Gemini -- the Beginning

I first laid eyes on Gemini on June 17th, 2011.  I remember coming around a kitchen corner to see an X-pen  restraining 5 bouncing Italian Greyhound puppies.  My heart sang, and I think every muscle in my body was involved in my smile.  As the owner of 2 IGs who came to me as adult rescues, I'd never actually seen 10 week old iggy puppies so I wasn't prepared for that level of cuteness and energy.  Boing, boing, boing they leapt at the pen...

Gemini and her crew!

I have to give Debbie, Gemini's breeder, tons of credit.  She was able to assimilate all the info I gave her in countless emails and multiple phone calls and choose a puppy that would fit my needs.  She knows her lines, and she knows her puppies.  From the moment I began playing with her, I knew she was the right dog for me.  Gemini is bold, independent (more about that later), and confident.  She overflows with play drive.  She's a "Go Big or Go Home" kind of girl.  I met her about 1pm and by 6pm we were headed to the airport.  Surprisingly, the 2.5 hour flight was uneventful and she slept the entire time.  It was only during the drive home, when she found herself all alone in a great big crate, that she began to protest her situation.  It was a looong  90 minute drive home.

As I pulled up into my driveway--18 hours after I'd left it in the early am--I knew the fun was about to begin.  For the first night I'd arranged for the other IGs to stay with a friend so that Gemini could meet Voltaire without added distractions.  All I can say is that Voltaire saw her and instantly adored her, and in that moment Gemini  found the ultimate big brother -- a 135 pound mantle Great Dane.  Thirty minutes later he was laying on the floor as she was zipping around, doing laps around his body and generally using him like a jungle gym.  One of my friends who saw a video of this encounter said it looks like the scene with King Kong and the helicopters!

Gemini sleeps tucked under Voltaire's leg.

My friend dropped Ariel (aka The Queen) and Twig off at my house by noon.  Much to my surprise, Ariel who is on the cusp of turning 17, didn't really give Gemini much of a hard time.  As a matter of fact, she was more accepting of Gemini than she was of Twig who was added to the pack not quite 3 years ago.  Twig and Gemini became fast friends and the Italian Greyhound version of Wrestlemania meets NASCAR began.