 A Close Encounter of the Snowy Kind (2002) Miss Irish (12 year old former brood matron rescued in atrocious shape from a Florida greyhound breeding farm several weeks prior to this writing in 2002, whom we had fully vetted then realized that she was stone deaf from so many ear infections, and that she was mute) & her close encounter of the snowy kind.....
Actually, Miss Irish is now soooo... hairy and chunky (Dr. Shreiber turned her
into the bionic gh.....), she hates coats, and won't wear one anymore....
regardless of the weather..... sigh.... when she first came to us, she was
so thin and sick, that she wore coats all the time...... she prefers being
"nekked" as she's a "naturalist".....
After several inches of snow had fallen outside, I ushered her to the side door to go out, for her constitutional with Lightning (her completely blind 12 year old greyhound boyfriend--- also rescued in atrocious shape from an adoptive home). I could almost hear Irish speaking: "Let the blind dog lead the way..., if he makes it, we'll be OK"...).... she
looked out...... shocked!!!!!!!! (Mind you, she had only ever lived and raced in Florida, so from her perspective the snow had "disappeared" the earth outside, and she was terrified)..... She looked at the white expanse before her, sniffed..... looked..... looked at me
as if to ask "What the heck....????" I was grinning, began calling the
other hounds to go out... was patting her on the back--to let her know that
it was OK... "huh??? OK, you say...?? If it's OK, then where did everything
go???? (her vision wasn't great anyway)... and just what did you do with
everything?????, and why is everything white????, and what is this white
stuff?? It looks like sand from Florida, but it's soft, and fluffy, and cold
on my feet and nose...." She gave me a couple looks of incredulity of "You
have GOT to be kidding!!"- kept looking outside, snorting, sniffing,
snuffling, snorting......
Wee Willie Wonka (the white whining whippet) pushed past her, to travel out
his requisite distance of 5 feet to pee (heaven forbid a snowflake or rain
drop should mar his perfectly coiffed fur--sheesh!! what a wuss!!!).
Irish thought: "Hey, if he doesn't sink into the ground and disappear, I won't
either..." So.... she ventured down the 1.5 steps to the ground, looked
around the ethereal world... Meanwhile, all of the other hounds piled outside also...
she kept looking around trying to figure out how/what and why the invisible
flakes were touching her.... who was touching her???...... Then she realized that
her feet were invisible.... where were her paws???.... "oh, look!!!!!!!,
this white fluffy stuff is sooo... soft, it moves,,,,, oh, wowie!!! what
fun!!! look there are my feet!!! Look!!!! When I scamper, so does the
snow..... wowieeeee!!!! This is alot more fun than sand...... oh look!! It's
melting on my nose..... hey!!!! it tastes just like water..... hey!!!!!!,
This is fun!!!!!... whooppee!!!!.... let's boot-scoot!!!!.... OK, back
inside through the dog door... OK, back outside.. OK, back inside..... Being mute, her way of talking was heavy panting.... it was a language with her..... Lot's of "talking" that day--
Irish couldn't understand why the other greyhounds and whippets weren't as excited about the snow as she was..... She must have gone in and out of the dog door a zillion times
that day, and when she didn't go out, she'd just stick her head out the dog
door to make sure that her new playground was still there... I must have
dried her fur offa zillion times, each time she came in w/ snow on her,
since she refused to wear a coat...... very, very funny, very
entertaining.... just wish I had her energy!! Give me an oldster any
day!!!! What a comedy troupe I have here!!!
I'm having waaaaay too much fun at the expense of these dogs........)
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