It Ain't Like It Used to Be

I had read a blog entry on Tales and Tails recently that talked about the familiar phenomenon (at least for greyhound parents) of being unable to go in public with the hounds without being stopped every few feet by the general public.  Mrs. Taleteller was mentioning how just about everyone she encountered talked about how they had never seen a real live greyhound before. 

Back when Mumma first got Girly Girl and then Blue, it was mostly that way for us in Maine as well.  No one had seen one and everyone was amazed by them.  Even the questions we encountered about greyhounds were pretty similar to Mrs. Taletellers experience and we really liked her idea about getting a card made up that covers the most common ones.  It’s been more than 7 years now since my first greyhound and I must say that our local rescues are doing a pretty good job with PR because for some time now, we have met far fewer people who have never seen a greyhound. 

Most people we meet have seen and touched a live greyhound.  And more and more, they tell us that they own a greyhound, owned a greyhound, their cousin, sister, mother owns a greyhound, or they live next door to someone who owns a greyhound.  This has been an interesting change for us and certainly brings hope for the future of greyhounds.  I made a comment to this effect on the Tales and Tails blog.

Still I wasn’t prepared for what happened the very next night.  Mumma is refinancing her mortgage thanks to an offer from the mortgage company that was too good to be refused.  Our closing was scheduled for the night after our comment on the blog.  The mortgage company had engaged two notaries to come to my house at 7p in the evening when it was convenient for me and conduct the closing.  That alone blew my mind. 

The two notaries presented themselves at my door at 7p as advertised.  They stepped inside and both caught sight of Blue and Bettina at the same time.  I heard, “OH LOOK GREYHOUNDS!  We have an Italian greyhound now and we had a full size greyhound a little while ago.  We just love them.  They’re the best breed ever.”  And it went on from there to a full discussion of the merits of greyhounds while I signed 2 pounds worth of documents.  They even mentioned that mine wasn’t the first house they had gone to for a closing where they had encountered greyhounds. 

After the papers were signed, they took their leave absolutely covered in greyhound hair and nose snooshies.  Blue and Bettina, having extracted the maximum amount of attention from our visitors, were both contentedly napping.   I stood there shaking my head in amazement.  I had just lowered my house payment by more than $100 a month and these strangers from out of nowhere were greyhound fanatics like me.  It sure ain’t what it used to be!