We Are Doing Okay

Hi everyone, it's me, Scout. I am going to try and carrying on the blog for Jack, but it will be hard to fill his paws.

First of all, we want to thank everyone for their kind comments about Jack. We cried while reading the comments, but it has also been a comfort.

We are doing okay. Saturday and Sunday were terrible. Mama and Daddy cried so much. I sat on the couch with Mama almost the entire day on Sunday, which is not my normal thing. I usually sleep in the bedroom during the day, but I felt she needed me. Yesterday, Daddy went to work and Mama went to work in her home office. Mama cried several times yesterday, but the tears are not coming quite as often and they don't last as long, so we feel we are moving on in our grieving process. We are trying to create a new normal by changing our routine a little bit. Mama said it would be hard for Daddy when he came home and was only greeted by me. I tried to make it extra special for him. He didn't cry when he saw me, so I think I succeeded!

Mama and Daddy cried a little bit last night talking about Jack, but then they started laughing about things Jack used to do. Daddy got a toy out and started playing with me and Mama laughed even more. I can't make the toys come to life like Jack could. He would fling them high in the sky. He loved his stuffies. I try, but I just can do it like he could.

Mama and I are going to start doing meet and greets again. She says I need to get out and see other hounds. I'm more excited about the people. I love people! Mama also said we are going to start walking at night. I gave her a dirty look because if she thinks I'm going to walk in the heat, she is mistaken.

We are not changing the name of the blog because we are going to adopt a new brother or sister for me, but we haven't decided when. Mama brought it up on Sunday, but Daddy didn't say much. Last night, Mama said maybe we won't get one because it's so easy just taking care of me and I kind of like being the center of attention. Daddy said that I need a sibling, so it sounds like he may be thinking of adopting sooner than Mama thought. They both said that I get to help pick out my new sibling because we want one that I really like and one that will run with me. Mama said she would like a smaller grey than me because I'm big. I'm a female that weighs 85 pounds, actually a little less than that because I lost weight at the hotel. I'm taller than Jack was, so it's NOT like I'm obese, I'm just a "big boned" girl. LOL She wants a smaller only because it was hard to get Jack in the Jeep and that has been her fear all along if one of us got hurt.

I need to get back to bed, so I will close for now. Again, thank you for your comments about Jack. He is missed more than we can say.

Scout
The Greyhound Who Is Trying To Make Her Brother Proud

My Jack Is Gone

I'm typing to you with tears as I tell you that my Jack is gone. I know you are all as shocked as we are. He broke his femur this morning. We took him to the vet who took X-rays and then we were told to go to the emergency vet. It was determined that he had the dreaded cancer. I knew in my heart he would get it some day. There are so many greyhounds who do. We chose not to amputate because for one I had already decided if either of my greyhounds faced the cancer, I would not do that and for the second reason, it wasn't just in his leg.

I enjoyed every day with Jack. I really was thankful every day that he was healthy. The dog I had before him had lived for 15 years and probably the last three years, she had many ailments. I wanted to adopt a young dog and hoped I would have several healthy years with him. Jack was 2.5 years old when I adopted him. We had him for almost five years. It was not nearly long enough. He didn't live to see his 8th birthday. I was planning on teasing him about being a senior.
Jack was never sick.

My heart is broken. I'm not sure if I will continue the blog. Scout and my husband both say that she is blog worthy, but I just don't know if I can continue it right now. This was Jack's blog.

Jack was a dog that was full of life and had such character. He was funny. He had such a personality. He would get so excited over things that it sometimes drove me crazy, but I knew one day I would miss that and he's only been gone for an hour or so and our house is so quiet without our "Crazy Jack Erdman". That's what I called him. Erdman is our last name.

Jack was found abandoned in a barn in Kansas with 24 other greys. He was left to die. He was rescued and brought to St. Louis with four other greys. I walked him in a parade before we even considered adopting him. I wanted a fawn female. He was not scared of the bands, fire engines and people, so my husband said he seemed perfect. We planned on waiting a little while before we adopted him, but my husband was sent out of town for an unknown amount of time. I didn't want to be alone, so our greyhound group rushed our adoption through and we got him earlier than we planned. The first thing my husband said when he saw Jack in our house was "He looks a lot bigger in a house than he did at the store" and he did. I was so scared when we adopted him. He had big teeth. Our last dog was not a nice dog at all, so I was somewhat scared of this big buy. He was a gentle giant. I cleaned his teeth daily and although he wasn't fond of it, he let me do it without a problem.

I will leave you a favorite photo of my boy. This was taken in Abilene, KS at a fun run in June 2009. It was our favorite vacation with Jack and Scout. We were able to see them run and it brought tears to my eyes because Jack loved it.

Fly high sweetie, you will never be forgotten. I love you!

Patty,
The Mama of Jack The Greyhound

I Have Very Sad News

Hello everyone, this is Mama typing. My Jack broke his femur this morning. I'm not sure he is coming home to me. He may have cancer. We are waiting to hear from the doctor and really hope we have a definite answer today. The only option if he has cancer is to amputate and do chemo and I decided a long time ago that I wouldn't do that.

I just got the call. He has it. We are leaving now to say goodbye to him.

Camping Jack Is Home

We have returned from our latest camping trip. It was a hot weekend at 95 degrees, but we stayed in the air conditioning most of the time. We mainly watched the other campers from the comfort of our bed.

We didn't have TV reception again this weekend, so it was another Seinfeld marathon for us. We have season 4 and season 6 on DVD, so that's what we watched ALL weekend long. Mama said she will order us something new for the next trip because really how many times can we watch The Bubble Boy?

We went to the river for a few minutes, but we didn't like it. It had lots of little rocks and the rocks hurt our feet. Also, there were a lot of people on the river and they hooting and howling. It was scary for us, so Scout laid down for 30 seconds in the water and I got my ankles wet and we went back to the camper.

Mama and Daddy went to an owl program on Saturday night. We went for a walk after they came back and all the kids were practicing their owl calls. It was pretty funny.

This morning, we had an earthquake here. Well, it was not here, but it wasn't too far from our house. Mama noticed that our deadbolt doesn't work now on the front door. Could it be connected to the earthquake? Probably not, but it did work yesterday and apparently Mama forgot to lock the front door last night and now the lock will not work. Our house can be a little quirky at times, but we still like it.

Jack

Publish Post

The Camping Greyhound Who Is Happy To Be Home

Just Call Me Camping Jack

We are headed out on another camping trip this weekend. It's supposed to be 95 degrees! It's a good thing that we have a two air conditioners on our RV. We will probably spend most of our time indoors, but we may sit in the river for our typical 30 seconds to cool off.

Our last trip was good. We went to Sam A. Baker State Park. We did the typical things. We went to the creek and to the river. We laid on our blanket and watched the other campers. There were ten kids next to us. They were interesting. We walked around a lot as the weather was really nice and the park was almost empty. Our pictures really all look the same from our camping trips, but here are the latest ones.

Here I am at the creek sniffing around.

Scout in the creek. I did get in up to my ankles. I'm getting braver.

Scout in the river.

Me at the campsite on my favorite blanket. It's a Disney Babies blanket that my Foster Mom sent with me when I moved to my forever home. I love it! It stays in the Jeep unless we are camping and then I lay on it outside. It's in almost all of our camping photos. LOL

Here I am at the overlook at the creek. There is a lodge nearby and Mama says they have really good food. I wouldn't know. Oh, wait, I did get a tiny bit of chicken fried steak. It was really good. I would have liked more though.

Me and Dad waiting for Mama and Scout.

We hope you all have a nice weekend and we will update you on our latest trip as soon as we can. Mama has been really busy working. I wish she could retire like me.

Jack
The Greyhound Who Can't Wait To Go Camping