HRC on Better Connecticut, April 1, 2010

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Marlene Wilhelm and Dana Gillin visited Scot Haney on WSFB's Better Connecticut on April 1, 2010 and discussed why parents should not include rabbits in Easter baskets. Rabbits can live 14 years and potential owners should be prepared for taking care of the entire lifespan of the pet. Learn more about The House Rabbit Connection at Hopline.org.

Jacoby's pedigree

He may be a lazy dog now, but Jacoby comes from great stock! The good thing about greyhounds is that they are tracked very carefully, even the pups who don't race. They all have tattoos in their ears identifying them from birth. Greyhound-data.com lists every (I think) greyhound, their pedigree, their racing stats, etc.

We knew Jacoby (born as M's Goodstuff) never ran a race.

So we learned today that Jacoby is a Florida boy. And it looks like his littermates didn't really race too well either,despite having pretty successful parents. His dad dad, Big Boy Baggio, ran 133 races and won 85 times. Quite impressive, and then it's no mystery why he was chosen to sire 137 puppies! (That's not a typo.)

Jacoby's mom, Flying Limon, ran 66 races and won 6 times. Then had only 14 puppies in 2 litters, Jacoby's on November 29, 2004, and a more successful racing litter on January 19, 2006.

Of Jacoby's three brothers and two sisters, only two of them ever raced. His brother M's Whole Hog, ran 7 races and came in 2nd only once (never won). His sister M's Gravy Train ran 4 races and never did too well.

However, Flying Limon can be proud of her second litter in the athletic arena -- three of the eight pups she had with M's Lucky Scott ran more than 10 races. (Scott himself won 26 races of the 134 he ran. And produced 44 puppies.) In fact, Jacoby's half brother, M's Big Buddy, won 8 of the 133 races he ran. Buddy's sister, M's Luckylouella, has won 8 out of 59 races she's been in. M's Ready Freddy, another brother of this litter, won 8 out of the 31 races he ran.

Thanks to the Internet and some incredibly-kept records, we can find out all about our beloved greys. But all I need to know about Jacoby doesn't come from a stat site. It all comes from the way he wakes from a nap, stretches, and heads over to me to nuzzle his huge head in my lap.

Greyhound Adventures walk this morning

Well, Jacoby had no idea what we were up to when we walked him, fed him, and then suited him up again for another walk. But he got a clue something good was happening when he hopped in the back of our Highlander Hybrid. Then he got confused again when we drove a half hour into Jamaica Plain, but he was so excited when he saw that we were going for a walk with over a dozen other greyhounds! Greyhound Adventures is a fun time, even in the frigid cold of a Sunday morning in Boston. We all stayed out for about an hour, and all the pups had a greyt time!

Jacoby runs like a champ in the snow

So we found a baseball field up the street from us and Jacoby's in love with the freedom he gets when he runs the bases. Check him out:



I want to take him every day, but he'll probably only be able to handle a coupla times a week. Not that Jacoby ever ran a race, but when greys race, they run less than half a mile only about once or twice a week. So I think we have to work our way up in frequency. He just has so much fun taking off!

He looks like a swimmer doing butterfly when he really gets going. It's beautiful.

Greyhound turns surrogate mom to those most in need

I just found this article about Jasmine, an abandoned and abused greyhound who found her true calling as Mama to the incoming animals in need in the United Kingdom.

Thanks for being a greyhound ambassador, Jasmine! Keep up the good work!

Shopping adventure turns deadly

...for a bag of Old Mother Hubbard "Give Me a Kiss" biscuits.

Jacoby went with me for the first time to our favorite discount pet supply store, Stateline Pet Supply in Plaistow, NH, which happens to be about an hour's drive north of where we live in Framingham, MA. So it was a longish drive for him, and when we got there, he was immediately greeted by the loudest yappy barking of a horribly-behaved Boston terrier, who actually looked more like a bulldog in build. This little dog actually jumped out of the cart he was in to try to get at Jacoby. Well, we both tried to steer clear of the asylum reject and went about our shopping, although we could still hear him yelling at Jacoby. Why do people bring their dogs out in public if they behave like that?! To offset this experience, there was another woman in the store who has 4 dogs of her own, 2 of which are greyhounds, and she made fast friends with Jacoby, petting him and telling him how beautiful he is. She asked a few questions, among them "Does he shake a lot?" I've never seen him shake, actually, but he whines/cries a lot.

As Bill Cosby used to say, "I told you that story to tell you this one..."

Anyway, we bought some Greenies, some more poop bags (so exciting!), and a woven grass hay ball for SweetPea. Our adventure continued to the car wash (my white Highlander Hybrid oddly resembled a gray model), and I thought it would be kind of fun to go through the car wash with Jacoby. New experience and all. We paid the guy, we got on the tracks, we got squirted with warm water (well, the car did, we were toasty dry, course), and Jacoby was so afraid he could barely stand up. So he tried to lay down, but that made it worse, apparently, so he stood up again and was shaking like a leaf in autumn wind. He couldn't even cry he was so scared. I kept saying things like "Oh, this is fun!" and "What a good boy!" and he was thinking things like "When will this end?!" and "Are we going to die?!" Needless to say, we won't be going through another car wash any time soon with our boy. Heart attacks are not welcome surprises. Poor dude...

We then headed to Petco and I bought him 2 bags of biscuits designed to freshen his breath a bit. Not that it's stinky, but even non-stinky dog breath is a far cry from April freshness. Enter the aforementioned Old Mother Hubbard "Give Me a Kiss" biscuits. We also got the boy a new tag collar and a travel foldable bowl for water for when we join Greyhound Adventures on a Sunday morning hike and when we go geocaching. Yes, we found another spastic dog in Petco, this one was a pit bull who probably meant well, but was way to heavy and way to excited for my tall, fragile boy to contemplate befriending.

So I went to McDonald's on the way home, because it was about 4:00 by that point and I hadn't had anything to eat all day. I allow myself some Mickey D's when I go to Stateline. I figured it'd be kinda mean to fill up the car with McDouble smell and not let the boy have any treats, so I broke open the bag of biscuits and gave him 2. He loved them. And so he lay down and we went home.

When I got home, I didn't put the spoils of the shopping trip away because I was in a hurry to get ready for the Bullfinch's Cooking School that Paul and I were headed to. So the biscuit bag was left in another plastic bag and I didn't think anything of it. Jacoby just stays on the couch by the driveway and waits for us to come home. He's not a trouble maker. HA!

We come home 3 hours later to a very happy dog. He's bouncing as usual, jumping on his hind legs, touching noses to me (without me bending over, which means he's 5'6" on his back legs), so excited to see me. Like I said, this is my normal welcome. It's almost worth going away to come home to his welcome! THEN he remembered that the foyer by the door was the scene of the crime and he went pretty quickly upstairs. Odd. He usually waits for me to pet him and make a big deal of how excited he is. But he cooled down so quickly I wondered what was up. Then I looked at the floor.

The crumbs of easily 5-7 OMH "Give Me a Kiss" biscuits were laying on the floor. And Jacoby was on his way up to the 3rd floor (from the first) trying to escape his punishment. I figured I'd let him slide, since I didn't exactly catch him in the act of stealing the cookies. I had to coax him down again with a lot of "you're not in trouble, buddy"s. Finally he came down and I asked him why he didn't do a better job of cleaning up the evidence. Beside the fact that the bag was on the floor, if he'd have cleaned up the crumbs, I wouldn't have known anything happened.

So my big angel has a little naughty in him. And I kinda like that. Scamps are fun to be around. And I think he's finally getting comfortable enough to let his slightly naughty nature out. If biscuit theft is as bad as it gets, we're in for a fun ride!

Greyhound and bunny? I must be nuts! Or not

I'm v proud of Jacoby with Bandit and SweetPea. Today, as most days, Pea jumped out of her cage and walked within 3 inches of his nose (he was lying down, natch). She's totally not afraid of him. I think Pea thinks Jacoby's just an 80-pound bunny. He DOES have very large ears when he's alert. Anyway, Jacoby's only reaction to Pea's approach and hopping was to twitch his nose just a little to get whatever scent he could from her. He realized the first few days he was here that is he picked his head up when either girl came near, that would scare them. So he's been very careful to remain still when they come close.

He's the kindest heart I've ever seen in an animal. Which is saying a lot, because I've been lucky enough to find some truly wonderfully kind animals.