The power of Google!

The story below is real.  :)  

Wednesday, around 12:30 p.m., I was sitting at a local Shawnee OK restaurant having what I initially thought would be a relaxing lunch.  About halfway through my meal I receive a phone call from a woman who works at a school in Oklahoma City, OK.  She states she found a greyhound that wandered onto school property that morning.  She said the greyhound is rather thin and that the tag on the collar has the name of Joey and a serial type of number on it, but there is no rabies tag or local phone number on the tag.  She goes on to ask me if Fasthound has room for him and I said "of course" (there is no way I am going to turn away a stray).

We decide to meet at a parking lot in Oklahoma City at 6 that evening so that I can get the greyhound from her.  I had already talked to Dr. Kendi (her official name is Dr. Horner LOL) and she said I could bring Joey in after hours and they would board him for us.  Les and I pull up in the parking lot.  Les saw Joey before I did and the first thing out of his mouth is "That isn't a greyhound, that is a whippet"  I immediately look up and see that it is indeed a whippet.  A somewhat smallish looking whippet at that.  

Les and I get out of the car and let the woman know he is a whippet (she has had no prior dealings with sighthounds) but we assure her we will take him and find him a good home.  We head to Dr. Kolar's and take a few pictures of him while we are waiting for Dr. Kendi to arrive .  

Joey

Dr. Kendi arrives and we bring him into the clinic.  All of us, Les, Dr. Kendi and I, feel like he is in good shape.  A tad thin (not unusual for an un-neutered sighthoud) but his coat is in great shape and his behavior is sweet and loving (not like one who has been abused).  Dr. Kendi suggests that his collar number might be a microchip number since some folks will put the chip number on a collar tag versus a phone number.  Dr. Kendi puts Joey in a crate at the vet's office and Les and I go home.  (She did not scan him for a microchip at that time since it was after hours and we were just trying to get him settled in).

As soon as I got home I called three separate pet microchip companies and asked if they have any information related to the number on his collar.  None did.  The third company I called said that the number was not a valid chip number.   

After I struck out on the microchip companies I decided to Google the number.  Google pulls a sort of Craigslist ad in, of all places,  a military base in Okinawa, Japan.  I click on the ad and there are actually three separate ads posted by the same person.  The ads are recent (2012).  It turns out that the number on Joey's tag is actually a phone number in Okinawa, Japan.  Les tries calling it but of course we cannot get through because we do not have the right country code or international calling on our phones.  Les goes back to the ads and discovers that you can email the person who placed the ad.  He emails all three ads and asks if the person has recently lost a dog.

At 8:00 p.m. (just ten minutes after Les placed the emails) I check my yahoo email and discover a reply.  The reply is "Yes, please contact me" and a local Oklahoma phone number is given.  I call the number and the call is immediately answered.  The woman states she lost a whippet named Joey that day,  fawn and white, who is not neutered and that she lives in Oklahoma City, OK.  I tell her that we have her dog (well Dr. Kolar's has her dog) and how we came into possession of him.  She was so happy.  She and her husband had just returned to the states at the end of January and she had not updated his tag.  

I gave her Dr. Kolar's information.  She stated she had made flyers and put all around her neighborhood offering a $100 reward for his safe return.  She wanted to give me the reward money but I told her I did not want it.  I told her I just wanted her to have her dog back and that I wanted her to get his tags updated.  I let her know that if she wanted to put the money on Fasthound's vet account as a donation we would appreciate it.  

I emailed her today and she picked up Joey yesterday and donated the reward money to our group!!!  How cool is that.    She said Joey is doing well and that they are happy to have him safe and happy at home.  

It just goes to show you that Google really is an amazing tool!  Not only am I happy that Joey is home with his family, I am also happy I didn't have to bring him to my house because Sweetheart would NOT have been happy with me at all.  :)  She would have been SUPER jealous that her 'mom' had brought home a 'portable' greyhound!

Jess and Sweetheart  

Is Sweetheart *gasp* going to a new home?

So yesterday we did our monthly meet and greet at the Shawnee Mall.  I took Sweetheart and Benny and my friend brought her beautiful brindle male Lucius.  Sweetheart worked the crowd quite well throughout the event.  Towards the end of the event Les was talking to a girl who was petting Sweetheart and the girl said she was almost 100% sure she was going to complete an application soon.  She said she had been out to the mall several times while we were doing our meet and greets and she knew which dog she wanted because that dog always came up to her and was so sweet and gorgeous.  Yeah, one guess who it was.  You guessed it:  Sweets.  I am sure I had a fearful look in my eyes when I quickly told her "she is my dog, she is not up for adoption".  :)  The girl was a bit crestfallen but was a good sport.  She raved how sweet and beautiful Sweetheart was and how lucky I was to have her.  Yep, I know, have known since August 13th 2010.  :)

So no, Sweetheart isn't going to a new home but it is nice to know that a dog someone left to die can recover and become one many people wish to adopt.  I must admit I feel kind of special that I got to adopt her.  :)  Then I think about how jealous she, how much she likes to kill chickens and steal my stuff in the house and then I don't feel as special.  LOL.  Just kidding.  I love my Sweets and would never give her up.  It is nice to know that people do like her and that she is such a good ambassadog for the greyhound breed.

My friend who brought Lucius to the meet and greet is the one who took the beautiful picture of her in the post below this one.  She enlarged the photo and printed it out and put it in an 8 by 10 frame and gave it to me yesterday.  I LOVE it and am going to put it at my desk at work.  I was so touched she did that for me.  Such a sweet lady.

We have three new additions to our home.  3 baby chicks.  They hatched yesterday and are adorable.  Their mom is taking good care of them and pecked me several times as I moved her around to see them.

Hope all is well with everyone.  My weekend is going nicely!

Jess and Sweetheart

Pretty Sweetheart!

A picture one of my good friends took of Sweetheart
at the Shawnee Mall.  Isn't she pretty!

Still here!

Diva in a Red Chair

Sorry I haven't posted in SOOO long.  Everything is just fine with us.

Eve was still with me until yesterday.  The day before yesterday she broke a bone in her wrist on her front leg and is now in a huge cast. We think she broke it running in the back yard.  However, her foster to adopt mom wanted her regardless of the cast so Paul took her to her new foster to adopt home yesterday evening.  I must admit I am a bit sad because Eve turned into such a wonderful and goofy girl!!  She was so much fun to have for the five months I fostered her.

Sweetheart is doing great, as you can probably tell from the picture I took of her above this evening.  She is spoiled and rotten and just my silly girl.  She was bad yesterday, she tried to kill one of our hens that inadvertantly found its way into the back yard.  Lester swatted Sweets on the butt and he said she acted like he was killing her.  Sweets dropped the hen and screamed all dramatic like.  Yeesh.  However, Sweetheart survived and the hen did too (thankfully Sweets was muzzled).  Never a dull moment in this house.

I hope everyone is well.  Sweets has been great, totally healed from her mishap in October, doing  the meet and greets at the Shawnee Mall and basically just being the queen of this home.  It is hard to believe I have had her for over a year and a half!

Hope everyone is good!  Again, sorry I stayed gone so long.

Jess and Sweets

More Eve

Sweetheart is fully healed and Eve should get her spay stitches out sometime the middle of this week.  Eve will now be ready for adoption.  I am kind of sad about that because she is a funny little girl and I would love to keep her.  Alas, I cannot since I already have three greys of my own.  I guess I could always stick Sweetheart outside with a 'free to good home' sign around her neck.  :)  Yeah right, we all know that isn't happening.

Below are some more Eve pictures I took last night.  Enjoy.

Eve

Crate Hate

Eve is NOT thankful for crates.  She hates them.

This crate was against the dining room wall when Les put her in it at 2:00.  I get home at 6:30 only to discover she transported the crate, with herself inside,  into the middle of the dining room and has somehow gotten the crate pan out of the crate and horizontal in front of it.  All of this with a muzzle on.  She was still in the crate when I got home.  Needless to say she does not like crate.

I have to put four to five clips on the door because she squeezes out of the latched door if the extra clips aren't holding the door down to the crate body itself.

Thankful

What is everyone thankful for?

Sweetheart is thankful for a warm home, a nice dog bed and a full tummy.

Eve is thankful to be out of the horrible shelter and free of parvo.   A full tummy and a nice couch are also things she is thankful for.

I am thankful that all my fur babies are happy and healthy.  I am thankful I have great family and friends and two wonderful veterinarians that make my life a lot easier!!   

Let me know what you are thankful for!

Jess and Sweetheart                             

Saturday

Eve is home safe and sound from her spay and teeth cleaning yesterday.  I picked her up this morning and she doesn't appear to be in pain or having any ill effects.  Animals amaze me with their strength!

Sweetheart is healing quite well and her wound looks really good.  She is back to being a brat and is kind of being fussy.  She growled a bit at Cleo and Monte last night so she got corrected with some stern words!  Can't have a diva attitude like that in this house.  Dr. Kendi said she was being a brat like that the week she was there. I think she just doesn't like being away from me that much and doesn't like sharing me with other dogs.  Big baby.

I weighed Eve today when I picked her up and she weighs 50 pounds.  She has gained 8 pounds in the month and a half since she left shelter hell!  She was 42 and half dead when I got her.  Now she is growing a big, filled out nicely and so energetic and fun.  It is so rewarding to see dogs recover and be happy, it makes this 'job' so worthwhile.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

Jess and Sweetheart (bad dog) and Eve

Sweets

Sweetheart is thrilled to be home.  She is doing fabulous with not licking the wound.  It is still closed and appears to be healing just fine.  There is no swelling or puffiness around the area, whew!

The best part of this to Sweetheart is that she has to take antibiotics for another 10 days or so and that means CHEESE!  Twice a day, morning and night.  She knows the drill and has it down pat!  I am glad she is greedy for cheese, makes giving her two pills twice a day a snap.

Hopefully she will be fully healed in a few weeks and since everyone is being muzzled now there shouldn't be any additional 'tooth' trauma.

Eve goes in for her spay this Friday.  I am interested to know how much she weighs now.  She has become a very happy and exhuberant girl.  Her puppy nature is starting to come through too. This is a good thing and sometimes a bad thing.  :)  She has chewed a few things but only when she is left alone and is bored.  She really is a good girl overall and lots of fun to foster.

Hope everyone is having a good week.  I am much happier with my Sweets back with me.

Jess and Sweetheart