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.