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animal rights
July 2008 
oprah's jourrney
Posted on Jul 24th, 2008
by 
geognosy
geognosy
Oprah turned 10 last month. She's a greyhound, and born into the dog race world. Oprah has had quite a journey. She used to race, until she broke a leg. (A very common injury in these dogs, just as in race horses.)
She had a pin put in her leg and then became a breeder. She had several litters. And then, a couple of years ago, she was deemed no longer useful and was to be discarded. Oprah was headed for the "kill bus" unless she was adopted and rescued.
Oprah now lives in retirement in Vancouver. After a life of kennels and cages, this must seen like a taste of heaven, a preview of paradise. Heaven is shared, however, with skunks and raccoons and many other dogs, a few of whom inexplicably hate her. (Some dogs over-react when they encounter another who is not properly socialized.)
Here we see Oprah on a "walk" in the neighborhood. Her summer racing style has been refined to sprawling on the grass in the shade, and then ambling to the next shade island.
May Oprah's journey never include dashing off towards a skunk.
Access: Public
I love her beautiful face.
Willow turned nine last march, her birthday a few days before mine. She has a little white on her face too. Vizslas aren't as fast as greyhounds but are still very, very fast and when we hike she runs flat out in circles around me, ahead on the path, off into the woods but never far from me. At home, she sleeps on the bed or a chair and sometimes out in the sun. She doesn't waste her time running in circles around our yard like the puppy does. She looks at Lyra, the puppy, with an expression of absolute disdain, like she's doing something as ridiculous as an aerobics class looks to me.
Oprah is so lucky to have gotten to the life she has now. Good for her.
George,
I was walking to a pre-dawn morning meeting the other day and saw a skunk out late with tail bouncing high and fluffed. It was in total command of all it surveyed, me included as I crossed the street to give it all the room it might need.
My sister, a dog person of the first rank, finally replaced her long-dead last Dane with a rescued Corgi. I like dogs well enough, and am amazed at those who love them.
best,
Michael
I was at one time barred from my house by a skunk who came between me and my back door, from which I had taken a trash bag…it was like an episode of I Love Lucy. I sat out on the sidewalk and waited out the skunk.
But loving dogs? Just encounter the right dog and you're hooked for life. Didn't happen to me until I was well into adulthood and now it's a done deal.