My friend Kim brought her newly adopted greyhound Obi over this afternoon, to meet Leo. What a handsome fellow, and I learnt such a lot. For instance, did you know that greyhounds are the second fastest animals on earth after cheetahs? You have to take greyhounds to a fairly specialised vet because if they need surgery, the normal amount of anaesthesia for a dog their weight would kill them because they have such large muscle mass. On the plus side, they have such large hearts and lungs from the years of breeding for racing that they have an unusually long life expectancy for dogs their size, and on the peculiar side, they nails/claws grow very quickly and will need clipping about every two weeks – that always makes me squeamish.
Obi (short for O’Brien, not Obi Wan Kenobi) raced in Florida, and is 3 years old. He came to Kim via the Shamrock GreyHound Placement in Louisville, but has been in a foster home here in Lexington since September. Before he was allowed to stay with Kim, there was a “home visit” to make sure Kim and her family would be suitable, and now after a trial period, it seems that it may be a match made in heaven.
Greyhounds’ heads are narrower than their necks so they have to wear a special collar, called a martingale. Wishing Obi a long and happy life in his new home.
