Woofstock - This SUNDAY!

Woofstock will be phenomenal this year but only if you show up! I’ve been so crazy with events and visitors and adoptions (yipee) that I have done a terrible job of promoting Woofstock. ( FoG really needs a separate PR and promotions person. But that position has been on the wish list forever.) Our mailing list problems didn’t help. Henry, our webmaster, has established a new system now and is busily inputting all the addresses I could come up with. I sure hope yours is among them. If not, use the click on the website and register. If you tried it before and it was confusing, go try it again. He has re-vamped it and it couldn’t be simpler or cleaner.

Woofstock 09 will have raffles (Everybody wins! Our raffles are FAMOUS!) and games (Fastest dog, Peanut Butter eating, Pick up) and trophies and auctions (lots of art this year - and a slot machine) and the location is terrific. There will be vendors inside and outside. We’ll have Santa (Steve from Old English Sheepdog Rescue - dear friends of ours) to do photos with your dogs and family. We’ll be able to give them to you digitally, too. (If you have a thumb drive, bring it!) We will have Franciscan Monks to come bless the animals from about 1 to 3 pm. We’ll do a group blessing first and individual blessings afterwards. “Freewill” (a classic rock band) will get us rockin and rollin. Kevin the Fireman is cooking up hot dogs and burgers of course, but also brats and pulled pork. And there’s nothing like a cold beer to help that pork sandwich go down. The bar at the POA hall will be open. Think air conditioning, big screen TV - this is one Woofstock with something for everyone!

Our t-shirts got a late start but they’ll be ready for you. And we did a separate, special shirt with the logo that Zoe created for Horses & Hounds. It’s a set of wings and a greyhound’s neck and head. The shirt will only be done in pale pink (it’s a girlie design anyway) and I think it will be extra special. This is limited edition. Can’t wait to see the finished product. I love that design.

I’m looking for a few more people to help out. If you’d consider taking charge of a little something like a game, selling raffles for a while, or checking on something, please let me know in advance. And there’s still room for vendors. If you’d like to reach a bunch of greyt dog people with your product or service, please call me. We’re always willing to accept more items for the bake sale, too, of course. (Yummm) Soaring Cindy, the Guinness World Record Holder high jumping dog will be on hand to autograph her new book and Lynne Piper, a local collar lady, will have a super huge assortment of collars including some for your favorite teams! The whole thing will wrap up with a Final Roo. We did that last year and what a noise we made in that park!

So be sure to come to Woofstock on Sunday, November 22nd., 10AM to 4PM. It’ll be a Greyt greyhound time - but it’ll be better if YOU come! Look for the purple signs to get to us.

Updates: Adoptions, trips, dogs and horses!

It has been a whirlwind lately with no sign of stopping. Our friends from Greyhound Ranch in Orlando took FOUR dogs with them to adopt out. Leslie has them all settled in the air-conditioned, playhouses turned kennels in her back lot. It’s a cute, cute setup and we know they’ll find wonderful homes!

We refilled our kennel just in time for the arrival of the people from Nashville. When you host people who are so excited about starting a new group and getting new dogs into new homes, it gets you excited about what you’re doing all over again! The new group is called All About the Hounds (AAH) and they’ll use a graphic of a comfortable greyhound with a cartoon bubble overhead that says... AAH! Don’t you love it!

This team was on a mission. They took at least a thousand photos and documented every step of their trip. They will hold a meeting tonight (Wednesday night, 11/18) and will be revealing their dog choices to the rest of the group they came to represent. They had to plan to tell everyone at the same time so there wouldn’t be any squabbling over the dogs!! Can you imagine so many people wanting to take dogs that there might be more than one for the same dog? In greyhound adoption, that’s heaven!

They started with the intention of picking four dogs but maybe as many as six. But after figuring out the matches of dogs to foster families, they ended up selecting 10 dogs - yes, TEN. They were so wonderfully considerate, too. We did not restrict or steer them in any way but they chose a mix of dogs that have been at the kennel a long time, a short time, female, male, young, older, cat tolerant and not, perfect dogs and imperfect dogs. You never saw a group of people who took choosing just the right dogs so seriously. They looked and studied dogs on Friday while we put them to work cat-testing with us. Then on Saturday morning I presented them with a handful of cards and ribbons to put on the kennels of the dogs as they selected them. If you visit the kennel in the next week or 2, look for the signs that say “Yahoo & Yippee, I’m going to Tennessee!” It looks so cool.

So I’ll be driving a van load of dogs to Nashville on December 2nd and 3rd. Jerry can go with me but we’d rather he stays here if we can arrange for someone else to go. If you can spare a couple days to spend driving in a truck with me, please give me a call. It doesn’t pay anything and the hours are terrible. But it’ll be a trip you’ll remember for a lifetime. Call Michelle at 954-937-9663.

The day after AAH left, we attended Horses and Hounds in Lake Worth. What a gorgeous place our hostesses Jeri and Jane have up there. I just don’t think of Lake Worth as a place of huge green meadows and Spanish styled barns. Their home, Simpatico Farm, is absolutely ideal. Jane is a dog groomer by trade and had a whole assortment of her clients there. We had a whole bunch of greyhounds visit, too. There are BIG horses & a mini horse and 2 greys who live there. I think they figured their moms has invited all these people over just to visit and play with them. And I think they might have been right. You should have seen all the horses with their little bows in their manes. They were all dressed up for the party, too.

It was a wonderful afternoon. Jeri put on a makeshift dog show with the basketball court set up like Westminster! She had the most amazing assortment of dogs there and they were all having a super time. Surprisingly enough, everyone won first place. Well, all she had bought were first place ribbons! Now that’s the way to throw a dog show. She also turned the microphone over to me for a while and I told the group about FoG and some of the things we do. And we began collecting donations. We raised over $1300 and I’ve had two more phone calls asking for our address. Jeri and Jane, you get a standing ovation from the whole kennel for doing so much to help support our work. Thank you so very much.

Larry Warsh, one of our adopters and professional photographer, came to Horses & Hounds with his wife Judy and dog Amber (that's Amber - the brindle with the big eyes). He took a whole bunch of photos and you can see them by clicking here . Then go to the sign in section and put in “horses” and then “hounds”. (Now if he could just make me look SKINNY!) That beagle picture is so good. And that’s probably the best photo of my granddaughter Melanie that I’ve ever seen. She’s a tough one to photograph. He’s going to be at Woofstock, too, and has agreed to bring some of his art prints to sell. This is gonna be a classy Woofstock!

Keeping Busy!
Wow, we really are keeping busy these days. Just check these out and you’re bound to find something you want to help out with or at least come visit with us!

This Saturday, November 7th, we’ll be at the Farm Bureau Days at the Pompano Citi Centre (old Fashion Square at Federal & Copans). We’d like to have someone kind of take charge of it and then a few others to help out. It’s only a five hour event so it won’t take too much work. The Florida Farm Bureau people are putting it on in conjunction with the Broward County 4-H group. Both are organizations we like to support. It’s good PR and a great way to reach out to the community.
If you can help out on Saturday, please email or give me a call and I’ll put you on the schedule. We will have a small tent, table & chairs there. Our greyhounds are invited, too. At the booth we have agreed to have at least one human per greyhound, however. It should be a relaxed crowd and a nice day. If you can’t help out, please try to stop by during the day and visit. You can even bring your dog with you!

Company’s Coming! On Sunday, Nov. 8th we have company coming! Leslie from Greyhound Ranch in Orlando is coming to see our kennel. She and her husband are in the area for other business and she’s probably going to take a few of our dogs up to adopt out in her area. We want to put our best foot forward. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hi. It’s great to have partners that help us find wonderful homes for these wonderful dogs!

Company - again! Yippee! And there’s more company coming the next weekend. On November 13th and 14th, we’ll be hosting four people who are flying in from the Nashville, Tennessee area. They are starting a new adoption group. Isn’t that exciting! We’re so honored to have them coming to see how we do things down here. As y’all probably know, Jerry and I started FoG after volunteering a while with another group. They’re doing pretty much the same thing. They have the support and enthusiasm and with our help, they’ll have the dogs, too. Anything we can do to help all the dogs down here where the racing is to reach the homes up there where the fenced yards are, is something we need to do.

So what can you do? I’m hoping some of our adopters in the Sunrise/ Plantation area will volunteer to host two people each in their homes for the night of Friday, Nov. 13th. I’ll handle the transportation issues. I just need to use your guest room because all my extra space is occupied since the grandkids had to move back in. Are you up for being a part of launching a new greyhound adoption group? If so, please call me. And if you can, stop by the kennel on Saturday the 14th and say hi. They’d like your feedback on what works best from our system - and even what doesn’t work for you. And you can show off your gorgeous greyhounds. Did you know that in some parts of the country, people wait months to get a greyhound? When we have so many dogs that need homes, that’s just not right. Let’s be part of the solution. Help a new group get off to a GREYT start.

Horses & Hounds - Lake Worth
November 15th

Jeri & Jane are the owners of Simpatico Farm in Lake Worth. It’s a wonderful place for their horses and now their two greyhounds. They are hosting a house-warming (farm warming?) for their clients, neighbors and friends and all of our FoG adopters in the area are invited, too. They are literally turning their housewarming into a fundraiser for FoG!! Lets show their friends how special these dogs are. The party will be on Sunday, November 15 from 2pm to 5 pm. They’ll have a blessing of the animals, too. The farm is 18 acres and fully fenced. They have a beautiful place and we’re excited to be able to get together with a bunch of our greys from the Palm Beach area that we don’t get to see too often. And don't you just love the invitation our own Zoe Fedeles created for them. That was FoG's donation to the success of the event. We hope to be able to do t-shirts with that logo on them, too. I hope you’ll all find the time to come to the party. You’ve just got to see this gorgeous place - and it’ll be all the more breathtaking with a couple dozen greyhounds doing zoomies in the paddocks!!

Don’t forget Woofstock is coming!
November 22.

Here’s the poster. I have flyers if you are near me. Or use this and print a few for the bulletin board at work or post it on the company email bulletin boards. It’s coming up sooo FAST! I’m not ready! I could sure use some help. We still have room for vendors who might like a table at our event in exchange for something for our raffles. I am really, really looking for people who will commit to bringing something for the bake sale, too. And I have a whole list of jobs that we need help with. (And a new game you will not believe!) Nothing too strenuous. Some of it is in advance and some of it is that day. No one should have to work the whole day, though. There’s still time to play with the dogs. If you can take on a project, please email or call me. If you know of a student or scout group that can use some hours, we can use their help. There will be more info coming out soon. Keep an eye on this blog. Right now, I’m like the butcher that backed into the meat grinder. . . I got a little behind in my work. (My dad used to say that all the time. I couldn’t resist.)

Home 4 The Holidays

It was a success last year so let’s do it again!

We’re holding a “special sale" on Greyhounds!

$100 DISCOUNT. If you have adopted from Friends of Greyhounds, you are eligible to receive a $100 discount on another adoption fee! This is designed to be used by people who have already been approved and we do not need to do a home visit or deliver the dog. Our “free home trial” will still be in effect so. . . you can come choose a dog, take him or her home for a little while and if it looks like it is a good match, let us know and we’ll have the adoption paperwork ready at open house. Our normal $175 fee will be reduced to $75! Where can you get a trained, pure-bred dog with full medical work and a collar and leash for that price??? So if you’ve been thinking about another dog, now is the time to come to the kennel for a visit.

This offer is only good from November 1st to December 31st so come on over to the kennel, visit the dogs and see where your heart leads you. You’ll be glad you did. These dogs all deserve to be Home For The Holidays!

FoG Dogs Go To Jail

Last month Linda Willis and I drove two wonderful little girls named Nite Fire Naples (Newberry) and Payday Tabby up to the Hernando Correctional Institute in Brooksville, Florida where we kissed them goodbye and delivered them into the hands of men and women clad in orange and white striped jumpsuits behind razor wire fences. It was the kind of moment that gives you goosebumps. We drove away in silence for a while. Both of us were second guessing this choice. But we kept driving. It wasn’t easy.

We were dropping the dogs at Hernando to be grouped with other greys for the ride to the Florida State Prison at Quincy, up by Tallahassee. Quincy has over 400 male inmates and is the site for the third greyhound training class to be held in our state by Second Chance At Life (SCAL). Visit them here. Their website will give you more detail on the program. Basically, once you subtract our fear of the unknown and worry about letting our greyhounds be cared for by others, it is a good program. The prisoners learn about caring for dogs, becoming dog trainers (a trade for later life) and unconditional love. Everyone who owns a greyhound has learned about that love and it is certainly a special and powerful gift.

Each dog is cared for by two inmates, 24/7, for the nine weeks of training. They come out knowing commands like heel, stay, return and lots of very “un-greyhound-like” things. Some even learn to stop in the middle of a full run and return to the trainer! (or so I've heard.) Meantime SCAL is documenting their progress on their website. If you visit the site, you can even drop a short comment into Tabby and Newberry’s folders to wish them luck.

SCAL offers these special, trained greyhounds for the adoption fee of $350. I know we only charge $175 but if you took all the training classes at Petsmart or Petco that you possibly could, you would invest a whole lot more money and time and still not have as well trained a dog as these will be. So $350 for a dog that is fully immersion trained, is a great deal. Applications are taken online through SCAL or we can forward them through our offices. All applications for prison dogs must meet normal adoption requirements but otherwise these dogs are on a first come, first served basis. SCAL tries to get all the dogs from a class adopted before they graduate and that’s what we hope will happen for Newberry and Tabby. Applicants are also required to handle any additional cost of transportation (many of these dogs go to other states) and a home visit may be required. These are some special greyhounds! Some have been flown to California and to Washington! But don’t worry. If our dogs are not adopted before graduation, they will either return to us or go (with our approval) to another greyhound group.

Yes, it was scary leaving those dogs at a prison. But dogs don’t know about prisons or convicts and they take us at face value. Everyone has a clean slate with a greyhound. Some of these guys need that. Please tell your friends, even in other areas, because getting these trained dogs adopted into good homes is the real graduation and from our side, the ultimate goal.

Hey you, do we have your contact info?

Dear friends of Friends of Greyhounds. We recently lost our contact database so we are unable to send out our email updates about upcoming events. If you were on our list before and would like to be on again please drop us an email by clicking here.

In the meantime please check this blog often for the latest updates.

Super Special Seniors - UPDATED!

This economy has hit our dogs pretty hard. Adoptions are slow and we are seeing more returns. FoG started adopting greyhounds in 2001 so we have a few seniors out there /and their returns are the hardest of all. If you have room in your home, please consider becoming a refuge for one of our Super Special Seniors. Greyhounds have a natural life span of 12 to 14 years and there was one recently who lived to be twenty! We will discount their adoption fee and do anything in our power to get them out of the kennel and back into good homes for their few remaining years. They still have so much love to give and there is truly nothing sweeter than a senior greyhound. If you’re like many of us, spending more time at home, you might as well get another greyhound! Right?

This is Lancer (formerly Krafty Dopey) and Summer Rose (SS Summer Rose). He is 10 and she is 9. They have been in a wonderful home for 6 years together and although we will consider separating them, we will also bend over backwards to help them stay together. Their daddy had to give them up to care for other family members and they did not do anything wrong. Approach Summer’s kennel and she’ll put an arm on your shoulder to hug you. They are both soooo sweet. [UPDATE 9/23/09 -- I am very pleased to amend this posting to tell you that Lancer and/ Summer Rose were adopted - TOGETHER - by a wonderful gentleman with a big fenced yard who used to have a pair of greyhounds that lived to a ripe old age. He realizes how special a senior truly is! Best of all, he lives around the corner from Jerry & I. I can almost see their back yard from mine!]

This is Rosie (Don’t Roses Bloom). She was adopted out by us in 2002 before she was 2 years old. She and her mom went through a lot together but mom is hitting a tougher time than ever before and doesn’t have anyplace for herself to live, much less Rosie. She did the right thing to bring her to us. Now, we have to find a good home for her. She’s really depressed and taking the separation hard. Jerry and I have discovered that if we let her spend time in the house, curled up on the couch, we can finally get her to eat. She pays no attention to our cats. But our house is full and she needs a home of her own. Rosie is a sweet and gentle soul and I’ll bet she’d fit right in at your house. She's a little grayer than when she left us but she still has so much love to give. [UPDATE: 9/17/09 - Rosie is now living with Leslie Glynn and her pack! Leslie says she fit right in from the minute she stepped in the door. Congratulations, Rosie & Leslie]

Jasmine (also called Jazzy but her race name was Atascocita Roxie) is a real sweetheart with a greyt joie de vie. She’s playful and loving and we try not to worry about the fact that she is seven years old and a black dog. Black dogs don’t get adopted as quickly as other colors and right now we have a six other black girls in the kennel, all younger than her. She came back to us loaded with ticks and her teeth were black. We’ve gotten her cleaned up and built back up and are going to get her scheduled soon for that dental visit. We’re pretty sure she’s going to lose a bunch of those awful teeth. But hey, nobody’s perfect, right? Jazzy is smart and fun and deserves a second chance. [UPDATE: 10/3/09 -- Jazzy got her dental work done and got her second chance. The dental work was horrific and she lost 30 teeth, leaving her 12 to eat with. (It was a terribly expensive proceedure and donations towards the cost would be appreciated.) But she sure has better breath! Many of you know Jerry Berlin who "manages" our outside yard on open house days while his greys laze around in the sun. He took Jazzy on an overnight test with his dogs. He was a concerned about having room in the car for another dog but Jazzy looked over the situation, jumped into the front seat and curled up with him. And he was concerned about the other dogs accepting her but he was pleasantly surprised to find the gang showing her around the variety of dog beds in the house. So Jazzy got her new home!]

Ride Em Fella is a tall fawn male with huge eyes that can melt your heart. He was in a home for a year, bit his owner and came back. We have reason to believe that there were extenuating circumstances. He needs an experienced dog person to adopt him. We’ve tried to purposely provoke him to find out what his problem is and we can’t get him angry. He wants to love you and play with you and he mostly just wants a second chance. See his video with Melissa on our Petfinder pages. He’s a sweetheart of a boy and at 7 years old, he’s been back in the kennel waiting for a new home for over 2 years. Please, isn’t there someone out there who will give him a break? [ Update - Fella is still looking for a good home!]

If one of these sweethearts isn’t right for you, please consider visiting with one of our 5 and 6 year olds, many of whom have raced their hearts out and not yet known the pleasures of a loving home. They want to be special to someone. And they will return your love a million times a day. Hope to see you YOU at open house this weekend!

Woofstock is Coming – Save the Date!

It’s official. Woofstock ’09 will be held on Sunday, November 22 at the POA Hall in Ft. Lauderdale. That’s same place we had our Volunteer Thank You dinner last year. Just in case you don't know, Woofstock is our (sort of) annual reunion event for the greyhounds. We have contests and raffles and food and lots of fun with our dogs. We have full use of the inside and grounds of the POA hall and it should be an wonderful location. A little tricky to find, but so, so worth it. So we’re looking for ideas, donations (for raffles, etc.) and volunteers. I’d like to do some new contests and maybe a bake sale this year. Since we have indoor areas, too, we can try to get more vendors. So put on your thinking caps and give us your ideas.

We’ll hold a meeting this Saturday after Open House to try to bring some ideas together. We’ve got some wonderful surprises too. Let’s try to start about 4 pm. I hope everyone who can contribute a little time to putting together this event will show up. I know it’s short notice but this is the first time I’ve been able to get my computer to work for more than 5 minutes at a time! The POA hall gives us tremendous flexibility and we can have so much fun. I can’t wait!