A new record!

We've had some quick adoptions before, but I think this is a record. Santana came off the racing track last Saturday and was "spoken for" by adopters four days later. He happily trotted off with his new family yesterday morning. Jon and I stood in the doorway, as we always do, to chuckle at the new parents struggling to pick up the 71-lb, limp greyhound into their car. It is a wonderful match and their meeting was a mutual love-at-first-sight. No worries here.

I'll take this opportunity to post the remaining pictures I took of Santana. Here are his many goofy faces:

Having been born and raised in Florida, Santana was not too sure about the "white stuff":

So long, Santana! May you tempt us no longer!

Welcome Santana!

Santana and his wiggly nose

When our deerhound, Burnie, left for the breeder's to make puppies, we realized that we had room in our house once more for a know-nothing greyhound bumpkin. We really missed fostering and jumped at the chance when our doggy count went down to two (albeit, temporarily). It is just our luck that we received the best-behaved greyhound EVAR [sic]. PLEASE! Someone adopt Santana FAST! We do not need this temptation! Three big, sleepy dogs and two cats is enough.

Here is the bio we submitted for Santana's profile on the Greyhound Welfare website:

They don't come much easier than this: our new ex-racing greyhound foster, Santana, is perhaps the quietest, most easy-going, sweetest foster to date.

Santana was already wagging his tail immediately after coming off the haul truck from Daytona, Florida. He leaned against the tub in relaxed bliss during his first bath. He ate his first retirement meal with enthusiasm and then fell asleep in his crate without missing a beat. He even had solid poops right away, which was certainly unexpected.

We are convinced that Santana must have read the greyhound adoption books because everything is going according to plan. He has nearly conquered the staircase after two days. Or at least, he understands the basic mechanics and occasionally gets confused about which foot goes where. Santana seems to accept his alone-training and stays quiet in his crate. Aside from a single howl when he is awake and he can hear a lot of activity upstairs, the only other noise we heard from Santana was a hilarious, whistled sigh.

Santana is very responsive to training since he is eager to please. Therefore, he walks delightfully on lead and stays clear of the kitchen counters now. He met our cat and tried to say "hello" via a butt-sniff. Unfortunately, his greeting was returned with a swat to the face. Suffice it to say, Santana is dreadfully frightened of the cats and avoids eye contact with them as if his life depended on it. He gets along beautifully with our two resident sighthounds, but people... ah, people are the love of his life. Santana practically "heels" to the nearest human in our backyard. Frankly, I suspect that he enjoys teeth-brushing and nail-trimming because of the people attention.

Santana is a no fuss, no muss sort of fellow. He has yet to meet small dogs and children, but given the way he glosses over squirrels and melts under a hand - I think he will make a terrific hound for any family.