it, that's for sure. So, all things considered we are thrilled to have our fourth consecutive successful GRtB event since rejuvenating the event in 2015 and once again raise thousands of dollars for greyhound adoption. We are especially happy to say that one of the many greyhound adoption groups whom we support with our donations is the largest Delaware-based adoption group, Greyhound Pet Adoptions of (Newark) Delaware. Our parent corporation, The Grapehound Wine Tour, Inc., is headquartered in Delaware and our volunteers are almost all Delaware residents or have Delaware roots. We are also registered to do business in all three Delaware Counties and we are members of the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce. Thanks to all who agree with us that when it comes to Greyhounds Reach the Beach®, "It's all about the greyhounds."

For many years, since Nittany has managed the event, the Allstar Center has kicked out the greyhounds first thing Sunday morning. This year they were excited to be able to continue the event throughout the day on Sunday. The biggest benefit may be for day-trippers who can only come out on Sunday.

Over the years we saw Advantage, Advantix and other topicals become less and less effective. We would treat our four hounds and we'd still see ticks attached a week or two later. We switched to Seresto collars last year and we didn't see a tick all summer. That is very remarkable, as we live in the middle of a forest with brush and tall grasses here in the piedmont of SE Pennsylvania. Every walk we'd bring one or two ticks home on our dogs and have to pick them off. We walk our dogs about a mile every day. Cost The Seresto collars are far most cost effective too, as they last eight months and cost about $52 each. (I pay around $40 each with various coupons or offers.) Thus even at at full retail they cost an average of about $6.50 a month. Compare that to about $15.50 a month for Advantix (and the Advantix doesn't always work!). Reactions We have not heard of any greyhound reacting to these collars, which was our main concern when we began to use them. And we ask people constantly, especially the adoption groups which use them for all their dogs. No one has seen an adverse reaction from a greyhound. I also don't like topicals which work by being absorbed into my dog's system. Dawn If you are seeing fleas and ticks, wash your dog and soap him up with Dawn dish detergent (unscented basic version), which is gentle for the animals (even baby birds coated in oil) but an effective flea and tick killer. (In fact, when we used to see a tick attached, before we used Seresto collars, we soaped up the spot with Dawn and the tick died and fell off in a few hours.) Rinse your pup well after washing, towel dry him,and let the dog completely dry off for a couple days; then add the Seresto collar. Keep the collar adjusted tight enough to just fit one finger underneath it. It needs to contact the neck consistently. Fleas For flea infestations, you cannot just put a collar on your dog. I saw one fellow post elsewhere that he put a Seresto collar on his dog and kept finding a couple live fleas on his dog every day so the "collars don't work." In fact, his carpets and dog beds were likely teeming with generations of fleas and he hadn't addressed the problem. The collar was likely killing dozens of fleas but the dog was just continually reinfested. If you're finding a couple fleas on your dog, there are probably hundreds in the bedding and carpet of your dog's home. The dog beds (and maybe your beds) have to be washed and the carpets need to be treated thoroughly with sprays or powders or you may have to hire a pest service. You likely will have to treat a couple times to get all the pests after they hatch. Just putting a collar on your dog won't kill a total flea infestation. And if you are seeing fleas on your dog, please assume they are everywhere in your dog's home surroundings and on your other animals. These Seresto collars are the best flea and tick preventative we have found and we've had greyhounds -- both our own and fosters -- for 12 years. They use Imidacloprid for flea protection and Flumethrin for tick protection. Not only do ticks not attach, they drop off almost as soon as they climb on to the dog. They make your dog's whole body a tick repellant. The medications in the collar are completely topical (external) and the collar makes your dog and his bed repel ticks for months. Many greyhound groups use the Seresto collars exclusively. If your topicals or holistic preparations aren't working, give these great collars a try. This is a video demonstrating how the collars work:

The Grapehound Wine Tour® will be held on Seneca Lake in New York from July 26-29, 2018. Registration is now open. We have held this event every year since July of 2006. It has grown to be the third largest greyhound event in the US, but it feels like a smaller event. Grapehounds is a different kind of event where much of our time is spent hanging out with our beautiful greyhounds, sipping wine and meeting new people. The wineries just love these dogs. Yes, we have a bunch of great vendors from all over the country who come every year, but this event is really about the people and our greyhounds and relaxing in the midst of some beautiful wineries. This part of New York is drop-dead gorgeous. There are lakes and waterfalls all over this region. Better yet, there's no concentration of top notch wineries anywhere in America like the Finger lakes of New York. In recent years we have added many brew pubs and distilleries to our "tour." You honestly could not see all our participating wineries in four days if you tried. Early Birds can start touring as early as Tuesday, July 24th this year. On Thursday evening we have a greyt Welcome event at Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards with music, hors d'oeuvres and lots of beverage choices. Vendors open on Friday morning and wine tasting continues around the Lake. On Friday evening we have a big concert in our social tent. (Did we mention the wine tasting thing?) On Saturday, more wine tasting with vendors open in the morning and a Blessing of the Hounds, an ice cream social and the end of our big Silent Auction Saturday afternoon. This year we have a Scottish band coming to participate in the Blessing event. On Sunday morning we walk a fairly level one-mile walk to Taughannock Falls, the tallest waterfall in the Northeast, taller than Niagara Falls! We do portraits of people in front of the falls. Then, Fulkerson Winery hosts us for a going away event on Sunday afternoon. Our website is here: www.grapehounds.com Our motto is, "Wine and greyhounds: what's not to like?" Don't wait too long to book your hotel room. Things are filling up. All proceeds go to greyhound adoption groups in NY and the mid-Atlantic states. We hope to see you there.