Grey Save Homecoming

I just have to vent:  JoJo has sleep startle.  She was doing remarkably well with it lately, and I got complacent.  She attacked my ear upon waking unpleasantly and I caked my hair with blood.  All 15 minutes before my alarm was set to go off at 5:15 a.m.

So this morning, I attended a Homecoming event in Chino Hills, CA for my local greyhound rescue, Grey Save.  My, what a day.

First, I arrive early to help prepare for the greyhounds coming from Mexico.  The event is taking place at Bonnie's (one of the leaders of the group) house.  Her house is huge, nestled between mountainous hills and real mountains with snow caps.  The kennel is set up on her deck, and her house is all-greyhound.  All of the volunteers were very friendly, and my boss, Suki, President of the Orange County Hiking Club actually came as well.  More on that later.

When the dogs finally arrived, they were unloaded from the truck, and each volunteer assigned as a handler got to pick their hound as they came off the van.  I ended up with Swat, short for Swat Team; a medium-sized, relatively healthy greyhound, who later became Tina.

Tina was a rock.  I am so proud of her.  She was super food motivated, although she's not underweight at all at a rock solid 64.8 pounds.  She's 3 years old, and acted like she'd already lived in a house.  Nothing phased her, she instantly knew how to manage stairs, and she only cried to get to go somewhere, for attention, or to go to the bathroom.  She was a gem of a patient for her shots and exam, although she tried to escape her bath, which did not go well at all.  We started off with a bath, moved on to drying, getting her nails clipped (the girl who did it ROCKED at it), getting a winter coat (it's cold, even in California!) with snood made by one of the fabulous volunteers, new collar/leash (all blue for Tina, the fashionista), photo shoot for the website profile, and finally a meal.

Unfortunately, I had to leave for a wedding gig before I could go with her to test her for small dog and cat reactivity.  I bet she's safe with both, but I'm dying to know!  I was a bit worried that she wasn't very attached to me at all, and I wasn't doing a very good job.  However, her reaction to my return after a brief 15 minute lunch quelled that concern.  She wagged her tail, hopped up and down, and was very glad I came back to keep her company.

Wow.  What a tremendously satisfying day.  I couldn't be happier.