We meet the dog

We got up early, foregoing our usual Sunday sleep-in and subsequent brunch, to drive to Levittown and meet Hawk. We arrived at Lisa's house, and Hawk wasn't there yet. But there were enough other greyhounds to keep us busy. Lisa must have about 6 greyhounds running around. It was pretty wild.

John Knowles' daughter stopped by with her father's dog. I tried to get a little history about the previous owner. Mr. Knowles had a martini everyday, and every time he had one he gave Hawk an olive. Mr. Knowles got Hawk after he came back from a December 2002 cruise with his daughter. Apparently, his last greyhound died young of cancer. When he got Hawk, Hawk was 3 years old. Hawk must have been a great racer to stay at the track so many years (the bad racers leave the track at an age no later than 2 years old). His racking name was Hockey (or Hocky or Hockie?), but Mr. Knowles shorted it to the first syllable, or "Hock."

Mr. Knowles loved Hawk, especially since his wife died and the dog was his constant companion. Hawk gave him a reason to wake up everyday. Mr. Knowles went to a hospital and participated in pet therapy. Being an elderly gentleman, he didn't often walk or groom Hawk, but he did send Hawk to the groomer and let Hawk frolic around his fenced-in backyard. Hawk loves his ears rubbed and his favorite chew toy is a pink flamingo.

I walked Hawk around Lisa's block. I've never walked a dog before, so having it sniff around and pee on things was a little new to me, where I was the one in charge. I've been watching Cesar Millan in The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic channel a lot now, and Cesar doesn't let the dogs sniff around on the ground. He makes them walk attentively with their head held high. Should I let Hawk sniff around, or should I increase our walking pace and prevent him from sniffing around?

We tried a coat on Hawk, to get his size. We also checked out Lisa's dog beds, dog treats, and dog feeding bowls. She has some neat greyhound statutes and merchandise