The Story of our "Brindle Boys"

Originally posted Sun Aug 26, 2007 on SoutheasternGreyhounds (SEGA) Yahoo Group

Hearing the tales of the Birmingham Boys makes me want to share the long over-due story of our "Brindle Boys" and Suzanne Lipson shares a role in this story as well!

In January (2007) my husband Van and I adopted the "Best Greyhound in the World" Task Kane (NKA "Kane"). Everyone who owns a grey says that their dog is the best, but we really think that Kane fits the bill. He is a beautiful big red brindle who has wonderful doe eyes. He is such a calm, friendly leaner that he does not know any strangers. In fact, it was his eyes in his adoption photo on the SEGA website that first drew us to Kane.

Kane was with us and his many feline siblings already in residence for several months when we realized that he might need some interaction with some peers. He had started to engage the cats in play! Though tempted, the cats decided that it was against their better judgment.

Then Van saw a familiar sight on the website - another beautiful brindle with soulful eyes. This time it was a darker brindle: Doing the Dew.
But we talked it over and we were not sure that two dogs would work for our house which is smaller, has no fence, and has enough heart beats already.

One day we decided to see if we could take Kane to Lake City to use the dog run with the greys in the kennel. Suzanne was awesome enough to meet us there to let Kane stretch his legs with some friends his own size.

During Kane's stretch we talked with Suzanne about the foster program and mentioned that we were interested in Doing the Dew, but that we had concerns about our ability to manage two dogs in our current home.

After the conversation we were convinced that it was worth it to apply for the foster program and that we would be helping even if it was temporary. Suzanne did mention that we should be prepared for the "failed foster" scenario which she had experienced herself. (I can image that she was referring to Cooper, her Birmingham Boy :)

When we were contacted by Bill Nakos and told that Doing the Dew would be our "assignment" for foster, we were very excited and nervous. He was a bounce twice-over in his short time off the track, so we were very realistic that he would need a lot of work. Jennifer Bachelor had fostered him since he bounced and done a lot of training with him. We were cautious with him and careful to give him support in his transition.

Dewey is more high-strung than Kane and it is interesting to see their different personalities develop. Kane was so easy to integrate into our home and Dewey took more work. We had, after all, gotten the best greyhound ever right out of the gate.

Dewey, however, has blossomed into a wonderful gentleman. He loves to give kisses and play with his toys. His absolute favorite toy is his screaming monkey that we got from SEGA. He likes it so much that we have to restrict his access to it, lest we hear it go off in the wee hours of the morning.

Dewey is great with people, our cats, and gets more lovable each day. Van says that if there was a game at the Greyfest that involved greyhound flatulence Dewey would win paws down. When we work in our office we always hear the sound of a "poof" come from the direction of Dewey at least 5 times in the course of the evening. I think he probably used his gas on the track to either give him the extra boost over the finish line or to stun the other racers, like letting out an oil slick. We have learned to cope.

In spite of their differences, Dewey and Kane share a sweetness because they are both leaners. It is quite common to be caught in across-fold of leaning brindle heads as you stand with them.

As time marched on it became more and more clear that Dewey was meant to be ours. Early in July he adopted us, so we filled out the paperwork.

When Suzanne saw our adoption application for Dewey, she wrote us a message that includes this passage that still brings tears to my eyes: "Thank you for giving him the opportunity to be himself and beloved for himself. I knew your house would be big enough because your hearts were."

We are happy to report that Task Kane (NKA "Kane") and Doing the Dew (NKA "Dewey") have settled well into their forever home. Kane and Dewey are now our "Brindle Boys" and they bring us so much happiness.

Thank you Suzanne, Bill, and everyone at SEGA for bringing them to us.

And maybe some day we will be ready to take on another foster!

Regards,
Susan