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.