Thursday, July 19, 2007

R.I.P. Reyna


Our oldest greyhound Reyna passed on at home this Wednesday afternoon with the help of Dr. Liz Friedman. She had had a rough couple of days, but it was a very comfortable transition. Reyna was 15 1/2 and had outlived the rest of her abandoned litter, even though the folks at Hemopet thought she might be too far gone to rescue. She showed them.

When we first got Reyna, she was terrified of flags, automatic gates, stairs, etc. but she got more and more confident, eventually becoming adept at many competition obedience exercises. Although she never competed, she attended Mary Fry's legendary classes for 5 years, and supported Albert in his successful pursuit of his CD obedience title. She continued her obedience work right up into the last week of her life.

Among Reyna's other accomplishments were: donating blood to Hemopet for her year of post-rescue socialization; catching (and, with some encouragement, releasing) two wild rats while walking on lead when we lived on 7th Street in downtown LA; and appearing in a number of artworks, including posing (with Albert) for a 3D photographic tableaux vivant superimposed on the Vision of St. Eustace diorama in the Athanaseus Kircher exhibit at the museum of Jurassic Technology.

She was ethereally beautiful with frequently disgusting table manners, and kept her smarts and wicked sense of humor until her body gave out. She'll be missed very much.

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