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Heaven Sent By Harry Brister  On August 22, 2000, my Lola girl died. About that same time a little toothless girl left Florida going north to New Jersey and her foster Mom. Needless to say, I was off of the board for a few days and when I returned one of the first posts I saw on the old VIN board was about "Toothless Nancy," Latona Nancy, and 8-and-a-half-year-old brood mom.
Nancy was a pretty red brindle who was so tight you couldn't tell she had pups. I remember posting about the little southern girl needed to be back down south. Of course there was some good-natured ribbing about my post. Believe me I needed it at that time. Not really sure how or when, but I received an email from Nancy (her foster mom in New Jersey) asking if I wanted her. Janie, my wife, and I discussed it. To be honest I wasn't sure if it would be for the best of Nancy to make that long trip back down here. We were still raw with grief over losing Lola, as were Vinka and little Katie who had only been with us two months.  One thing we did agree on was that our next, whenever that was; it would be a senior brood bitch. I felt, at that time, that the perfect home was up there. Anyway, Nancy had a prospective home for her already. The toothless one was never far from my mind though. Sometime around the first of September, I emailed Nancy and ask if it would meet her approval for us to adopt Nancy. I will say all of this was carried out in a very quiet manner and to say some were surprised is an understatement. Me, I was still in shock. I couldn't believe that less than two weeks prior, I had lost my baby and now another was coming in. It took a lot of work on Nancy’s end to arrange a GUR (Greyhound Underground Railroad).
In fact, the GUR fell apart several times almost to the last minute. Little Nancy went to Dewey. The AOL Greyhound gang gave her a big going home party with some wonderful gifts. The first leg of the GUR was taken care of by Brigitte, the lady that got Nancy off of the farm in Florida and up to Nancy. Then another very nice lady by the name of Shannon who lives about 90 miles south of us drove her from Jacksonville, Florida to her home in Hattisburg, Mississippi where the following morning Janie and I met her and Nancy for the first time. Shannon and I had emailed each other a few years before, as she is an adoption representative herself. I was delighted for her to be part of the GUR and to finally meet her. On October 11, 2000, Latona Nancy came home. What a doll. She is the queen and rules the house with an iron paw and sweet kisses. While all of our pups are very affectionate, Nancy is the only one that has to hug me as soon as I come in from work and then again when I hook up the leashes for their afternoon walk. She will jump up and put both paws on my shoulder and give me a sweet kiss.  During her time as a brood, Nancy had four litters, a total of 15 pups that were registered with NGA (National Greyhound Association). One of our board members had already adopted one of her pups. I haven’t been able to find the others. Late last fall I found two litters were still racing. It seems she had a litter just six month prior to coming to us. I have lost track of all but two pups, one, registered name Ms Tona Pansy, I am trying to adopt when her career is over.
Nancy is a well-traveled pupper. She raced at Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park in Massachusetts for her entire career. She then went to the breeding farm in Florida. From the time she left the farm, until the middle of October 2001, Nancy traveled 6000 miles. Since then, she has traveled a few thousand more with a trip to Cherry Hill, New Jersey this past May and an upcoming two thousand miler to Dewey. Nancy is now 10-and-a-half years old with the heart and soul of a 3-year-old. She doesn’t run much as arthritis has her slowed down but with glucosamine she isn’t bothered by it. She also has pemphigus, which is an autoimmune disease that affects the nails and nail bed. We have that under control with prednisolone. This article was written in early September. Since that time, Harry and Janie found out that Ms Tona Pansy, Nancy’s daughter came up for adoption. She came to her forever home to live with them and her mom September 22. Want to comment on this story? Check out The Brister Hounds in the Greyhound Forum! |
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