Here’s the truth. I don’t run up to people who have babies in their arms. But if they are walking a greyhound on a leash, I’ll dash over, or stop the car to pet their hound, and say lovely things to them about their ‘baby’. I was just born this way.
I was attracted to all things animal at a very young age. When my friends were cooing over baby dolls, collecting them, and walking them around the block in strollers, I was dusting and adding to my 200 horse figurine collection and reading Black Stallion, Big Red, Born Free and Freddy the Pig series.
all from my books. We had dogs growing up, but they were relegated to the basement, and outdoors. I had a cat named Toesy, who had 24 toes, and about whom, my first poem in 6th grade got published.
It wasn’t until I adopted my first sight hound, an afghan I named Jezebel, that my love for horses and dogs coalesced in this shaggy, elegant buddle of fur. Jeze went everywhere I went – in my Karmann Ghia convertible, on horseback rides, to the beach, to the mountains. We did everything together. And in her tenth year, in 1987, I adopted my first greyhound. Jezebel, in her queenly way, allowed Eliminator to enter our lives. And my love of all things greyhounds just exploded because I was Born This Way.
You can read more about the loves in my life at Dog Stories. To read about the journey to Greyhound Gang, go to The Journey.