“We discovered that it was OK to have a little high-brow as long you have a lot of low-brow. That’s entertainment value. The one thing you want to avoid is the middle brow, because the whole world is frigging middle brow at the moment.” – Jon Langford
For Dog Blog Friday: Nigel and Dewi, the Early Years (January 2002). To think he wasn't much bigger than a Corgi once. But then look at those legs....Labels: greyhounds, plus a bonus corgi
posted by George at 9:53 AM
George markets only for the forces of good for a living. He has a paid hobby that involves eating, drinking, and writing, things he’d do for free, which is almost what he’s doing it for. In a previous life he taught mostly illiterate and generally ungrateful college students how to write. He has been a body guard for Jodie Foster, a walk-on dancer with French avant garde troupe Maguy Marin, a film programmer, a judge at an Iron Chef style competition, a political activist, a textbook author, a bassist in a band, a two-time league winning fantasy baseball manager, a union local president, a pr flack helping run a red carpet at an Angelina Jolie event, a janitor, a chauffeur to folks from TC Boyle to Andrei Codrescu, a delivery man to Plato's Retreat, a reluctant writer of a non-snarky intro for Colin Powell, a radio DJ, a corn detassler, an escort van driver, a rock journalist, a lab assistant for a company that made everything from mouthwash to super skin lubricant, and even, once, a poet. His biggest brush with fame was when Julie Christie fondled his tie, a tie George Lopez belittled to 1000 people minutes later. The best thing about him is his wife. His dogs aren't bad, either.
10 Comments:
You've actually had Nigel since he was a puppy? I don't think I've ever seen a greyhound puppy in real life. I still think greyhounds might just appear as 18- or 24-month-old doggies.
I've always assumed your greyhounds were rescued dogs. You know, track dogs.
God, he was cute.
Nope, both Mookie and Nigel come from pet/show stock. When we were going to get Mooks we meet up with a woman listed as a greyhound person on the web and she steered us away from a rescue dog since we still had 2 cats at the time. And she also said she knew of puppies soon available, and how can you say no to a puppy?
Uhhh, don't want to rain on your parade George, but show dogs? Like from a breeder?
I never would have guessed that a guy like you would go and pay upwards of a grand to have someone breed your dogs, when there are literally thousands of rescue dogs to choose from that were put to death because you had to have a show dog bred for you.
I'm surprised. I thought libs were bleeding hearts but I guess there are always exceptions.
They needed a home too. And they aren't show dogs, they are imperfect AKC dogs ("pet quality"). Nigel has a cropped tail and Mookie was considered too small. Not bread for us, just in need of a non-show dog life...
Greyhounds aren't bread as pets (racing or show that's pretty much it), they aren't popular dogs. AKC greyhounds are actually bread very conservatively (which is one of the reasons they don't have genetic problems like most other breeds do). When a puppy isn't considered a perfect greyhound, they sell it with an agreement that you won't breed it and that it will be neutered. They aren't puppy farm dogs. They are rarely for sale.
If you want to blame someone for the thousands of dogs in shelters, blame the folks that refuse to neuter their pets. We actually made a responsible choice and we are providing a good home for these guys. We have nothing to apologize for.
I'm not looking for an apology; I'm sure you guys are great dog owners. I was just surprised is all. I figured George for a rescue/pound dog owner or nothing.
No offense Ms. George!
I miss my dog.
George and Amy, please forgive me for providing your creey stalker troll a pretext to attack you in such a personal way. Of course the furthest thought from my mind was to judge and condemn you over your cute pets.
Amy, that's interesting about greyhound breeding dynamics, thanks for taking the time to explain it. And I can definitely understand why you might not take in a rescue dog. In fact, I was curious to know what challenges rescue dogs might have presented you with.
As for you, tortureboy, try to imagine how ridiculous you seem to the civilized portion of George's readership. First you casually trample all over the torture taboo, then you keep popping up here with this mincing and prancing over the most minor of issues.
Yeah, I know, you're protecting mankind and I'm just a big meanie poopiepants. But try to make up your mind: are we locked in existential struggle with the Islamofacists, or do we all have time to hang our living room drapes just the way you like them?
Have I upset you ahab? You're always so upset! Maybe you should turn that frown upside down. Nobody likes a meanie poopiepants, even a guy who thinks it's alright to extract information from terrorists by getting their heads a little bit wet.
As for the issue of pet store dogs, I do believe that some wackos from your side of the political fence would disagree with you that it's a minor thing. There aren't alot of conservative card carrying PETA members.
To address your question, I don't think you need me to tell you we are locked in a battle with fanatical Muslims, but I'll patronize you anyway:
We're locked in a battle with fanatical Muslims.
As for drapes, I don't know how you hang yours, but if they're pink like I suspect, well, they just wouldn't be to my taste.
Goodnight now.
The only challenge a rescue dog presented was the fact that we had two cats at the time we were looking at getting a rescued greyhound. The contact in our area at the time explained to us that they "test" the dogs for child, cat, and other dog friendliness for a short period of time, maybe a week. So the dog might actually be ok, or you might come home to find out that your dog ate your cat. We didn't really like that chance.
Now that that we don't have cats, my only hangup would be that to own a track dog you have to agree that you will never let the dog off leash outside a fenced in area. I'm not sure I could keep that agreement. Letting Mookie and Nigel off leash at the beach is a true joy for them.
...you have to agree that you will never let the dog off leash outside a fenced in area...
How awful for rescue dogs. Those guys were born to run.
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