Guest Energy11 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Zimmy Sez Wonderful life for a greyhound Steve Zimmerman I just love when today comes each year. For today is my birthday. My name is Dottie and I turned 10 years old today. Now you might be asking yourself how a greyhound would know it is her birthday. I know because of the cake and ice cream I had today. Every year on the same day for the past six years since I came to live with my humans, I have gotten cake and ice cream. And today was the day. The funny thing is, I turned 10 (that is 70 in dog years) but these two humans still talk to me like I was a puppy down on the farm. Oh well, you know what they say. A human is only as smart as his greyhound lets them be. When I raced, my human Steve watched me every time. He watched me run into the six dog one time and then run into the four dog the next time. Needless to say, I was not the best racer. My late sister Genie was the runner in this family. When I came into the human's home, she was already there and was queen of the house. Or sometimes she was the evil stepsister to my Cinderella. She was a strange dog. She had to be fed first and always had to be the first to choose where she would sleep for the night. She usually got to sleep with the female human Karen in her bed, which relegated my other male human Steve to another bed in the house. That meant I had the choice of either the couch or the loveseat. And as I am kind of tall for a girl, I usually chose the couch. I came into a house where the humans were already greyhound trained. They knew that if they were on the couch and Genie or I wanted to get on there to sleep, they had to move. All we have to do is give them the evil eye and they get up and move. I must admit though that I am not as worldly as Genie was and that got me into trouble once. Steve had bought a big bag of these little triangular candies they called kisses. Well, he left them on the counter in the kitchen when they went out and I decided to taste them. I took the bag off the counter and took each kiss from its wrapper and ate every last one of them. Even though Genie was there with me in the house, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. When my humans came home, they discovered the empty bag and the wrappers and became very concerned. I heard them call my doctor and ask him if I was okay. They could have just asked me. Other than walking and talking a little faster, I felt great. When Steve got off the phone with my doctor, he told Karen that if I wasn't dead in an hour, I would be okay. Dead, hah! That day was the only day I ever beat Genie in a race around our big back yard. On that day, I could have beat Secretariat in a race. Well, things have been changing around the house lately. Genie, who was 14, went to sleep a few months ago. I knew something was wrong when she started to forget my name during our talks. Steve said she had doggie Alzheimer's disease. My doctor told me, and the humans, that actually can happen in dogs. When Genie left us, some great people showed up at our door unannounced and left a male greyhound named Mike for me and my other brother Caper. Caper came to us a couple of years ago after being abused by a mean trainer in Massachusetts. That trainer beat Caper and his four brothers with a bullwhip. Steve saw Caper in his new Florida kennel acting very scared and asked the trainer, who had taken Caper from the mean trainer, what was wrong. After hearing the story, he told the trainer to bring Caper to our house. It took two years of leaving him alone for him to find his way to the humans. But now he is playing with us, walking the humans on their leash and acting like a real greyhound. Lately, my leg has been hurting me real bad. So last week the humans took me to see my doctor Bruce. I don't think he or the humans have figured out we greyhounds understand English. But we do. I heard Doctor Bruce say I have cancer and they could take my leg to stop the disease from spreading. Now I don't know about you, but I think a three-legged greyhound must look awfully funny. Luckily, Steve said to keep me whole and they brought me home. My leg has been getting worse every day but I knew it was about time for that cake and ice cream so I wanted to stay around for one last taste. Now that my birthday is over, I guess it is time for me to join Genie at the big racetrack in the sky. Before she left me, she told me that if there was lightning outside, that meant that she had won a race. I have been counting and Genie has won six times already. I hope I am better at racing this time around so I can light up the sky for Mike and Caper. Well, I am going to go tell the humans it is time for me to make room for another deserving retired racer in their home. But before I go, I need to tell them that they should not be sad for me. I have had a great life and can't wait to swap stories of life as an adoptee with all the other former racers in doggie heaven. Greyhound adoption has been the greatest invention since the couch or loveseat (or maybe cake and ice cream). I can't thank my trainers, Kirk and Julie Freis, and my humans, Steve and Karen, for giving me such a great opportunity to live a royal life. People who adopt greyhounds are the best. So let me say in closing to everyone who has adopted or is about to adopt a fellow greyhound, thank you very much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandimom Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 Wow that was a tear jerker especially the part "time to join Genie in the sky". Thanks for sharing though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greytpups Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 More tears...shouldn't I be running out by now Quote Jan with precious pups Emmy (Stormin J Flag) and Simon (Nitro Si) and Abbey Field. Missing my angels: Bailey Buffetbobleclair 11/11/98-17/12/09; Ben Task Rapid Wave 5/5/02-2/11/15; Brooke Glo's Destroyer 7/09/06-21/06/16 and Katie Crazykatiebug 12/11/06 -21/08/21. My blog about grief The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not get over the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same, nor would you want to. ― Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racindog Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 (edited) Edited December 22, 2009 by racindog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Energy11 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 This article originally appeared in The Ashland (Oregon) Daily Tidings, in 2004. It moved me soooo much, and I shared with sooo many, I tried to contact the columnist, Steve Zimmerman. The editor there said he had moved on, and no one knew where he went. The column say soooo much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peppersdad Posted January 4, 2010 Share Posted January 4, 2010 (edited) BEAUTIFUL, REALLY TOUCHED SOMETHING IN ME!! :weep Edited January 4, 2010 by Peppersdad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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