DOG-N-JOG, by Nicky

Yesterday morning Mom set the alarm so we could get up at 4:30, which is really early!  Even the cats weren't awake yet, so they hadn't started meowing to be fed.  And we dogs for sure weren't awake yet!  But Mom got up and started doing all the regular morning stuff, even though it was still dark outside.  So of course we had to get up, too, and get with the program.

Anyway, it turned out that the reason Mom made us get up so early was so that she and I could have a special adventure called Dog-n-Jog.  Mom goes to this event almost every year, but I had never been there before.  One year Mom took Barry, and another year Mom took Mel.  Mom never took Gabe, though, because she figured he would bite all the other dogs there, and that wouldn't be a nice thing to do.  Also, she has never taken Piper, because Piper doesn't like to walk.

Dog-n-Jog is a big fundraising event for the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, so that's why Mom likes to go there.  Sometimes she helps with the adoptable dogs, and sometimes she raises money and actually walks.  This year, Mom and I walked for a whole mile.  But first, we raised a bunch of money.  We raised $360 all together, which is more than Mom has ever raised before because she is not a very good fundraiser.

The other thing we did at Dog-n-Jog was we helped out at the REGAP booth, and I stood around, looking handsome and showing people what nice dogs greyhounds are.  Mom talked the REGAP people into having a booth at Dog-n-Jog this year, which they haven't done for several years, and that's why she thought she had better work at the booth.  Also, it's the reason why we had to be there so early, although when we got there at 6:30, the booth was pretty much already set up.

We thought that there would be horrible, scary thunderstorms during Dog-n-Jog, because there was a 60% chance of that happening.  But by some miracle, the storms didn't come, so we didn't get wet and scared.  Mom saw a bunch of people she knew from the Humane Society, and she introduced them to me.  Also there were some people there from Dr. Patricia's office, so we got to talk to them.

Oh, and then a lady came up to us who recognized me by my old name, Gator, because she knew me a long time ago when I was still at the Woodlands racetrack, before I got adopted the first time.  She fussed over me a whole bunch, and then she brought her husband back later, and he petted me a whole bunch, too.  I remembered them both, and I leaned on them because I always lean on people who are petting me.

We saw lots of different kinds of dogs, and I got to sniff quite a few of them.  Besides mixed breeds, here are some of the other types of dogs we saw:  Great Danes, Yorkies, Chihuahuas, Scotties, Westies, Dachshunds, Shiba Inus, Smooth Fox Terriers, Huskies, German Shepherds, Golden Retrievers, Belgian Tervurens, Labrador Retrievers, Corgis, Whippets, Beagles, Pitbulls, Dobermans, Rottweilers, Boxers, Labradoodles, Poodles, Swiss Mountain Dogs, Miniature Schnauzers, Shih Tzus, Border Collies, Shelties, and two Leonbergers.  Mom was very excited to see the Leonbergers, because she had never met one in person, so she took me over to meet them.  We probably saw more dog breeds than this, but I can't remember the other ones right now.  We did not see a single basenji, though, which I was sad to have to tell Piper.

Finally, it was time for us to do our one-mile walk, which we did pretty fast because it made me nervous to have so many dogs all around us, walking with their humans.  I've never done anything like that before.  It sort of reminded me of my racing days, but it was different from that because humans don't run on the same track with dogs.  At first, I kept cutting in front of people, which is good racing strategy, but then Mom would pull me back and apologize to the people, so I figured out that we weren't really running a race, and I shouldn't use my racing strategy techniques.

We went around twice, which added up to a mile, and when we were almost finished, I had to stop and poop in the middle of the street.  But Mom picked it up, and then we continued on.  There were people with big, fancy cameras there, taking pictures, and Mom tried to make me walk where we would be sure to get our picture taken.  We won't know until Thursday, though, if we are in any of the pictures, because Thursday is when they will post all the pictures online.  Meanwhile, if you want to see the video that one of the TV stations took of Dog-n-Jog, you can go here and look at it.

Mom also paid $5 to have a nice, posed picture taken of the two of us.  That is the picture you can see at the top of this blog entry.  Mom says that I look way too serious, and like I'm not having a good time.  But that is because I was rather anxious about everything that was happening, so I really wasn't having a very good time.

There was also a photographer there who was taking a bunch of photos just of the greyhounds because REGAP is going to make a calendar for next year and sell it to raise money.  This photographer took a ton a pictures of me while another woman, Aunt Kathy, did silly things behind her, like whistling and throwing a hat in the air.

Well, I think that's all the important stuff I have to say about Dog-n-Jog, except that I was so tired when we got home that I had to flop down and take a really long nap.  Mom took a nap, too, because she had to go to a concert yesterday afternoon.  And while she was gone to the concert, Barry was very bad, and he got a bunch of stuff off the table and ate it up completely, even though Mom had it under a stapler and a book and some other things.  And what he ate up turned out to be some Very Important Bills that Mom was supposed to pay by the end of the month, except now she doesn't even know which bills they were or how much she was supposed to pay.

So Mom is pretty upset with Barry, and she has now moved everything that is made of paper off the table and put it in higher-up places.  I don't know if that will really help, but she thinks maybe it will!