Meet Vala, our second rescue dog.
We had visited the Inland Valley Humane Society a number of times looking for our next dog.
Unfortunately, Vala had been so abused, and was so malnourished she would hide whenever people were walking by her cage. But fortunately, three weeks and five visits later, we caught a glimpse and initiated the process to bring her home.
Not wanting to leave her at the shelter until she could be spayed and chipped, we signed up to foster her, which allowed us to bring her home immediately and complete the adoption process after the holidays.
There were a few surprises. First Vala weighed a mere 16 pounds; less than Pfeffer in spite of being twice as tall. Second, it’s amazing what a bath will do. Vala turned out to be a different color than we thought! The dirt hid the white patches, brown highlights, and her distinctive brindle accents. And third, she was initially so uncomfortable with and suspicious of us and her new surroundings she slept standing up!
Vala is part Italian Greyhound and part Basenji. Now that she has increased her weight by 50%, and has settled in to her new home she expresses her enthusiasm by repeatedly jumping straight up about three times her height. She has been known to wag her tail so hard that she falls down. Watching her run is like seeing her shot out of a canon. Between her Greyhound speed and Basenji muscular chest, she is an extraordinarily fast and determined hunter. Squirrels in the backyard are not safe until they are at least 8 feet up the trees as Vala’s momentum and strength carry her up the vertical tree trunks.
Vala and Pfeffer are now buddies in spite of their disparate temperaments and Pfeffer’s early jealousy.
Update:
We brought Vala home from the shelter in December 2012. She died in June 2021. She lived a good life and added so much to ours.
Pfeffer was adopted a year before Vala. At the time, Carrie was working in LA and would be away from the house at least 12 hours a day (her commute alone took three hours a day). I was mostly working remotely from home. So even though the plan was for Pfeffer to be “Carrie’s dog”, with Carrie gone all day and Pfeffer sleeping on my lap during my “Team” calls , Pfeffer bonded with me and became “my dog”. Vala was the opposite. When we brought her home, I was travelling away from home three weeks at a time. Not only did Vala bond with Carrie, and not me, Vala seemed annoyed at the intrusion when I did return home. “Who is this guy and why is he in my house?” I know she was annoyed when she ate my wallet. Being a lizard-skin wallet it may have just tasted good, but I think there was some intent to the chewing.
Carrie used to run in the foothills near our California home. Vala was more than able to keep up. (Video of Vala at speed.) Pfeffer either got carried most of the way or would ride in her doggie stroller.
When we left California and moved to Michigan, we were worried that the cold weather and snow would be a problem. Not so much, as you can see in this video. Vala had no body fat and a very thin coat of hair, so Carrie Lynn made her hoodies to wear in the winter. We plowed a few thousand feet of paths around the house and out to the pond to give the dogs places to run and play. 19 degrees Fahrenheit was the cutoff though. As long as temperature was 20 or above, Vala was happy to go for walks and play in the snow. However, at 19 and below she went outside begrudgingly and went straight back to the house once her business was done.
In urban California, both dogs were frequently agitated by hearing and seeing people and traffic passing by the house. In rural Michigan, with 15 acres and no close neighbors, both Pfeffer and Vala were a lot more relaxed and rarely barked. The exceptions were mainly to repel groundhogs and woodpeckers.
Vala learned the hard way (and had a scar to prove it) that Michigan squirrels, being much larger than their scrawny California cousins, are a more formidable adversary.
Vala had some typical Italian Greyhound behaviors. She was very affectionate and tried hard to be a lapdog even though her long legs made that somewhat awkward. She loved running until she was panting, but was also happy sleeping the day away, as long as her family was nearby.
Vala inherited her voice from her Basenji half. When going outside, hers was not an excited bark but was instead a frightening scream that was so human-like that we had to explain to the neighbors that they needn’t call the police. They were hearing our dog and not a murder in progress.
Both dogs were kennel trained. Their kennels were side by side. Every night around 9PM, Vala would get up from wherever she was and trot, unasked, into her kennel. If we didn’t soon come behind her to close the kennel door, she would come get us. She was just as good when it was bath time. Say the word “bath?” and she would go stand in the shower and wait for you catch up. Pfeffer would go to her kennel when told, but is never cooperative at bath-time.
Pfeffer’s behavior changed when Vala died. When she stopped barking at the UPS and FedEx trucks, we realized her barking all these years was solely to protect her little sister, Vala. Pfeffer now refuses to sleep in her kennel. We are guessing it is because the space next to her is now empty. She sleeps at our feet, in bed with us. Which is okay. We miss Vala too.
We buried Vala in our Willow Grove with a large stone, a tulip tree sapling and the occasional addition of some cut flowers to mark the spot.
