I’m one of “those people” who treat their dogs like their kids. I don’t have kids, never wanted them so I have dogs. I thrive on unconditional love. According to a recent USA Today article, there are now more households with dogs (43 million) than children. I’ll drink to that!

One year ago today, my second greyhound Lily died at 12 yrs 9 mos.

She wasn’t my first greyhound that died; Painter had passed on December 10, 2006. Of course, he’s still fills my heart and his photographs are here, there, and everywhere. Maybe because he died 4 1/2 years ago, I am feeling less raw but still light a candle for him once a year. After all, he started me down the greyhound path.

Unlike Painter who was the sight hound ambassaDOG, Lily was anything but. She reminded me of a canine Maxine greeting card/calendar character. The older she got – the less she bothered with other dogs. She liked most people especially if they came bearing treats, but not all people. Even while losing her sight, she knew if a friend or foe was at the front door long before I even knew anyone was at the door.

I acquired Lily at 2 years 3 months. I foster failed. At that time I was living in Los Angeles and unemployed or trying to be self employed. I could ill afford to adopt a second dog but the rescue group let me pay for her on installments. So she stayed.

Thankfully, she only raced six times at Phoenix Greyhound Park but ended up at the Caliente dog track in Tijuana. Her racing name was Impatient Roar. Somebody got that right. She was impatient and she roared and rooed with the best of them.

Lily was a character – she chewed stuff. Since I’m somewhat of a slob – she chewed several pairs of shoes, my favorite red purse, and a brown bag filled with income tax receipts as well as ate an entire rotisserie chicken (bones too), a stick of butter, a wedge of Brie wrapped in plastic…and on it goes.

Lily lived with me for 10 years 6 months. That’s longer than many marriages and jobs. Unlike Painter she was pretty healthy and it wasn’t until her 10th birthday that old age set in. First it was the spinal stenosis, then the uveitis, and then the sky high liver values. She benefited from acupuncture and cold laser therapy and seemed to bounce back time and time again – until she didn’t.

I’m not a fan of hanging on so with a heavy heart I let her go.

While she may not be physically here, she’s still with me. Her spirit permeates the house as Jett Greyhound is channeling her — he recently started chewing things especially paper.

Lily – known to many as Drama Queen – had her own blog. She was hilarious and the memory of her makes me smile every day.

(Photo – courtesy Diana Hansen)

This entry was posted on Friday, August 5th, 2011 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Dogs, Canines, Fun with Fido, Barking Encouraged, Greyhounds. Tags for this post: canine memorial, dogs, greyhounds. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.