Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Lesson from a retired greyhound

My friend Sharon shared this story...

Regarding your posting about Bitter/Better.  It reminded me of looking back, evoking memories, both bad and good. Looking forward can also be scary. How will I live what’s left of my life? I had an experience at the vet’s office last week, that hammered this same message home to me & wanted to share it with you.

In August, our family got a rescue retired racing greyhound. That will teach us, going to the dog track in Florida and falling in love with these animals! We were quite lucky to get one so quickly. They are in high demand, with racetracks closing around the country. We went through Team Greyhound, out of Columbus, Ohio, and had quite the experience. Seriously, the screening process is quite rigorous, with telephone interviews, home visits, etc.

In August, we adopted our five year old, 75+ lb. greyhound who retired from racing in May. Due to his age, we think he must have been quite good to have such a lengthy career. He got an infection in one of his toes and ultimately had it amputated, thus ending his racing career. “Blood Moon”, now renamed “Dexter” by my granddaughter, has become part of our family, and we all love him. It’s a bit like living with a horse in your house, but we’re all adjusting. He has the steepest learning curve, as he was raised at the racetrack in a crate; living in a house, navigating stairs, and being a pet is all new for him.

I was talking to our Vet, who has greyhounds of his own, and he kind of put it in perspective about whether or not it’s cruel to race these animals, or what kind of a life he may have enjoyed/suffered by being in the racing world before we adopted him. The Vet said that his greyhounds are just grateful for each day and what they have and experience today. They don’t worry about the life they had before in the racing world...good or bad, possibly cruel and abusive, or lacking warmth and empathy. He then said, “I wish I could be more like my greyhounds.”

An interesting postscript ...when we checked out and paid our bill, at the bottom of the bill was scripture...1 Corinthians 10:31. “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”.

It’s all pretty simple, isn’t it?

It is a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a trip to Ireland in July this year. If you are interested in reading about it, or joining in, the link is below.....

Treasures of Ireland
July 13-22, 2020

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