Greyhound Adoption California--Newsletter

September/October, 2004
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Are you ready for Howl-o-ween?
It's Fall! The leaves are turning, there's a chill in the air. Who says California doesn't have seasons??? My Greys love to go romping around the yard in the leaves. This brings to mind Kaleigh. She was hurt by the sprinkler in her yard so be careful to make sure your sprinkler heads are recessed when off. We don't want any more accidents. Also, be careful when your Greys are running on wet grass and in wet leaves. Here's what happened to Stanley: Stanley was running in the park at Cuesta and slipped on the wet grass. His back leg was fractured and he tore ligaments. He had to have surgery ($2000!!!) They put pins in his bone to strengthen it and re-attached the ligaments. Yes, these are both freak accidents, but as long as we are aware of what can happen, we can try to keep our Greys safe.	Past Newsletters: March, 2003 April, 2003 May, 2003 June, 2003 July, 2003 August, 2003 September, 2003 October, 2003 Nov./Dec. 2003 Jan./Feb. 2004 March/April 2004 May/June 2004
Picnic!
Our third annual picnic was a big success. We do seem to manage to pick the hottest day every year. For the third year in a row, the temperature was in the high 90's. Fortunately, the park had lots of shade trees to sit under and make it bearable. Maybe next year we'll try for April or May. We've tried August and October so far. Congratulations to all the winners: Oldest - Mason Sainz, also he and Hayley Sainz came the farthest, from Wildomer, Ca. Youngest and tallest and the new hot dog diving champ - Jayz (who was adopted at the picnic). Shortest - Tina Singer. Longest tail - Wendy Shofstahl. Shortest tail - Monte Whittington. We'd also like to thank all of the organizations and companies who donated raffle items and goodie bag items. Also, thank you to all of you who donated a new stuffie and raffle prizes. It was a wonderful day for both our Greys and their humans.
A Big Thank You!
Another BIG THANK YOU to Pete Arellano. Pete makes the stuffed Greyhounds that we had at the picnic. He used Becca Sanders as his model. Pete also made a gargoyle that he sold on E-Bay for $65 which he donated to our organization. Also, he is acquainted with Real Musgrave who designs Pocket Dragons. I have attached a darling drawing by Real of a Pocket Dragon riding a Greyhound titled "Greyhound Racing with Pocket Dragons in Charge." It is very cute. Thank you Pete and Real.

Racing FAQ
One of the advantages of belonging to a national organization like Greyhound Pets of America is that we get all of the current information about the racing industry and the breeders. One of the breeders has set up a list of the most commonly asked questions about Greyhound racing. You can access these at Dewey FAQ's 2004. It is very interesting to get this from the breeder's standpoint.
Gift Ideas
This is exciting! Lenox is coming out with a beautiful sculpture of two Greyhounds entitled "Jeweled Devotion." You can see it and download an order form at greyhoundpets.org. They are absolutely gorgeous and would make a wonderful Valentine present. Plus, part of the proceeds go to our national organization. They were unveiled at the National Convention and our representatives, Dick Dunne and Scott Sanders said they were wonderful.
GPA National Convention
Speaking of "National", Dick and Scott had a wonderful time and met not only the heads of GPA but also Lee Livinggood who wrote "Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies" and went to her seminar on "fostering." Scott has been assigned to the 7 X 7 committee. The goal is to reach 70,000 Greyhounds adopted into homes by 2007. So far, GPA has placed over 60,000 Greyhounds since they began in 1987. It's nice to think that we helped reach that goal by placing over 250 Greyhounds in homes since we began in 2001. In order to accomplish this goal, you can help too. Jack Fishbaugh sends out the following suggestion which I heartily agree with: Show season may be over, but that shouldn't stop us from showing our dogs. November and December can be productive months. So why not vow to spend one hour a week on Saturday or Sunday walking around your favorite pet shop? Just you, your Greyhound and a pocketful of flyers can make a lot of difference. I would like to add that we take flyers with us wherever we go with our Greys. Even if it's just on a walk, going through a dog friendly shopping center like Stanford, walking a craft fair, etc. There are lots of places you can go with your Grey. Check out our web site for more ideas. We even have flyers at our Vet's office. (By the way, Cameron Veterinary Hospital in Sunnyvale has a Greyhound in their Halloween window display.) A copy of our flyer (brochure) is attached to this newsletter.
Event Roundup
Upcoming Show & Tells are as follows: Nov. 13th, 11 - 3 at the Pet Medical Center & Spa in Fresno, Ca. This is a grand open house for their new vet facilities. There will be media promotion and contests. Sounds like a fun time for all you Fresno adopters. Barnes and Noble Gift-wrapping! We will be gift-wrapping for donations at the Barnes and Noble location at Steven's Creek and San Thomas in Santa Clara, CA. Dates and times are as follows: November 26th and 29th from 2 pm to 6 pm and November 30th from 6 pm to 11 pm. December 2nd, 3rd, 6th, 7th and 9th from 6 pm to 11 pm. We will have greyhounds there, so come by to get a gift wrapped and say hi! Also, if you love to gift wrap, please sign up for these events. It is lots of fun and a "greyt" opportunity to help promote our Greyhounds.

New Adoptions
We have lots of new adoptions. Ten Greyhounds went to new "forever homes." Marlies & Rosemary Ruben adopted Fritz, now known as Fritzli. Marlies and Rosemary are not very tall and Fritzli is a big boy. He takes them for walks and makes sure they are getting lots of exercise. Kathy and Louis Vasquez flunked fostering when Buckys Mitzi came to stay with them and their Gracey. Bucky is now Spencer and Kathy and Louis promise that they will still foster for us. Whew! Thank you all. Patrick Friel & Amy Rubin decided that Courtney needed a companion. They adopted Butch Miller who is now known as Miller. Courtney no longer suffers from separation anxiety and Miller has proved that two are better than one when it comes to Greyhounds. Susan Price & Victor Jang adopted Venus. They also have a whippet named Zeppi. Compared to Zeppi, Venus is showing how calm and cool Greyhounds are. Elizabeth Kayser & Walter Damm and Elizabeth's daughters, Gracie and Kristen adopted Jayz Snoop at our picnic. They are calling him Jay. Considering all the contests he won at the picnic, they picked a real winner. Ellen, Mark, Abigail and Paul Hubler adopted Claire. Claire is a wonderful 6 year old and is adapting to her new home slowly. Ellen sent out a picture of Claire in a perfect "cockroach" position. She's happy. Eric & Khristi Elwess adopted Sidney (Musky). They have also fallen prey to the "potato chip" syndrome very quickly. They adopted TIVO (Matt) the end of May. Phil, Sarah and Jeremy Heusler decided to skip step one and go directly to "potato chip." They adopted both Dustin and Phoebe (Remedy). They were surprised to find out that Phoebe can bark. She was silent during her fostering. Some of our "girls" like to talk. Kathrine Bucquet adopted Ty (Banyon Bonanzi). Ty is one lucky boy in that he gets daily walks on the beach and lives in very dog friendly Carmel. Kathrine sent a very cute picture of him sleeping with his paws wrapped around her legs. Looks like love. A BIG THANK YOU to all of you for adopting a retired racing Greyhound.

You Say It's Your Birthday!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE FOLLOWING: September - Killian, Stanley, Apollo, Dolittle, Josephine, Norm, Jynx, Arwin, Spido, Nipper and Agatha. October - Jax, Remy, Cairo, Barry, Gracie G., Luthien, Mandy, Cyrano, Lily, Fritz, Barney, Gracie M., Chelsea, Martini, Maxwell, Rudy, and Fritzli. Wishing all of you lots of stuffies and treats!
1st Annual West Coast Greyhound Gathering - Solvang
ATTENTION ALL GREYHOUND OWNERS! February 25 - 27, 2005 you are invited to participate in the first-ever, annual West Coast Greyhound Gathering. This event will take place in Solvang, CA and was conceived to provide greyhound owners from all over with a place to converge on the west coast. The three day event is designed to raise funds to help offset the repair cost of broken legs of retired racing greyhounds. It is also meant to be fun, educational, develop a sense of camaraderie and provide some "greyt" shopping. There are a number of speakers lined up, including veterinarians, dental without anesthetics and more. Some of your favorite vendors will be there as well as some new ones. Raffles, silent and live auctions and lots of other fun and informative events. Solvang is known to be the Danish Capital of America. It's a quaint Old World architectural style village with flower-lined streets that create a lovely, walk able experience. The gathering has been welcomed with warmth and enthusiasm. Proceeds from this event will benefit the newly formed and pending Greyt Legs Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation dedicated to aiding greyhound adoption groups with the repair of broken legs in retired racing greyhounds. The registration web site is up and functioning, http://www.solvanggreyhoundfest.org/. You can register on line. Several of us from GPA-NorCal/GACA are already registered to go. The hotel rooms are going fast so don't wait too long. It will be lots of fun.
Needs a Home!
We have a four year old, white with black male who needs a home. He has a high prey drive, is not cat safe and gets along great with other Greyhounds, male or female. If you are interested, please let me know or call me at 408-749-0899.

Cold Weather--Bundle Up!
The weather is turning cold so don't forget your Greys get cold just like you do. Mine are wearing their jammies already. You can go to our web site for links to vendors for coats and jammies. Be sure to let them know which organization you adopted from. Also, Christmas is coming and Greyhound t-shirts and sweatshirts make a "greyt" gift. We have lots and will be happy to send them out to you. You can contact Delene Dunne to order. She has a complete inventory of t-shirts and sweatshirts and other Greyt Greyhound stuff. We also have 2005 Greyhound calendars.
Gift Basket Contributions
If you or your organization or company send out gift baskets every year, you might consider the following company. They will give us 8% of each sale. This is where you go and how to make sure we get the credit. "Shop for Gift Baskets, Gourmet Foods and Flowers at The Perfect Gift and the GPA of Northern California will receive 8% of the purchase price. Please remember to place a note saying "referred by GPA of Northern California" in the box labeled "additional shipping information" on the order page or send an email to sales@thePerfectGifts.biz so that GPA of Northern California can be credited. They have beautiful gift baskets for any occasion.
Halloween Safety
Halloween is only a couple of days away. Be sure to keep the chocolate and other candy up and out of the way. Many of our Greys have a sweet tooth. Mine sure do. Also, you may want to block the way to the front door if you have lots of little trick or treaters. We have a baby gate up. Before that, we used chairs. That way, our Greys could see who came to the door but not run out. If your Grey is shy, you may want to put him/her in a room with a comfortable pillow, a treat and some music or television to drown out the noise. Whatever you do, you want to protect your Greyhound and make sure that it can't bolt out the front door. With all the noise and commotion, it could be very scary for them and turn them into "Howl-o-weenies." Keep them safe. They depend on you.
In Closing
I would like to end with the following that was sent to me by Kris Burkel. Animal Rescuer's Creed I'll never bring about world peace. I won't single-handedly save the rain forest. I'm not a brain surgeon and I'll never transplant an organ to save a life. I don't have the ear of a powerful politician or world power. I can't end world hunger. I'm not a celebrity, and God knows I'm not glamorous! I'm not looked up to by millions around the world. Very few people even recognize my name. I'll never win the Nobel prize or end global warming. There are a lot of things that I'll never do or become. But today I helped place an animal! It was a small, scared, bundle of flesh and fur that was dumped at a shelter, or on the streets by unfeeling people who didn't care what happened to it, but yet who were responsible for it having existence in the first place. I helped find it a loving home. It now has contentment and an abundance of love, and a warm place to sleep and plenty to eat. Two little girls have a warm and playful new friend who will give them unending affection and teach them about responsibility and love. A wife and mother has a new free spirit to cuddle, nurture and care for. A husband and father has a furry friend to sit in his lap at the end of a hard day of work and help him relax and enjoy life and a sense of satisfaction, that when he is gone all day at work, that there is a gentle spirit in his home keeping watch over his family. No, I'm not a rocket scientist. But today I made a difference! And I'll do it tomorrow, too, if given the chance. Happy Halloween! Happy Fall!