The Dog Days of Summer

Thanks, Dad, for gently reminding me that I do have another dog.  I may have forgotten to mention this while I was eulogizing Winston in the past couple of posts.  It's just that Winston has always been at the forefront of our mind.  He was the first baby.  When we decided to adopt a second greyhound, we made sure Winston always knew he was the first.  We put on his collar first to go out for walks, gave him treats first, let him out the door first, just so he would know we weren't trying to replace him.


But Mugen is still here with us now, so I'm going to take this opportunity to tell you about this sweet, delightful, gallant and humble creature.


Mugen was born on February 27, 2005 and given the name Van's Blackmagic, son of Iruska Zederiah and Dalcash Chrisse, one of a litter of eight pups. Here's a link to his pedigree, if you're interested  http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?i=1290703.  He raced initially in West Memphis, Arkansas before being transferred to the Wheeling, West Virginia racetrack.  His records indicate that he was a decent racer.  You can check out his stats page if you want too http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?l=1290703&order=dateD&x=0.  They don't interest me so much - he will always be a champion to us!  His last race was the 22nd of April, 2009.  He must have been retired to the adoption kennel at Wheeling Downs, and then at some point a Steel City picked him out to rescue.  


Around this time, I was having serious baby urges, and NOT ready to actually have a baby.  We were a comfortable three-being family, me, Diego and Winston.  Maybe too comfortable.  Because at the ripe age of 31, my ovaries were starting to SCREAM.  (On a side note, I never actually believed in baby urges until I experienced them for myself.  I though people that had them were just weak.  Until I found myself gaping at pregnant women and cooing into every strange carriage or stroller I passed on the street.)  


Faced with the reality of my aging body, I decided I needed a new project, and in August 2009 we were financially comfortable enough to have a second dog.  A dog sounded like a much better idea than a baby, for sure.  Diego agreed, so he let me start fantasizing for real about another greyhound.  (Little did he know, I constantly stalk the Steel City available dogs website.  I almost always know who's available for adoption, and I dream sappy dreams about rescuing each one of them.)  Here's that website for you, just in case you're feeling sappy too:  http://www.steelcitygreyhounds.org/OurDogs.htm.


At that time, there were two greyhounds available at the Golden Bone, where they stay until their forever home finds them.  One was a compact, sweet, sassy little black girl named Curvaceous.  The other was a tall, lanky, goofy-looking tuxedo black male named Van (short for Van's Blackmagic).  We wrote Marci and told her we have a greyhound already and we'd like to start the process of getting another one.  After a few phone calls back and forth, we went to the Golden Bone to meet Curvy and Van.


That initial meeting process is always a little strange.  How do you know what a greyhound is going to be like when you get it home?  Let me tell you, the first meeting is always a little awkward.  You don't know what to expect.  We took Winston too, so that they could meet him.  Winston has never had a problem with other dogs, especially other greyhounds, so we didn't anticipate any personality issues, but we definitely had to put his preferences first above anything else.  He had been an only dog for 4 years at this point, and did not seem unhappy about it, so we didn't want to bring another dog into the house that would upset him.


As we expected, he had no problems with either of the dogs.  Curvy was affectionate with him, not overly so.  Van seemed to be more affectionate towards us, but certainly not hostile to Winston.  I had no idea how to choose just one dog.  In my mind, choosing one meant rejecting the other, and I began seriously considering adopting them both (which would have meant the loss of one husband, and almost certain neglect of the care of all three of them!).  My conscience was wracked with guilt at leaving either dog behind.


With Winston, the decision had been made for us.  He truly picked us out.  In Birmingham, the adoption kennel was associated directly with the racetrack, and there were probably 25 dogs in it.  At that time, we had no idea how we were going to pick one dog out of so many.  We walked into the kennel and all the dogs started barking at us.  All but one, a large fawn male whose cage was at the end, second row up, on the right.  This dog, Churchill, didn't even get up from laying down.  We walked slowly down the row of crates, stacked two high, on either side of the kennel wall, feeling totally overwhelmed and not a little bit discouraged.  When we reached Churchill's cage, he got up.  I stuck my fingers through the metal squares of his crate and he walked by my fingers, turning all the way around to allow my fingers to stroke up and down each side of him.  After that, he stayed standing, never taking his eyes off of us.  He never made a sound, he just followed us with his eyes wherever we went.  I can't explain to you how strange I feel telling this story because I almost don't believe it myself, but he knew we were there for him.  He waited patiently for us to figure it out, too.  Thank goodness it did not take us long.  We adopted him that day and took him home with us the next week.  We named him Winston, in tribute to his racing name, M's Churchill.


Anyhow, back to Mugen!  As Diego and I mulled over the decision of who would be our next greyhound companion, I searched the universe for clues, signs.  I hoped desperately for something like what happened with Winston, when he picked us out, but that didn't happen when we visited with Curvy and Van.  They were both really sweet, had different personalities, but nothing that had differentiated one over the other for us.  What was I going to do?  I wrote Marci.  I asked her if there was anything she knew about either of them, that would make one stand out as a better candidate for us to adopt.  Any help, whatsoever!!!


She wrote me back that afternoon.  She told me that same morning, another family had come to the Golden Bone and committed to taking Curvy home with them.  She said we could wait to see what hounds would be  next to be picked up from the racetrack, if we weren't sure about taking Van.  I wrote back immediately.  Wait?????  More choices????  Heck no.  Here was my sign from the universe.  Curvy was going to be taken care of, and Van was the one for us!


We committed to him that day and brought him home in mid-August 2009.  He was 4 1/2 years old.  He weighed 68 pounds.  You could see every bone in his pelvis, every spiky spinous process.  His back ribs stuck out so far you could wrap you thumb and forefinger all the way around them and they would touch with just two thin layers of skin in between.  Diego wanted to name him Mugen, which means "without boundaries" in Japanese.  It is the name of one of his favorite Japanimation characters.


Here's some pictures of Mugen's homecoming.  

Picking Mugen up with Uncle Dany at the Golden Bone Kennel

Car ride home - look at all those ribs!!!

Happy dog, about to find his forever home!

First order of business - marking his new territory!

Second order of business - getting up all those pesky stairs!

Third order of business - meeting new older brother!

When we first got Mugen, we thought he was smaller than Winston - turns out he just needed to fill out a bit.  

Fourth order of business - first walk with older brother.  Thank you Tio Dany!

 In the first month we had Mugen, he put on 8 pounds and his coat became shiny and soft.  He went from a somewhat scraggly and raggedy boy to quite a handsome thing!  At first he was very anxious.  Whenever we made any movement at all, he would get up off his pillow and start to cry - arooo-roo-roo!  He stuck to us like glue when we were home, but seemed to be fine during the day with Winston when we weren't.  Over the next several weeks, he learned how to climb the stairs on his own, he's now a pro!  He settled down.  He realized we weren't going anywhere.  He began to relax.  He figured out he was sticking around for a while.  


We had faith in him.  We knew what kind of dog he could be.  He learned his new name quickly and proved to be very smart, and very eager to please.  He came when we called him.  He never attempted to get on the couch or the bed.  He would do ANY thing for a treat.  


About a month after we brought Mugen home, I looked from him to Diego and said "Boy, it's nice to finally have a dog!"  The only personality characteristic he and Winston shared was their sweetness.  Apart from that, where Winston was stubborn, independent, rebellious and oblivious, Mugen was attached, loyal, obedient and strikingly perceptive.  And we wouldn't have had either of them any other way.  


We used to joke that Winston was some sort of extraterrestrial being that had come to Earth in greyhound form to do research.  We thought maybe we were his subjects (and also, utilitarianly, his livelihood!), and that he was probably sending back weekly or monthly reports to his people in some far away place.  He certainly never acted like a dog!  At best, he was more like some sort of big, deceptively lazy, incredibly fast cat.  We just assumed that's how all greyhounds were.  So Mugen was a surprise, a pleasant one of course.  We got a first-hand lesson in why people love ALL their babies, but in different ways.  


Since we let go of Winston three weeks ago, it has become CLEAR who was getting into the trash all that time.  (Not that we really had any doubts!  But it's funny to have had our suspicions confirmed.)  


We are so blessed to still have Mugen in our lives.  He is such a good, good dog.  Interestingly, his zodiac sign is the rooster.  According to Wikipedia, "Roosters are very loyal individuals. They dislike dishonesty and corruption of any sort. They are up front and honest people and expect those around them to be the same. Roosters are happiest when they are surrounded by others, at a party or just a social gathering."  They tend to be "acute, neat, meticulous, organized, self-assured, decisive, conservative, critical, perfectionist, alert, zealous, practical, scientific, and responsible."  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooster_(zodiac)

I think that describes Mugen pretty well!  Since we let Winston go, we have had the opportunity to really enjoy Mugen as an only dog.  He is quieter than we remember.  He is so content just to be right next to us, or at the foot of our bed.  Every night when we get home, he crows "arooo-arooo-aroooo!", jumps around with a toy, then flops down on his bed with a heartfelt groan.  My sweet little rooster.  He blesses our life every day!