The New Dog

A new dog has joined the pack. This is our sixteenth greyhound, and Geno is very sweet.

I am not thrilled about the name. First of all, they spelled it wrong. Americans! Also, Mom finds the whole Gina/Geno thing pretty hilarious. It’s starting to wear off. I may just call him Gee. That could be kind of cool, because in the project I am working on now, the romantic leads are Gee and Jane, so if Geno and Jane become really close, that could be cute. (No, I did not intentionally name the female lead after my dog. It was just a good name for her.)

We were not specifically looking for an additional dog, but I think it is good. Jack is fourteen, and he is doing great for his age, but that is old. We’ve lost a few at 14 and only Jack actually made it to 15. Mom is concerned that Jane will not do well alone, and that’s fair. Jane is so out there anyway that it probably would not take much to push her over. Geno fits in well.

The timing was a little fun, because he came while we had just started sitting for Milo for two weeks, so for several days I was walking four, and that is harder. Honestly, walking three is harder than walking two, but I know that at whatever point it switches back to two I am going to hate it, so I will gladly walk three. I think I did walk six once.

The most we have ever had in the house at one time is eight, when we had five and some sitting jobs overlapped. In a way that is awesome, with all those long bodies and long legs, you notice. I think the house is only 1400 feet. Anyway, back then Mom would help me with the walks, but since her knees the doctor does not really want her walking lively dogs on our rough road shoulders.

We had to move another dog bed into my room since Jack is usually using the one that was already there. Now that I am telecommuting I am often working flanked by both dogs. He seems to do well with my music. I think he likes Black Parade and Danger Days better than Revenge, but I think that one is a bit higher frequency, so I can see how that would be an issue for a dog. I play the other two more anyway. Geno left for Disc 1 of the Essential Clash, but came back for Disc 2.

I mention that because he seems to have attached pretty quickly, and tends to follow me around. Since he had been living with another family for four years, we thought there might be some grieving. Maybe it helped that he went back to the kennel for a week in between. This is where I’m going to segue into a bit of a rant.

People, animals are major commitments. They love you deeply and wholeheartedly, and to suddenly decide that one is inconvenient after years of attachment is awful. I was a little worried it would be like Chili. We had sat for Chili for years, from when his owner was a young single guy. Then he got married, and it was fine, and they had a baby, and it was fine, and then the dog snapped at the toddler, and they didn’t want him anymore.

I understand the concern, and I have said myself that greyhounds may not be the best dogs for families with young children, but I also know that it can be managed, and we had other sitting clients that had children join the family and it worked out just fine. In Chili’s case, he was already older, and we had him for less than a year, which I think they could have managed. As it was, our paper delivery person had a vehicle that sounded like theirs, so every morning Chili would run to the window thinking they had come back for him, and they never did.

It’s not just dogs. We took a cat for someone who was moving once, and I don’t know how impossible it would have been to have managed keeping the cat, but I do know that Tasha never bonded with us. She was always at the window staring out, and it did not matter how kind we were, she never cared for us. One day she escaped, and we found her by the road. Maybe it was for the best because she was never going to be happy with us, but it felt awful.

I know it’s not always like that. Sheba, Laddie, RK, Westin, and Harold had all had other homes, but still totally bonded with us. We never knew Barley’s background, but since he was found filthy, starving, and sick, maybe learning to love us was easy. Dundee actually snubbed her former owner after we’d had her for a while. In that case, it saved her life that they took her when they did, but then it was like six years of neglect.

(Actually, Jane also had two previous homes, but very short term. A dog that crazy needs some real suckers to get by.)

My point with this isn’t to discourage anyone from adopting pets. There are a lot of pets needing homes, and they should get them, and bonding with an animal is a wonderful experience. It can be great for teaching children responsibility and compassion. It’s a beautiful thing.

Just don’t become part of the problem. They have so much love to give. When they invest their heart in you, don’t pull it away from them.