9.15.2011

Yes I Know My Dogs Look Funny

Yes I Know My Dogs Look Funny is what I decided to name my blog when I started it. A bit lengthy. Not exceptionally catchy or amusing, I know. I tried to think of a clever, urbane, fabulous name for this repository of greyhound ramblings but in the end, I kept coming back to this.

When I first got my furry children some five years ago, the greyhound rescue movement in Maine had already been in existence more than 10 years. I had been following their trajectory for at least five of those ten years, desperately wanting a greyhound of my own. Unfortunately, apartment living (cue Snoopy and the “No Dogs Allowed” song) and a busy life filled with lots of travel and long work days precluded that.

Blue and Bettina greyhound at Pet Quarters Brunswick METhe rescue of greyhounds was well established here in Maine (and probably a venerable old institution in the rest of the wide world) by the time I joined the ranks of greyhound mums and fanatics. Yet every time we ventured out of the house, we were besieged by the curious and confused. People would stop us every few feet. “Is that a greyhound? I’ve never seen one in person before.” “What sort of dog is that?” “I know I’ve seen pictures of a dog like this but I can’t think of what that is.” And my favorite, a small boy who felt the need to break loose from his mom and run across a park to ask me if I knew that my dogs looked funny?

After a while I became used to not being able to walk 20 feet without being stopped so someone could see the hounds and ask questions about them. Five years ago, one person in 100 would say they had seen a greyhound before. One in 500 would say they knew someone who owned one or owned one themselves.

I guess it was gradual but there came a day recently when I was out and about with the hounds and I realized that, while we were getting stopped just as frequently, I wasn’t meeting many people who had never seen a greyhound before or didn’t know what one was. I was meeting people who had always wanted to spend time with greyhounds or who knew the breed and loved them. The number of people who knew someone with a greyhound increased dramatically. “There are two greys in my neighborhood.” “I see a lady walking her greyhound in town every morning as I drive to work.” “My next door neighbor has three greyhounds and I just love them!” “I want my next dog to be a greyhound.” “I once owned a greyhound and sure miss him/her.” Or my favorite, “I have greyhounds to!!”

There is no doubt that the considerable army of greyhound adopters and the well executed program of meet and greets has done an excellent job in significantly boosting brand awareness and stimulating the “I have to get me one of those” mentality. It has been a successful marketing campaign by all counts.

This has led me to consider whether the name of my blog may now be obsolete. I’ve been wondering if I should change it but in the end I think not. I’ll always look back fondly on the olden times when greyhounds were a brave new world and a little boy was compelled to let me know I had some funny looking dogs, just in case I hadn’t noticed that for myself.

7 comments:

  1. I love the name of your blog and am even more charmed by it knowing it's origin! If you want to feel normal, a good friend of mine not only has a Greyhound but a a Borzoi as well. My poor Bella doesn't stand a chance of getting attention when we're all out together. :)

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  2. I love your blog title! And even if people have met Greyhounds before, a lot of them still think they look funny, so I think it still works. I happen to think they're much prettier than other dogs, but I am admittedly biased!

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  3. hahah even when I adopted Barbie it took me ages to stop thinking of her as 'pointy dog' - doesn't help that her brother is 'boxy dog' - so I think mine together certainly look funny

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  4. I've seen a change, too. 12 years ago when I showed at the 4-H Fair, I spent most of my time explaining what a greyhound was and why they needed to be rescued. This year, I was surprised by how many people recognized the breed and even knew about greyhound racing and adoption.

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  5. I still have little kids ask me why my dogs look so funny, skinny, have a small head, etc., when we go out - especially to the children's hospital. I like the name of your blog - you could always go with YIKMDLF for short - or No this is not a Great Dane :)

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  6. I really like your blog title. I still get some funny comments from people. Usually it's related to how much they eat and I think the people think I don't feed them and that's why they are skinny. :-)

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  7. I think your blog title is great too:) There will always be people who think Greyhounds look funny! And ones who don't know that they're Greyhounds. I think I get asked if Beryl is a whippet because a lot of people still only think of Greyhounds as running machines and not pets.

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