I'm starting a new thead so you don't have to read all thru the old oone I started.
I'm remembering back to about last October/November to one of our hangs at Nick8's apt. That would be me, Nick, Jason Els and whoever else from LPSG happened to be there. Jason said to me that time "HKM if you don't shut up about Italian Greyhounds I'm going to just go buy a fucking one of them!" well I never did shut up about them and unfortunately Jason missed my miracle by a few months.
After my seven year search (as I didn't wanna go the breeder/puppy mill route) of rescues, Petfinder and any possible venue you could ever imagine....a few weeks it happened. I was already (as usual) playing email and phone tag w/several places (rescues, Humane societies) in a 4 state stretch from me. I found one dog they claimed was all good and healthy. Now if you spent as much time as I have doing this for years you know that offering dogs for adoption online is like selling a used car and most people will tell you anything to get you to adopt a dog.
Having said that most of these places are incredibly understaffed and getting anyone to return a call or email is a tall order. After seeing this BEAUTIFUL IG onliine I emailed and called the place IMMEDIATELY. I was told someone was coming to see him the next day and to call the next day at 1. I called them at 1pm and @ 7 seconds. I was told the folks hadn't shown yet and to call at 3:30. Man I was sweating. Literally. This was the most important thing to me in ages and finaly after a this time there was a chance. I called back at 3:30 and 2 seconds to this upstate humane society and had a heart to heart w/the woman that runs the place. She stated their policy was to have someone come see a pet (they also house cats, exotic birds etc) and then there's a 24 hr wait period and then the person comes back or no. I felt the desperation in my sweaty palms after my talk w/her and being THIS close to a healthy IG even tho as of yet I had no Idea how I'd get to this small town upstate or how I'd raise the cash for the pooch. I told her after asking my batallion of questions that I couldn't possibly get a 2nd free ride up there and if I came to see the baby I'd have to adopt him. Mind you I was only going on online pics and her statements about the dog. It could have had any amount of genetic disorders or problems or social problems. After talking more she said she'd bend the rules a bit for me and if I could really get upstate she'd let me adopt him right there. Now mind you this is a talk on ,y phone on a bus on the way home from work i assured her I would be there the next day on Saturday to see him. They are only open from 12-4 and she was leaving in 2 minutes. I did what I do. I freaked then calmed down and called anyone on the planet I knew who had a car as there was no public transport there, and found at last, the gal I call my little sis and her girlfriend could take me. PHEW okay?! I calmed down...contemplated that this was probably finally going to happen.
Then I remembered I hadn't asked a few important questions regarding heath of the pup etc. friends called me and I was being nuerotic and couldn't talk. Could my pooch dream FINALLY be happening?! I can't even begin to explain how important this is/was to me. Friends started to emai me back etc and then I checked that humane socities website again and the pup was listed as adopted and I again did what I do which was to freak out b/c at that time of nite there was no way to get an answer to what was up. In my mind I was thinking the orig folks showed up at the end of the day and adopted him and mostly b/c everytime I was thiiiiiiis close to adopting something like this happened.
First of all few people give up purebreeds, they usually sel on Craigslist or some other site and Italian Greyhounds have certain health concerns like most breeds do. Anyway....I barely slept all that Friday nite and spent al Saturday morning pacing and texting my ride upstate as they tried to calm me down. Finally they answered the phone at 12:05 and assured me the pooch had been listed as adopted b/c they were so sure I was serious about adopting him. My tired eyelids even smiled them and assured them I'd be there about 3.
Well we all chatted and had road fun on the way up to 'the country' and w/much trepidation I went into the humane society tucked away on a cul de sac of sorts. I finally got to see the baby and when a woman opened the cage and he climbed out I KNEW INSTANTLY it was a match. He was really underweight and had the worst case of diarrhea I had ever seen. But as usual for an IG he was sweet, loving...and considering in that week he had been abandoned, neutered, spent 2 weeks in a cage, had shots and was very weak I was surprised how good he was w/strangers. I swear I loved him right away, I can't tell you how but I knew.
While I was filling out the forms and trying to breath and stop myself from smiling I bought every f'n dog chotchke they had, leashes, bowls etc. I COULD NOT believe I lucked out so.
He was trepidatious at first to come w/me etc and we made a peepee stop for him at some mini mall along the way and I sat w/him, hugged him etc and somehow I knew it would be ok.
OK cut to this upcoming Saturday will be three weeks he's here and it's been great so far. IG's HATE to go to the bathroom outside and he doesn't miind....that's big in NYC. He's soooo true to his breed as far as being oving and sweet and precious. And I lucked out...he's a baby at a new 2 yrs old, he's healthy and getting better at learnig the city which was hard for him as he's from dirt roads and Times Square and all the trucks are a big challenge for him. I'm in love and very happy and he seems to be also. I just want him to be happy and safe. luckily w/my job I can come home every few hours to walk him and pal around a bit and later we have all nite together and of course if you have an IG there's NO WAY that pooch isn't getting under the cover to sleep in the crux of yr arm.
OK I prattled on enough but this is one of the reasons I haven't been around alot lately I went on HI mode on my search and it was very time consuming and lead to alot of dead ends.
Luckily for once my story ends up a fairy tale!
I'm remembering back to about last October/November to one of our hangs at Nick8's apt. That would be me, Nick, Jason Els and whoever else from LPSG happened to be there. Jason said to me that time "HKM if you don't shut up about Italian Greyhounds I'm going to just go buy a fucking one of them!" well I never did shut up about them and unfortunately Jason missed my miracle by a few months.
After my seven year search (as I didn't wanna go the breeder/puppy mill route) of rescues, Petfinder and any possible venue you could ever imagine....a few weeks it happened. I was already (as usual) playing email and phone tag w/several places (rescues, Humane societies) in a 4 state stretch from me. I found one dog they claimed was all good and healthy. Now if you spent as much time as I have doing this for years you know that offering dogs for adoption online is like selling a used car and most people will tell you anything to get you to adopt a dog.
Having said that most of these places are incredibly understaffed and getting anyone to return a call or email is a tall order. After seeing this BEAUTIFUL IG onliine I emailed and called the place IMMEDIATELY. I was told someone was coming to see him the next day and to call the next day at 1. I called them at 1pm and @ 7 seconds. I was told the folks hadn't shown yet and to call at 3:30. Man I was sweating. Literally. This was the most important thing to me in ages and finaly after a this time there was a chance. I called back at 3:30 and 2 seconds to this upstate humane society and had a heart to heart w/the woman that runs the place. She stated their policy was to have someone come see a pet (they also house cats, exotic birds etc) and then there's a 24 hr wait period and then the person comes back or no. I felt the desperation in my sweaty palms after my talk w/her and being THIS close to a healthy IG even tho as of yet I had no Idea how I'd get to this small town upstate or how I'd raise the cash for the pooch. I told her after asking my batallion of questions that I couldn't possibly get a 2nd free ride up there and if I came to see the baby I'd have to adopt him. Mind you I was only going on online pics and her statements about the dog. It could have had any amount of genetic disorders or problems or social problems. After talking more she said she'd bend the rules a bit for me and if I could really get upstate she'd let me adopt him right there. Now mind you this is a talk on ,y phone on a bus on the way home from work i assured her I would be there the next day on Saturday to see him. They are only open from 12-4 and she was leaving in 2 minutes. I did what I do. I freaked then calmed down and called anyone on the planet I knew who had a car as there was no public transport there, and found at last, the gal I call my little sis and her girlfriend could take me. PHEW okay?! I calmed down...contemplated that this was probably finally going to happen.
Then I remembered I hadn't asked a few important questions regarding heath of the pup etc. friends called me and I was being nuerotic and couldn't talk. Could my pooch dream FINALLY be happening?! I can't even begin to explain how important this is/was to me. Friends started to emai me back etc and then I checked that humane socities website again and the pup was listed as adopted and I again did what I do which was to freak out b/c at that time of nite there was no way to get an answer to what was up. In my mind I was thinking the orig folks showed up at the end of the day and adopted him and mostly b/c everytime I was thiiiiiiis close to adopting something like this happened.
First of all few people give up purebreeds, they usually sel on Craigslist or some other site and Italian Greyhounds have certain health concerns like most breeds do. Anyway....I barely slept all that Friday nite and spent al Saturday morning pacing and texting my ride upstate as they tried to calm me down. Finally they answered the phone at 12:05 and assured me the pooch had been listed as adopted b/c they were so sure I was serious about adopting him. My tired eyelids even smiled them and assured them I'd be there about 3.
Well we all chatted and had road fun on the way up to 'the country' and w/much trepidation I went into the humane society tucked away on a cul de sac of sorts. I finally got to see the baby and when a woman opened the cage and he climbed out I KNEW INSTANTLY it was a match. He was really underweight and had the worst case of diarrhea I had ever seen. But as usual for an IG he was sweet, loving...and considering in that week he had been abandoned, neutered, spent 2 weeks in a cage, had shots and was very weak I was surprised how good he was w/strangers. I swear I loved him right away, I can't tell you how but I knew.
While I was filling out the forms and trying to breath and stop myself from smiling I bought every f'n dog chotchke they had, leashes, bowls etc. I COULD NOT believe I lucked out so.
He was trepidatious at first to come w/me etc and we made a peepee stop for him at some mini mall along the way and I sat w/him, hugged him etc and somehow I knew it would be ok.
OK cut to this upcoming Saturday will be three weeks he's here and it's been great so far. IG's HATE to go to the bathroom outside and he doesn't miind....that's big in NYC. He's soooo true to his breed as far as being oving and sweet and precious. And I lucked out...he's a baby at a new 2 yrs old, he's healthy and getting better at learnig the city which was hard for him as he's from dirt roads and Times Square and all the trucks are a big challenge for him. I'm in love and very happy and he seems to be also. I just want him to be happy and safe. luckily w/my job I can come home every few hours to walk him and pal around a bit and later we have all nite together and of course if you have an IG there's NO WAY that pooch isn't getting under the cover to sleep in the crux of yr arm.
OK I prattled on enough but this is one of the reasons I haven't been around alot lately I went on HI mode on my search and it was very time consuming and lead to alot of dead ends.
Luckily for once my story ends up a fairy tale!
