An Anniversary - Sort Of... And Rocket's Gotcha Day

[Time4ANap]

Yesterday, December 21 was an anniversary for us.  12/21/2008 was the day that Rocket arrived in our home in Mahomet, IL. It was a day with a wind chill of minus 25F. What a day to get your first dog. 

So first, Happy Gotcha Day to my buddy Rocket at The Bridge.  I miss you every day. 

13 years and many hounds later, the only thing I would change is to have them all never leave.  I miss every single one of them. 

The funny thing is that Rocket is the only hound we specifically adopted. The rest of the hounds all found us or came to us as dogs who needed a new home. Allie's owner had passed away and she was in danger from the other hounds in her foster home as she was attacked by the pack. Petunia and Kate came from a racing farm that was closing down and needed to place senior broodies. Sadie Rose was only here for a short time because she didn't work out, but was another of those farm broodies. She was also deaf which no one had realized. She is living in California with an owner who is teaching her sign language and she is doing great. Starz was another where her owner passed away suddenly and life changed drastically for her Mom. Starz and her siblings had a wonderful home, but Covid caused them to need a new home. Diva and Mark's owner passed away unexpectedly leaving them in immediate need of a home.  2 weeks into Diva being here, she started limping and a few weeks later, Osteo took her from us. Mark is doing well and I know he is still feeling those 2 big losses of his owner and Diva. He is slowly coming out of his shell and meeting neighbors, going for daily walks now, and generally becoming my new best buddy. 

Dogs belonging to our GreyTalk friends became instant family and we felt like every one of them was our own dog. We still miss all of the ones who are no longer with us including Trolley, Bella and many others including many on GT that we never met in person. Each one was like our own dog. We never got to meet Lexie in-person, but she was Rocket's "wife." 

We've added lots of "family members" over the years in the form of other greyhound owners. We've also lost a few of our greyhound family over the years - other owners who became fast friends when greyhounds were the thing that brought us together. It's still strange to not be able to call or text them now. 

It's been a fast 13 years. I sort of blinked and the time has passed. Here's to at least another 13 years 

The boy who started it all. We had 10 fantastic years together and were inseparable. 

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Time4ANap
added pic, fixed typos

[Remolacha]

Happy gotcha day Rocket, you were a special boy. When you get your first greyhound you definitely join the cult!

[ramonaghan]

Loved that boy. Happy gotcha day, Rocket. I'm grateful to know your people.  

[FiveRoooooers]

12/21/08-12/21/21 They say you can choose your friends but you can't choose your family. I heartily disagree 

Here's to Rocket, the man who started it all.

[Nadine]

Happy Gotcha Day at the bridge, Rocket. 

 

You can't add more days to life but you can add more life to the days. Thank you for sharing your adventures with us. 

[greytpups]

Happy Gotcha Day at the bridge. I too, have made so many friends because of greyhounds. And I shed tears for greyhounds I never met in person, but was saddened by their loss because I know how incredibly painful it is.  

Cheers to Rocket and may there be French fries falling from the sky.

[Jerilyn]

Aww, Rocket Man! 

I totally get what you're saying, I made so many good friends when I got Lila.

[Houndtime]

It's amazing how these wonderful dogs have changed our lives.

[Time4ANap]

1 hour ago, greytpups said:

Happy Gotcha Day at the bridge. I too, have made so many friends because of greyhounds. And I shed tears for greyhounds I never met in person, but was saddened by their loss because I know how incredibly painful it is.  

Cheers to Rocket and may there be French fries falling from the sky.

Crying for a dog I never met caught me completely off guard. It happens more often than I'm willing to admit. 

 

 

 

 

[macoduck]

[BatterseaBrindl]

2 hours ago, Time4ANap said:

Crying for a dog I never met caught me completely off guard. It happens more often than I'm willing to admit. 

 

Yup....

And Happy Gotcha Day to Rocket  

[spottydog]

Cheers to Rocket! I too miss his exploits…

[EllenEveBaz]

Rocketman -- you done good.    

[greysmom]

{{{hugs}}}

Our first greyhound was also a beautiful white faced brindle girl.  She was a bounce from a situation where her first Mom needed to move to a nursing facility due to a stroke, but no one wanted Libby because she had seizures.  We were "just looking" at a meet-n-greet, and left owning a greyhound.  Dude, Copper, Cash, Toni, Dorie - all were fosters who never left.  Whiskey and Lilly were the first greyhounds we adopted from the jump (and also the first without behavioral or health issues needing to be sorted, or bounces).  Then came Felicity, Atom, and Andi.

Those were just the ones that lived with us.  So many new friends and dogs we've met because we have greyhounds now.   

[Time4ANap]

7 hours ago, greysmom said:

{{{hugs}}}

Our first greyhound was also a beautiful white faced brindle girl.  She was a bounce from a situation where her first Mom needed to move to a nursing facility due to a stroke, but no one wanted Libby because she had seizures.  We were "just looking" at a meet-n-greet, and left owning a greyhound.  Dude, Copper, Cash, Toni, Dorie - all were fosters who never left.  Whiskey and Lilly were the first greyhounds we adopted from the jump (and also the first without behavioral or health issues needing to be sorted, or bounces).  Then came Felicity, Atom, and Andi.

Those were just the ones that lived with us.  So many new friends and dogs we've met because we have greyhounds now.   

When we lost Rocket, we decided that we weren't going to straight out adopt again, but if there was "an old dog who needed a home" we would take them in. Apparently the electronics in our house were listening and transmitted the message. 

[Beachbum1]

Sweet boy

[MerseyGrey]

Happy gotcha day Rocket, and happy anniversary to your humans! Sorry I’m a bit late to the party