Pre-Holiday Vet Visits And Sally’s Christmas Wish Comes True
You Stop Giving Sally Attention When She Says So!
What do you envision when you hear the words “wonky leg?” A leg that bends the opposite way of normal? That is pretty much what we envision. But that isn’t at all what we got with Sally. Aside from being a black, five year old, no cat, female greyhound coming up from Florida, that was all we knew about Sally. So when she arrived and her “wonky leg” turned out to be a slightly bent repaired fracture, we were a little surprised. It wasn’t at all what we thought. To be honest, watching her run in the snow and try to gain traction with the repaired leg was pretty comical. There are times when she lays down that you can see a difference in how she positions her legs. For the most part, however, she doesn’t seem to let the “wonky” one affect her. In fact, she had much more endurance then Six Pack and Callie on walks.
We can usually tell pretty quickly if a foster is going to do well in our home. Attributes such as being able to handle stairs is a big one. Being able to tolerate our two hooligans is even more important. Sally passed both of the tests…kind of. For the first couple of days that we had her, she was a little unsure of the stairs, especially the hardwood floors at that bottom of them. But after a few days of being carried up and down them, she began taking them on with an almost Evil Knievel attitude. Regarding her relationship with Six and Callie, we could tell Sally wanted to be around them. She followed Six around adoringly to the point we nicknamed her “shadow.” She was constantly trying to lay close to them, which our two don’t tolerate well. But we were a little unsure how Six and Callie felt about her until after Sally was adopted (more on that in a bit). In the days that followed her adoption, Callie went on her expected hunger strike, as she does after every foster leaves. But the real shocker was Six Pack’s depressed state. He undoubtedly missed his shadow.
Picking Up Good Habits, Bad Habits, and In Between!
Although they don’t have many in common, Six Pack and Callie have many traits that make them wonderful greyhounds. Callie has learned to sit, lay down, shake and will flop over and show anyone her belly on command. Six Pack will beg for food, lick himself inappropriately, poop on the pool deck, and bark at the neighbor……perhaps the use of the word “wonderful” is a stretch. But both of them showed signs of jealousy when Sally was around and they felt neglected. After several weeks of getting the majority of our attention, even Sally had started to get a little envious when she felt Six or Callie was getting too much love. Two arms aren’t enough when three greyhounds want belly rubs from you! Sally eventually found a unique way to grab our attention. She would collect our cell phones and TV remotes in her bed. This may sound adorable and trust us, it was, especially because she wouldn’t chew on the electronics, just collect them. It was slightly maddening to have to search the dog beds for a cell phone. However, it was her special way of keeping us on our toes and making sure she got just as much love.
Conversely, we believe it was Six Pack’s habit of running up the back landing after he uses the bathroom that may have led to Callie’s injury and subsequent surgery! For those that have never met Callie, she’s a moody, sometimes sweet, sometimes sour nearly nine year old grey that we’ve had for roughly seven years. She likes to think she’s still a puppy who can keep up with the other dogs. Unfortunately last month, “old lady Callie” went sprinting after Six Pack for the back door, and instead of taking the back steps one at a time, she thought she could take all five! We attempted a patch job that night but realized pretty quickly that she was going to need a visit to the doctor. Sure enough, by the next morning, the bleeding hadn’t fully subsided and the decision was made to take her to the vet.
The Butt Lump Investigation
A scraped up leg normally wouldn’t be an issue for us. We’ve fostered enough greys to know that they cut themselves very easily. Hence, why we have exorbitant amounts of peroxide, bandages, and Neosporin readily available. But it was almost as if Callie and Six Pack timed all of this on purpose. You see, shortly after Callie’s vet visit, we found a lump on Six Pack’s hip. We were a little nervous at first, but after a quick trip to the vet and a speedy tissue sample, the vet called to say she thought it was nothing more than a cyst. So, we scheduled Six Pack for his surgery to have it taken off. Thankfully once the mass had been removed, the full report from the sample came back benign. We were so relieved that it was just a fatty tumor wrapped in a clump of cells that resulted from some sort of “trauma” to his rear end. Knowing Six, it was likely from running into something, as he tends to do! In the grand scheme of things, we would’ve paid double for the operation, but as most pet owners know, vet visits can get expensive – especially emergency ones. So we were grateful for the treatment they both received but hopefully now that the stitches have all been removed, no more vet visits until the scheduled ones in the spring!
Barry’s Christmas List
Every greyhound we’ve fostered has been unique in their own way. We commonly use terms like “loving”, “happy”, and “goofy” to describe several of them when we post on social media. But one of our more recent fosters had all of those characteristics. We fostered Barry in May (Barry Leaves A Lasting Impression) and for the time that we had him, Six and Callie had a blast partying with him. He was adopted into a fantastic forever home that was a perfect fit for everyone involved. So when it came time for Barry to send his Christmas list to Santa, his human parents were a little surprised that in addition to some new squeaky toys and treats, he also wanted a little greyhound sister. Coincidentally, we just so happened to be fostering a petite, grey muzzled, female greyhound who’s Christmas wish was to find her forever home for the holidays.
We dropped off Sally at Barry’s house for a “trial” run just days before Christmas. Suffice it to say, we all knew that Sally wasn’t coming back to our house. On Christmas Eve it became official. Barry had his little sister and Sally had her forever family! If you are on Instagram, @when_barry_met_sally is fantastic at posting pictures and videos of Barry and Sally getting into mischief and acting adorable. We’re grateful that Sally’s new family posts so many photos, as we think that they were what helped get Six Pack through the holiday season without his shadow! So now we wait to find out the date for the next Prison Greyhounds dog drop with hopes that our next foster is as entertaining and sweet as Sally.