It’d been a minute since I had innerviewed a greyhound so I’d pretty much forgotten how Seriously Tall an Long-Leggedy and Graceful they are. So, when me an my assistant arrived at the home of This Week’s Innerviewee, Hawkeye Rey, an the door opened an there stood this hansome pooch, with exceedingly long legs, a short coat of very light gold (humans call it Fawn), bright dark eyes anna long graceful muzzle. I was, like, “Whoa.”
He was, indeed, Very Tall. I mean, I couldda walked under his tummy.
“Ola! Bienvenido! Welcome!” he said inna frenly manner.
“Good afternoon!” I managed, innerducing myself an my assistant. “I didn’t mean to stare but I had forgotten how TALL greyhounds are,” I apologized.
“Not to worry,” he smiled. “I’m use to it. I AM tall, even for a greyhound. Anyhow, come on IN! Havva SEAT! I’m Hawkeye of course, and this is my Mom Sue, an my Dad Jorge. Can we get you a wadder?”
“Thanks, I’m good,” I replied, as we got settled. With permission, my assistant rooted around in The Satchel, an extracted a couple of Hawkeye-sized snacks, which Hawkeye gently accepted.
I opened my notebook, pencil poised. “I’m eager to hear your tail.”
“I’ve been with my Dad pretty much my whole life, since I was 6 or 7 weeks old. I’m 12 years old now,” Hawkeye began. “He’s the one who taught me Spanish. Dad had dogs growin’ up, but only one other greyhound, a rescue named Mojito, right buh-fore me. But he hadda go to Dog Heaven so I didn’t get to meet him.
“Anyway, Dad was lookin’ for a greyhound on line, found a breeder way out in Colorado, and saw pickshurs of my litter, a pile of wiggly liddle gold puppers. Lucky for me, I got picked. Then Dad hadda wait till I was old enough to leave our pooch Mamma.
“When I was, the breeder put me onna plane an I flew all the way to here, well, to that Mouse town, an Dad drove over an picked me up.”
“Wow, Hawkeye, that musta been a LOT for a liddle pupper. How’d you do?” I asked.
“Ackshully, Bonzo, I’ve always been a pretty chill, easygoing kinda pooch. I just sorta dozed on the plane. Soon as Dad got me, he took me to that place at the airport where us dogs can go potty, which was Very Helpful. Then, when we got in the car, I just nodded off. Soon as I met Dad, I just KNEW (you know how us dogs do) everything was gonna be all right. An it WAS. An stilI IS!”
“That’s pawsome!” I exclaimed. “I notice you speak Spanish. That is Way Cool Kibbles!”
“Yes! Dad taught me. So I’m ackshully TRI-lingual: English, Spanish an DOG. Anna liddle Cat.”
“Woof! Hawkeye! I’m impressed! So what was it like gettin’ use to your Furever Home an Famly?”
“Pretty Easy-Peasy, ackshully,” he replied. “Full disclosure, remembering where to Do My Duty took a liddle while. Now I even have my very own Doggy Door, so I don’t hafta ask Mom or Dad to let me out.
“An I have my very own LARGE bed. It’s comfy but, in the morning, I get ON Mom an Dad’s bed to wish ’em Good Morning. Then I go in the kitchen an wait for breakfast.
“I hafta admit, when I was still a pupper, I kinda tended to steal, or as I like to say, relocate stuff. But I outgrew that. Mostly. I’ve also always loved squeaky stuffies. When Dad plays his guitar, I uh-COMP-nee him with one of my squeakys, usually my squeaky llama or my squeaky alligator.”
They demonstrated, Hawkeye squeak-munchin’ to beat the band on his slightly-soggy-but-still-squeaky alligator.
“Seriously Cool Kibbles, Hawkeye!” I exclaimed.
“I KNOW! Right?” he agreed. Then, “Altho I am usually a Daddy’s Boy, I also love hangin’ out with Mom. Plus, I have a human brother, Daniel, and pooch cousins Sonny an Rowdy, who live here, so we get together a lot, do a lotta runnin’, which is kinda my fave thing to do.
“Over at the dog park by the river, me anna buncha frens run a LOT. Not to brag but, speshully when I was younger, I was WAY faster than, well, pretty much all my pooch frens. I’d run like the wind! It’s cuzza my JEANS.
“With me being tall an very long-leggedy, we getta lotta attention when we go somewhere.
Fortunately, I enjoy meeting humans, an fellow pets. I also love car rides. The back windows are open so I catch the breeze. Sweeet!
“Sometimes, when Mom an Dad hafta be somewhere sans-dog, I stay with Miss Natalie. It’s extra fun cuz she has greyhounds, too – Riggles an Riggles’ sister, but I forget her name. An also a mixture pooch, Poncho. Oh, an in Palm City, I get to play with my cousins.
“I speshully love playin’ with liddle kids. I hafta be sure I don’t zoom up an accidently scare the fluff outta them cuzza my tall-ness.”
“I can see where they might be a liddle, well, hesitant. I kinda was at first, truth be told,” I shared.
“Yeah, it’s often a thing. But it usually doesn’t take long buh-fore fellow pets an humans ree-lize I’m a frenly, laid-back kinda pooch,” he smiled.
“Agreed!” I replied. “Any fave foodstuffs?”
“BREAD!!!” he replied immediately, with great enthusiasm. “Any kinda BREAD! Also, budder. I do tend to sorta, well, get into it even tho I’m not s’pose to.”
“I hear ya,” I replied.
“Oh, speakin’ of foodstuffs, I got to go to a REST-runt with Mom an Dad. I didn’t even know pooches were allowed. But they sometimes are. Of course, you hafta be Very Well Buh-haved.
Which I AM. We sit on the PAD-dio an they have ackshul bowls of wader for us pooches. TRAY Crispy Biscuits!”
Heading home, I was thinking about hansome, frenly Hawkeye, who runs like the wind, loves his squeaky stuffies an is Major Fan of Bread. Which made me think of my Lovely Evening Dish of Yogurt.
Don’t Be Shy
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