Alex
("Mister Dog", "Mister Alex")

Nikki
("Nikkers", "Nik-O-Matic")

Alex is our first retired racing greyhound. He's an eleven-year-old male, born on 21 November 1989 and was the third tattooed puppy in his litter. His hometown is Bristow, Oklahoma. His breeders are Jim and Sandy Hicks. Alex's sire was Sanja Superfrank and his dam was TH's Fandango. In his racing days he was known as Sanja Black Eyes. He raced until he was almost four years old.

One Saturday morning I read in the Los Angeles Times that a woman and her retired racing greyhound "Willow" would be appearing at a local pet store. She and other owners of retired racers would be sharing their experiences and love for their greyhounds. As we had just bought a house and had wanted to get a large dog (Dobie, Golden, Lab, etc.), I thought my wife and daughter would be interested in seeing them while we ran some errands. We knew nothing about greyhounds and didn't know anyone who had one.

As soon as we got there we began talking with three of the owners: the woman in the newspaper article, Pat Lynch, and Tom and Joyce McRorie. Gayle, having worked several years in an veterinary hospital, began asking questions about the greys from a veterinarian perspective. Our daughter, Rachel, latched onto "Willow". Many, many questions and answers later, we left, intrigued and wanting to adopt a grey. We filed an application, had the home visit by Steve Carle, were approved and were on our way to Lakeside to pick out our dog.

We were shown three dogs: "Amadeus", "Philbert" and "Tehama". We were reluctant to get a white dog because of Gayle's experience as a vet tech with white animals and their tendency to have skin problems. "Amadeus" (or "Groucho" as he was called at the kennel) was white -- but Rachel fell in love with him. So we chose him and took him home. Rachel named him "Alex".

Only when we got home did we notice those eyebrows...

Nikki is our five-year-old brindle greyhound.  She was born on 23 May 1995.  Her racing name was Ein's Ardonis.  Her sire was Farmer Wilson, and her dam was Legs Polly.  We adopted her in late September, 1997.

It was time to get Alex his own dog.  Most greyhound owners we knew had at least two -- and some more than that.

We had heard of a female brindle that was being fostered by our friends, Lynda and Matt Adame.  The grey was highly regarded, so we expressed our interest in her and made arrangements with Lynda for a home visit.   After having them meet in "neutral" territory in front of our house, we observed how she and Alex interacted.  The pairing seemed perfect.

Well, she was everything we'd hoped for.   Whereas Alex is cool, quiet and reserved, Nikki has a bad case of "happy tail" and roos, too.  She enjoys playing with dog toys by tossing them in the air and catching them.  She also runs around the living room in circles. At times, she'll tease Alex and tries to get him to play with her.  It's really a sight watching the two of them chase each other.

She's not the neatest when it comes to eating...or drinking, for that matter (when drinking water it sounds like she's playing in it).  She follows Alex into our bedroom (with our permission) and insists on sleeping in her "spot" at the head of the bed while Alex reluctantly stakes out his spot in the middle (the choice spot goes to whoever gets there first).

Unlike Alex, she doesn't mind getting a bit dirty and doesn't care what kind of surface she walks on.  She's such a dog...

Alex

Nikki

Likes:

Likes:

• Sleeping (especially on his back)
• Walks
• Eating
• Car rides and looking out the window
• Peanut butter dog cookies
• Bread
• Chicken
• Squeaky toys
• Human beds
• Peanut butter
• Nikki's food and/or water
• Vitamins
• Being toweled dry after a bath

• Dog cookies
• Eating
• Bread
• Chicken
• Squeaky toys
• Human beds
• Peanut butter
• Alex's food and/or water
• Vitamins
• Being toweled dry after a bath
• Being scratched on both sides of her neck
• Ear noogies
• Going wherever Alex goes

Dislikes:

Dislikes:

• Water
• Baths
• Vension

• Water
• Baths
• Loud noises (like street traffic)
• Walks
• Car rides

Alex

Nikki

• Any sentence containing the word "cookie"
• Any sentence with the word "bread" or any word that sort of sounds like "bread"
• "Ride?"
• "Vitamin?"
• "Chicken?"
• "Do you want to...?"

• Any sentence containing the word "cookie"
• "Speak!"
• Any sentence containing the word "Alex"