And so the Season starts

The wrapping has officially started at Borders. A group of five, and one hound, showed up at 9am for what was supposed to be a four hour tour. A few hours after our arrival, we were informed that the two groups to follow us had cancelled. We were invited to stay as long as we wanted. Not wanting to turn down an additional fundraising opportunity, we decided to hang on as long as possible. At 8pm we called it a day (and night). This would not have been possible without the dedication of the volunteers and 3 hounds: Prissy, Stanley, and George. Ms. Prissy was relieved once by Stanley and then later by George. I was informed that it is not unusual for two males to try to do the work of one female. Prissy worked 7 hours before she finally caught a cat nap. Not wanting to miss out on any attention grabbing moments, she again hit the floor. It was reported she put in a solid 14 hours of sleep when she got home and has fully recovered. Thanks so much to everyone for putting in such a long day.

Home for the Holidays

The 7 swans and a trio of grey riders named Madge,Pauline, and Bluff have all made it safe to Virginia. These guys and gals have had a long day with a long ride and yet, bounced out of those vans with their greatest asset, the ability to adapt to almost anything, in full display. Why this still amazes me I don't know. Each group seems to develop it's own character on a haul and no two groups seem to be alike. Each grey has it's own background. No matter how checkered or how bad it may have been, it is sometimes difficult to tell them apart.

So happy holidays to the newest 7 and the 3 grey riders. Safe continuing travel to the Backwood Sisters, who as of this writing, are on the final leg of their journey home.



Edited: The Backwood Sisters made it home safe and sound and were immediately spoiled.

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!

If you have not yet taken a look at the VAGA picnic pictures.....please take the time to look today. Professional photographer, Jeff Mauritzen, did a fabulous job capturing the beauty of this breed. When you are on his website, you can click on Gallery to see some of his other work. He is offering a special package for VAGA members. Here are a few pictures Jeff took at the picnic....as you can see, he is VERY talented!

Click HERE to see all the pictures taken at the picnic. If you would like to order pictures of your greyhound, please contact Jeff at jeff@inphotograph.com.

7 Swans a Swimming

Hardly swans, but in the spirit of the upcoming holidays these 7 new greys will receive the best gift possible, a forever home. Coming up next Saturday the 21st are VAGA's 7 newest members. They are: Backwood Diva, Backwood Sondra, Bow Legacy, Fort Leavenworth, Gotcha Jethtro, MGs Veronica, and Spare Key. This group has a mix of guys, gals. and even a pair of sisters (kind of makes me think of White Christmas).
So, let's get them up, load them up and send them up the road next week. We will all be waiting to give you a happy holiday greeting.

Wish them a safe journey home.

2009 VAGA Picnic

How much fun can you cram into 4 hours? You would have to ask the family, friends, and furkids who were there. There seemed to be something for everyone. The furkids enjoyed organized runs as well as the BLUR of FUR game. Family and friends mingled with each other. The store was open and the auction tables well stocked with items. Everyone who partook in the fabulous buffet did not leave disappointed. If that wasn't enough for you we even had an on site adoption.
Throw in some fantastic October weather and who could ask for more.

Thanks to Christina and Bruce Elsbernd for hosting this event again. Thanks to the volunteers who helped out with setting up, cooking, moving, manning the store and auction tables, running the dogs, organizing the games and cleaning up.

Meet Tristan & Aneesa...Two Greyt Hounds

Tristan is a smaller male that just turned 6 years old on August 29th. He has been doing really well in foster care under the caring guidance of Kristen & Gyeong. He gets along with all the other dogs in the home and is cat safe but it seems that Tristan may be happier in a home with just a dog or cat. Too many animals in the house make him nervous at times and he will retreat into a room by himself. Little children can be too much for him too so we feel he should be adopted into a home with no kids or at least children 10 years or older.
Tristan has been through many changes in the pass few months so a new family that is dog savvy and will give Tristan the time and patience he deserves would be wonderful.



Meet Aneesa, a pretty little brindle girl who turned 9 in July. She lost her home due to no fought of her own. She has been a gem of a foster girl for Bob & Alice. Aneesa has been a well mannered girl who seems to just go with the flow. She does not mind the company of tiny children. Aneesa may be nine years old and considered a senior but she has plenty of spunk in her. She's a real love bug.



Please consider adopting one of these beautiful special needs greyhounds.
Thank you!!!

Congratulations to Alex, Will and Hero

Excerpt from the Free Lance Star on 10-05-09

"Warrenton resident Alexandra Zitzmann (left) wants her son Will to listen to the comments of the judges who declared him and his greyhound Hero winners in the Best Costume division (age 5 and younger) during the Fredericksburg Dog Festival held Sunday at Hurkamp Park."

Alex is a Vaga volunteer who helps out at M&G's and also fosters for us. I'm sure all of you are as happy as we are over winning their division and putting yet another greyhound on the front burner of the public's attention. Congratulations to you both (and Hero) from all of us.

If you'd like to read the entire article click the

FREE LANCE STAR

Early Arrivals

It's been quite the week! We had a haul planned for Oct 10th but as we all know in the greyhound world....things can change. Our four new VAGA dogs are at this moment getting ready for their trip to Virginia and will be arriving tomorrow! We could not be more excited. We are working together with a few other greyhound rescue groups and a total of ten greyhounds will be leaving sunny Florida and headed north. We wish everyone a safe trip!

One Final Wash

First, I apologize for getting this up so late but the photos were lost in a major computer meltdown. Files were recovered from back-up but it took some time.
As the title indicates, this was our last car wash at Wal-Mart. Policy has changed. Hopefully it will revert back in the future. We appreciate what Wal-Mart has allowed us to do over the last 3 years. Staging this event there has been a blessing. The community of Culpeper has been a big supporter of greyhound adoption and we will miss them.
Now as for the day itself, well, it started as cloudy and ended up as rain. Even so, our time was not wasted. The washing was not as busy but the dogs worked the sidewalk to perfection. After 3 hours the skies opened up and we packed it up. With that said, our per hour donations on the day were half as much had we been there the full 6 hours. None of this would have been possible without the hard work from the volunteers and the great generosity of the people. In these economic times that is a tribute to everyone.
I will end this with saying, a big thank you to Wal-Mart, the community and the volunteers from all the greyhounds that benefited from these events.


Post Script: Ladies, I know you all had suggested B.J. Thomas "Raindrops keep falling on my head" but I went with Creedence on this one. It just seemed more fitting. You may kick me later.

Sunday is for Seniors

Let me start off by thanking Jeremy and Stephanie for adopting two senior girls. Bunny is 10 and Gertie is soon to be 8. Both were at a breeding farm. They just emailed us with an update. Here is an excerpt from that email.

"They are doing well. Gertie barked for the first time the other day so that was very exciting. They have started voluntarily laying on their pillows in the living room with us in the evening so we feel loved. They usually stay in the back bedroom so it's very encouraging to see them come out of their shells. They've also discovered the art of chewing. Bunny chewed through a telephone cord. So, we got them rubber toys the other day and that seemed to do the trick. I caught Bunny the other day trying to steal my digital camera off my desk to chew it. Bad dog. Hopefully, she'll find the squeaky hot dog more appealing."

Thanks again for opening your hearts and home to these two special gals.

Since the theme here is seniors, I want to share something I ran across a few years back. I don't know who to give credit to for this but we appreciate the time it took to write it.

S is for the Satisfaction of giving an older dog a new life.
E is for the Eagerness with which they greet you every time.
N is for Never a bother or nasty always sweet and gentle and loving.
I is for the Intensity with which they watch you and listen and learn.
O is for the Outstanding love and affection you get in return.
R is for the Running they do now for sheer joy.
S is for what else can it be but Seniors the best of the best.