Won't you be my Valentine?

Hi there! My name is Jelly and I want you to be my Valentine. I know, you are used to Michelle writing wonderful things about us pups, but she said she is either going to write about us or play with us and she hasn't had time to do both. Frankly, I prefer her playing with us, so I figured I would help out by posting here.

My brother, Bean (he is the one on the right in the picture. I am the pretty one on the left!) and I fell on some hard times when our owners decided to return us. We really didn't do anything wrong. They just didn't want us anymore. My foster mom says that we are wonderful dogs with very good manners. We don't countersurf, we are housebroken, we don't beg for your dinner, we won't jump on your guests, we won't bark all night, we don't bite, and we love to be cuddled. Did I mention that we will sing if Bettis starts singing first?

Now for specifics. I love my brother. He was named Bean because I was named Jelly...Get it? Mr. Bean is a sweet boy that had to have 19 teeth pulled when he came back. He can now eat crunchy food again, but I don't know how! He still has trouble taking treats sometimes because they slide right out of the side of his mouth. Don't tell him, but I laugh to myself when that happens. Mr. Bean will smile sometimes, too- A big toothless grin- when he is happy. He is almost 10 years old, but he stll likes to romp around outside. Mr. Bean is a little nervous and, while I am sure he would rather have me, if he can't have me to help him not be scared, he would really like to be with another greyhound. He learns to trust in time, but wants someone willing to give him some time to be comfortable.

Now for yours truly! Like I said, my name is Jelly. I know it is a weird name for a dog, but it was part of my racing name. My foster mom calls me Jelly Roll because she says I am a little portly (whatever that means). Maybe that is why she tells me not to eat the other dogs' food? I LOVE TO PLAY! I will grab a stuffie as soon as I get up in the morning and play with it. When I go outside, I grab a stuffie and run outside with it to play fetch. When my people come home, I get excited and grab a stuffie. Sometimes I even race after Bettis to try to grab the stuffie out of his mouth! I like having a friend, but I would probably be just fine as an only dog. Did I mention I really love my brother, Mr. Bean, though?

Well, enough of tooting my own horn (and Mr. Bean's, too). I know how much my foster mom loves us and I am sure she will tell more stories about us as long as we stay here! We would really like to find our Valentine and be home with them for Valentine's day, though!

Corn- It's not just a vegetable

Meet Pekaboo. He is a beautiful, dark brindle, retired greyhound that had an impressive track record. In spite of his sweet, yet dopey personality, he was bounced around from home to home. When he finally made it to his forever home, he developed a limp that got more severe with time. After many visits to the vet's office, many x-rays, a misdiagnosis of a torn ACL, a trip to Virginia Tech Vet school to get the ACL repaired only to have them diagnose a sprain, and many pain killers, the problem was finally confirmed at Dewey Beach when the Thera-paw lady pointed out the corn on his pad. The corn continued to grow until it was a small lump protruding from the pad (See the picture to the left). These are common among greyhounds, but almost non-existent among other breeds. Many vets will not touch them and the testimonials of many greyhound owners will tell you that removal will only see the corn returning over and over again. As you can see on Pekaboo's corn, it was protruding far above the surface and was akin to walking on a small pebble. He had a severe limp. Today, we used a dremel and dremeled the corn to below the surface. While it probably felt pretty weird to him to have this instrument vibrating his foot, it did not cause him pain. The ending result was the picture to the right. The hole in his pad may look extreme, but we just barely breached the surface of the pad. Once we completed this, we added some Dr. Scholls corn remover and will continue to do so for the next few days. We will continue to keep you posted on Pekaboo and will hopefully see some improvement in the near future! (Note: Just a side note that the Therapaw provides great relief. You can also find more information on corns on the therapaw site).

Jelly, Beans, and Teeth

No, I did not make a mistake by adding a comma in the middle of Jelly Beans. While Jelly Beans may be detrimental to human teeth, not caring for your greyhound's teeth may be detrimental to your greyhound. This is the story of my newest foster dogs, Jelly and Bean. Jelly and Bean were returned with very bad doggie breath and in severe need of a dental cleaning. Bean would not let anyone even touch his face. Well, if your mouth was harboring what Jelly's and Bean's mouth was harboring, you would not let your face be touched and would probably be much grouchier than these two were. Take one look at the picture, then ask yourself if you would want 19 of your teeth pulled because you didn't brush them (Bean had 19 teeth pulled and Jelly lost 3). If you can say no, then follow these simple tips and you can help avoid this in your pup: 1)Grab the doggie toothpaste and a toothbrush and make sure you visit your greyhound's mouth with it at least weekly. If your pup has bad teeth, try a little more often. 2) If your pup has bad breath, chances are he/she has a bad tooth. Regular vet visits and periodic cleanings (at your vet's recommendation) will help with this. 3) Feed your pup some dentabones, greenies, rawhides or other treats that will help keep their teeth clean. Aside from keeping your dog's breath fresh, it could also save their life. Many mouth bacteria can affect a dog's system (just like humans) and cause them to have life threatening problems (like heart disease). Please take the time to make your pups teeth a priority. They will thank you with fresh breath and doggie kisses!

The disadvantages to being tall

Some may believe that being tall and skinny is an advantage to a greyhound. While racing, their long, skinny legs truly carry them to great achievements. As a house pet, their stature can sometimes get them into trouble. Unfortunately, the long, skinny legs put a greyhound's long, skinny nose at countertop level. This leads to unbearable temptations to surf that nose right across the countertop and glean any morsel of food that smells good. Bettis LOVES to countersurf and his successful surfing even helped the family relive The Christmas Story when he managed to "acquire" the Christmas roast one year (trust me, this did not go over very well)! While there are some greyhounds that never touch a thing on the countertops, Bettis is not one of them! Today, I made the mistake of cleaning out the pantry and leaving some stuff on the countertops while we ran out. While the lack of opposable thumbs caused a little sanfu in his plans, Bettis attempted to cook up a little dinner while we were gone. Apparently the combination of bread crumbs and chai tea mix was not as appealing as it originally sounded. He was very upset by the crumbs that "somebody" left on his bed, as you can see.

Foster Brother Extraordinaire

When Bettis arrived at our house in 2003, he had met a rough patch in his life. We had met a rough patch in our life as well. We had just lost our greyhound, Highway, to bone cancer one month prior. Bettis was being returned and the wonderful people with Greyhound Rescue knew my weakness for the male brindles. We agreed to take him site unseen but we were about to go on vacation so he went to a foster home for a week and we picked him up on a warm August day. It didn't take long to figure out he was returned due to a nasty streak. Four years later, with lots of love, we have a wonderful, mild mannered greyhound, that has been described by some as the "perfect greyhound". He is pretty sweet as long as you don't leave food on the countertops or a garbage can he can get into! Anyway, after seeing how a foster home works, we decided Bettis needed a friend but we wanted to "test" them out by fostering ourselves. Bettis readily agreed to this and has welcomed every pup into the house since and teaches them how to be a pet. Funny, though, we haven't found the one to adopt yet. We like them all, so this fostering thing may just go on forever!!!

How to tell a greyhound is at his forever home

Mischief (left) and Nan (right) came to me a bit confused. Mischief's littermate, Mikey, was taken from them and went back to the group he was adopted from. Their human family split in two by divorce, Mischief and Nan came to stay at my house. Nan quickly found her forever home and became a surprise Christmas present. Mischief found his forever home shortly thereafter and after a visit to his new home confirmed that he would be perfectly happy as the only canine brother to two human sisters, a human brother, a Mom and Dad, a gerbil and an AWESOME squeaky toy that moved on it's own called a guinea pig!!! After realizing his "love" for the guinea pig, Mischief's family knew that the two could never meet. Well, approximately a week after Mischief's "gotcha day," a slip up occurred and Mischief did meet the guinea pig. Not one for the gory details, let's just say that this was a tale of fatal attraction for the guinea pig. Even though Mischief was responsible for the "break up," his family forgave the love affair gone bad and still loves Mischief and plans to keep him...That is how you know a greyhound is at his forever home!!!