Midnight Riders

We had a couple of midnight riders come into town this morning after a long night up the I95.
Please welcome Broadway Bark ( a cow dog ) and Boc's Jet ( a red brindle ). Both are residing in foster homes and are available for adoption. If you or anyone you know would like to make a New Year's addition to your family, please get in contact with us.

The Shoebox Fundraiser

We wanted to pass along this letter received from our friends down at GPA-GO:

To ALL of our extended family at VAGA ....

Santa Paws came to visit us yesterday, with a huge, and we mean H-U-G-E, sack over "his" shoulder. Of course, we were all very excited, because we've heard that Santa brings greyt things to Kennel Kuties who have been good all year. Aces ... we all knew that we have been exceptionally good all year ... well, there was that time that Moondog pulled AweMan's blanket halfway thru to his crate, and Washita did dig a little hole in the side yard that required a dump truck full of gravel to fill in (she did find a really cool rock, though'!), and okay, okay ... so RangeFire's aim is -uh hum- a little off - little Lilac didn't seem to mind her bath too much! All in all, though, our Kennel Moms and Dad say we are the BEST kids anywhere, so we knew something wonderful just had to be in Santa's sack for us!
W-O-W!!!! Our favorite! We were sooooo thrilled with our wonderful, new rope toys Ours were gettin' kind of worn from all of the playing and washing! But then, Santa started pulling out these humongous knuckle bones! Whooo hooo, those babies were the size of bowling balls!!!! And, best of all, there was a bone for each one of us! Just when we decided Santa must have hit the Powerball, Santa confessed that our Christmas goodies really didn't come from as far away as the North Pole, but from our wonderful friends in Virginia-who we lovingly call VAGA! We wanted to thank you, but since our paws are too big for the keyboard, most of us can't spell very good, and we'd have to be REALLY careful with RangeFire around electrical devices --hee hee-- we asked our Kennel Moms to type what is in our hearts ....

Thank you for remembering us, and making our Christmas so special. We just love our rope toys, and our delicious-BIG-bones. We haven't stopped chewing since Santa gave them to us yesterday! Thank you EVERYONE at VAGA for working so hard all year, so that we can have a forever home with families who will love us just as much as everyone here at GPA/GO loves us. Thank you for your love, friendship, and support over the years, and most important of all, thank you .... for thinking WE are worth it ...

RangeFire! Not on the computerrrrrrrrrrrrrrwdjasdfu98qnegea45368t -348]4 5tq rgh d8uy06r -y3yt83tu sssssssssssssss ...

With much love,
The Kennel Kuties
Greyhound Pets of America/Greater Orlando

Thanks to everyone who contributed and made this the big success that it was.You brought a lot of cheer to those still waiting for a forever home.

To see and read more, check out the GPA-GO website HERE

There are also a couple of short videos you can see HERE and HERE

May we wrap that for you?

With a few Borders under our collective belts, I'm starting to hear that in my sleep.
SANTA has Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, WE have Prissy and Stanley and Abby and Tempest (and George). It was a busy Saturday so the photo opts were a little bit limited. We did manage to snag a few. Thanks to the volunteers for helping out, and again to Ms. Prissy for being the perfect ambassador.

Enjoy

Middleburg, Va. Dec. 5, 2009

And we thought the weather in Fredericksburg was bad. I'm surprised you all were able to get any photos taken at all. Kudos to you for putting in that appearance.
Here's a short thank you from Gil.

Hello All;

The weather did not make for a very nice parade, but thanks to Sue & Mick Glenn and their Galgo Ginger,
Nancy, Bree Poe and I were not alone.

Hope next year we have better weather.
Gil

Winter Wonderland

For the second year in a row Mother Nature decided to drop a little precipitation on our parade.
It once again did not stop some 30 greyhounds, and their owners, to brave less than desirable conditions. With wet snow and mixed rain, cold wind and a delayed start, everyone managed to make it from start to finish. Along the parade route, kids and their parents waved and cheered as a few of the greys made some curbside stops to soak up a head pat or two. They never seem to pass up some additional attention.

Enjoy the short show below and a Happy Holiday Season to all.

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.

Adoption Day, September 13, 2009

Everyone made it safe and sound to the Coble's home for adoption day. The new adopters listened intently to the presentation, the repeaters remembering how it was their first time. After the formalities, it's out with the new gang and time for a photo opt or two. Not to be outdone, the hosts grab up one of these beauties for themselves. Congratulations to the Cobles and the rest of the adopters. Thanks for giving up your homes and lives to make a difference in a greyhound's life.

Newest Arrivals

It seems longer to me but it has been only a month since the last group came up. Here's the list of the latest VAGA members to make the journey up the east coast to a better life. Let me introduce you to Zes Juanamachetel, Tony's Lady, Sol Geoffrey, Craigie Marley, and C'mon Linda. Wish them a safe and uneventful journey home. See you all on Sunday.

Don't You Want Somebody to Love?

Hi!

My name is Condo Kid. I just came up from Florida 10 days ago (they told me it would be cooler here, whew !!). I am good with other dogs and I also have no interest in cats. In fact, they actually scare me a little bit. I'm very loving, friendly, and many people tell me how cute I am. Now, all I need is a forever home. Please, will you take me home? E-mail VAGA STAFF HERE for more information about how wonderful I can be.

Greyhound Guardian Angel “Smiley Miley” Fusillo

An important message from Miley:

"Shortly after I was adopted by Robert and Niki Fusillo in December 2008, my brand new family suffered a life-changing event when my Dad was the victim of a terrible accident. Six months in the hospital has been hard on all of us, especially my Dad, but he is finally making progress and we hope that he may come home to us soon.

You can help offset the extraordinary medical expenses incurred by participating in a raffle fundraiser. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to help provide revenue for some of my Dad’s special needs when he can finally leave the hospital. There is an special grand prize offered to the winner of the raffle, but more importantly – you can help bring my beloved Dad back home to me. I promise to watch over him and heal his soul, in return for the gift of life that he gave me when he rescued me from the racing kennels."



This is just an excerpt from a story running on our virginiagreyhounds.org website the past couple of months. Please take the time to read the entire story HERE. Complete details are listed there. If there is anyway you can help out Miley's adopted family it would be greytly appreciated. Please pass this story on.

The August 15th Haul

Okay everyone, it seems I just put up the post for the last haul and here we go again.
You'll hear no complaints from me or anyone else at VAGA. The more the merrier.

Summer is generally slow in the adoption business and we're happy to buck that trend.
The five latest are: RJ's Ethel, Billy Talent, Cmon Mini, Starz Reesee, and Leta's Ginger.
We're extremely happy to welcome them to VAGA. Wish them a safe
(and hopefully not to hot) journey into town next Saturday.

Like a Modern Day Bonnie and Clyde

Well it's a long way to Richmond
Rollin' north on 95
With 5 greyhounds riding shotgun
And one brindle by my side
Tearin' down that highway
Like a modern day Bonnie and Clyde.

Well I hope Travis Tritt forgives me but I couldn't resist. With 4 out of the 5 greyhounds coming up this weekend staying in Richmond it was a no brainer. Vaga welcomes it's 5 newest members: Bolo Macho, Condo Kid, KB's Shine On, Philemon and WSR Puddin Pop. Safe trip to all and keep that radio playing.