Hi everybody-- I've been enjoying lurking here for several weeks but thought it was time to step up and introduce myself. I'm a (female) college prof who at the age of 45 is about to get my first dog, a greyhound of course! I've always been a passionate cat lover, but in the past five years got thoroughly indoctrinated into what I call Dog World by my best friend and her friends, and started wanting to join in. I knew I would wait until one of my two cats, Quinn, passed away as I felt he would be very stressed by a dog--my other cat, Carey, is a bossy little girl who never shows fear of anything. Well, unfortunately Quinn was diagnosed with cancer at age 12 early this summer, and by the beginning of this month was beginning to fail. A neighbor of my parents also adopted a greyhound last winter, and spending some time with Gracie while visiting them really solidified my desire to have one!
A couple of weeks ago I decided to go to Quad Cities Greyhound Adoption just to talk to folks there about the process and cheer myself up by getting to see some dogs. Well -- you can probably guess what happened. I felt a real bond with one sweet girl named Beth -- petting her I felt very calmly "this is my dog." The folks there seem to think she has a bond with me as well. I wasn't sure if the timing would work out, but as it turned out I had to put my cat to sleep this week. So to make a long story short, I'll be bringing her home on Labor Day weekend. And fortunately my friend who got me into all this is coming out from California to help me with the first few days. I can't believe I'm getting my greyhound with the semester already underway, but I don't want to wait until next May!
So here's Beth's info (with pics), and some pictures I took are below (I visited her a second time the week after I met her, and am going a third time tomorrow, even though the kennel is over 130 miles from my house!). http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?i=1416989&z=Q8tXaC
Isn't she purty?? She has the most amazing layers of ticking and shading within her white parts. And the softest, most dreamy brown eyes, like she's thinking faraway thoughts. She seems pretty mellow and people-oriented and likes to be petted, although she has still some puppy energy too, and is very nosy!
Anyway, I've been reading like crazy but I'm sure I'll have lots of questions! I'd be especially interested in hearing from other people who've had the experience of dealing with a new greyhound while being the only human in the household. I'm a little worried about having only two hands and not being able to be all places at once, especially in regard to disciplining hr around my cat -- she was cat-tested twice and the adoption coordinator described her as "easily correctable," but still.
