Thread by @GailSimone

Okay, I want to tell you why there is still some hope in the world.

It’s in some very small things.

A lot of you know we are bonkers for greyhounds. We adopted two more a while back, one passed away, and a lot of greys need homes due to changes in Florida law.

So we went to get another.

She is a gorgeous little girl, the youngest grey we have adopted, and by FAR the least socialized. She had not been petted or put on a leash or been in a house. She has almost zero experience being a pet, or even a dog, really.

Most of our greys have at least SOME experience being handles, but not this one. We named her Dasher.

She is having a little bit of difficulty getting rid of her anxiety. The first day, she found a spot on the couch and barely moved.

She doesn’t really know how to play yet.

But she is fine with the other animals in the house, and seems to worship her new big sister grey.

She;s imprinted on me, just a couple days later. Loves to sit next to me, wants to cuddle and put her head on my lap.

She’s 100% non-aggressive, and sweet as can be, quietly affectionate.

But she has never been on a walk, and greys needs a walk each day.

So, today, she got to go on her first walk on a leash, with her big sister, who adores walks.

At a close park on the same lake we live on. It’s been storming, so it was empty.

She handles being in the car perfectly, jumped right in the back to be with her new sister.

She gets out, excited, but having no idea what she’s supposed to do. She learns some leash handling almost immediately, but wants to run and explore. It’s quiet, no other people are there.

She sees the lake for the first time, has no idea what this big wet thing is.

Suddenly, there is another person on the other side, by the water. And she’s calling to her dogs.

And her dogs are the biggest, wrinkliest, goofiest the basset hounds ever seen.

EIGHT OF THEM.

Our oldest dog doesn’t care much about other dogs, and we have zero idea how Dasher will handle meeting ONE new dog, let alone eight.

So the question is, go back to the car, or stay, maybe walk over slowly to the bassets, see if she can be calmly acclimated, with control.

The thought is, maybe with careful control, this exposure would be good for her.

But this is literally her first walk, her first time with no greyhound dogs.

Scary.

The decision is made to just sort of slowly, carefully, introduce her to one of the bassets.

But it turns out that the basset hounds had other ideas.

It is hard to explain, but the sudden, hilarious chaos of eight flabby potatoes with legs flying towards your greyhound barking and running and jumping cannot be overstated.

It looked like a tornado of fuzzy wrinkles being shot out of s cannon.

And they absolutely SURROUNDED our dogs, jumping on them and smelling them and trying to get them to play.

They come up to our dogs’ shins, basically. One is sleek like a jungle cat, eight look like a defective Nerf factory.

The funniest thing is, this very nice woman was clearly harried, only one dog was on a leash, and she;s shouting out their names, and they are not even PRETENDING to listen to her, it’s basset hounds madness.

But here’s the funniest part...

...she gave all her dogs hilariously dignified old-timely names.

So she’s yelling out, as these dogs are freaking out making friends with our AT-AT WalkerS, “Whitley! Woodrow! Penelope! Elanore!”

So it’s basically a 1920’s tea party of dog names, except they are RIDICULOUS.

At one point, my older dog, who was tolerating this buffoonery, looks up to ask, “Excuse me, but what the hell ARE these?”

But the best part is, Dasher loved them. No fear, no aggression, she loved them.

They don’t look like they are the same species, or from the same PLANET.

But the dog that is afraid of the sound of a gentle rain was absolutely DELIGHTED by eight fuzzy flabbersnuffers jumping up and down and overwhelming her.

So I have to say, sometimes days are hard.

But sometimes your scared new family member shows you what joy looks like.

PS. I am very biased towards greyhounds, but this made me think, for real, that if I am ever about to pass on from this mortal coil, being surrounded by eight goofy basset hounds might be the best possible way to go.

Have a great night, everyone. Find some joy and live it.

Dasher says she loves you.