Search the Community

One day shy of her 13th birthday, but really, that counts, amirite? We celebrated all weekend, knowing that Bea was not going to see those 13 candles. When the spirit is strong but the body betrays … Five and a half years ago, we had lost (Foster)Sweet just a month before when the call came asking if we could emergency foster another broodie. At that point it was My Three Sons (Paddy Mayhem, Aiden, Andy) with whom I needed to consult …. arrangements were made … Miss Design ran all 73 of her recorded races, including A and AA, at Tri State. She was a good little runner until the devastating break of her right hind leg. The break was repaired, and Miss Design was retired to life as a brood mom. One litter of eight is recorded and all but one of her babies went on to either so-so or fabulous racing careers. More later about those babies. A local adoption group had received a request from a family looking for a very special dog. Mom, dad, and three small girls wanted a sweet, first dog they could love. The group did a thorough vetting and matched the family with Miss Design, who by now was 7.5 years old and had been languishing on the farm in West Virginia. The hauler brought the old girl to Connecticut and after her extreme makeover she was delivered to her new family who had promised to take care of her and love her forever. Ten days later they announced that they didn’t really want a dog after all and Miss Design had to leave that very day. It was January and Connecticut was in the midst of a nasty ice storm. I had agreed to foster but the roads were awful and we said lets wait until morning. The family was adamant that the dog had to go and they somehow got her to a veterinary clinic and dumped her. The next morning, the group’s rep picked up Miss Design from the clinic and we met to make the exchange. I was relieved that there was no immediate connection with the dog, just nothing really, she was so confused and shut down, as well as the fact that she was too young to apply for camp enrollment. I figured that foster failing wasn’t going to be an issue. https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/311699-looking-for-my-forever-home-no-srsly/?tab=comments#comment-5792294 Less than two hours after arriving at Camp Greyhound CT, the hound fka “Abbey” now “Bea” was in her element. It was as if she walked in, took stock, and said “Oh thank goodness, you have greyhounds here!” She worked her broodie magic on me and thanks to Sweet, who had been Broodie Baptism by Fire, I had some clue! But I did not want another dog and talked up Bea at every possible opportunity. Meanwhile, she was quietly doing a number on me and two months after our initial “Gotcha” I was toast we made it official and welcomed home Broodie #2/Camper #13. https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/312741-oh-fish-ually-toast-and-jam/#entry5816307 Bea was lame on that repaired leg and x-rays showed the impressive hardware in her hock. There was also a nasty corn on that foot. She would often blast around the yard on three legs and I remember commenting that she was either not in real pain or extremely stoic. As we would later learn, Bea was one incredibly stoic old brood. We started her on a medical cocktail that would continue throughout her life, as well as periodic x-rays to monitor the hardware. The corn continued to harass her up until the last two or so months of her life when it stopped growing; we suspect that may have been due to her altered gait as she grew older and other parts of her body began to compensate. Our vet still cannot get over how stoic Bea has been. Was it just Bea herself, or having been a brood? One of our most memorable accounts is the time Bea ran from the far end of the front yard up to the front door where I was standing. And broke her toe. A sound I will never forget. Bea! Barely a limp, never a gasp nor the GSOD, nothing. If I hadn’t been standing there to witness it, I wouldn’t have known. The x-ray, however, was remarkable. Bea would have nothing to do with any idea of splinting, we made it worse by trying and gave up to let her deal with it. And she did. Stoic Bea. A few years ago, an email arrived from strangers who wondered if I was the owner of “Miss Design” because they had adopted one of her babies! Thus began a wonderful friendship between families when we reconnected momma Bea and daughter Polly. There didn’t seem to be much recognition between them, just two dogs who liked each other and were content in each other’s company. Polly, and then their second hound, Crunch, stayed with us a few times when the family traveled and we had the best times! Bea did like to yell sometimes, we can’t forget that Must have been that broodie thing. Some favorite Bea-isms are her talent with a water jug, her finesse with landskraping, and her Gold Medal “10” roach efforts: https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/313468-bea-is-on-it/ Bea was a ferocious nester: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFgznESztkU , and catcher of berds: https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/314758-not-really-c-f-but-the-door-was-open/?tab=comments#comment-5862039 But she may best be remembered from her favorite season: Autumn. Autumn meant apples (spoiler: just under 4 minutes to destroy all evidence) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIvOTyzLWJY and pumpkins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGXM8baHZ-Y Oh how she loved both decorating with and eating a mini-jack! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJslnmYiFpE Our dear friend Bea . Her passing was quick, without fuss, stoic right to the end. Five years and six months. No matter the amount of time with which we are blessed, it is never enough. We just want them to stay forever. Momma Bea, broodie #2, camper #13, born 07/07/07. How lucky were we to have been your caregiver, thank you for that. Godspeed sweet girl.