About a year-and-a-half ago, ENMU, whose mascot is the Greyhound, called our friend, Candy Beck at New Mexico Greyhound Connection. They were interested in adopting two former racers who were people-friendly, adult yet youthful, and, well, totally awesome with a calm and loving temperament! Candy knew just the place to look, our kennel in Phoenix.
Vic never liked racing, chasing a lure was not his cup of tea. Instead, he rather enjoys lazy afternoons and a ton of short running bursts and playtime in between. Me, well, I like to run and I especially love to chase things. But, I don’t like a muzzle, so , after only four races I retired. Luckily, I like to be loved! I really know how charm a college co-ed with my sweet eyes and if I just stand close enough to someone they can’t resist a good scratch on my neck. So, I guess we’re perfect for this job called “mascot”—we’re like the school good-will ambassadors and it fits us just fine!
We spend our days on campus at the ENMU Agriculture building. By that, I really mean it’s home base each day—we arrive to mascot duties around 9 a.m. and immediately go for a big walk around the campus surveying our kingdom to find out who has been marking our light poles and where the campus cats are hiding. We usually spot a few cats and we mark our territory to let those other dogs know this is Vic and Tory’s place.
The rest of the day, until about 4 p.m., we have Hound Handlers and volunteers who keep us company. Sometimes, we talk them into a nap in our room and sometimes we sit for a treat or bark for a run at the soccer field or a walk to our favorite offices (those offices have a secret stash of milk bones and, believe me, we know where to find them!). Many days, we have special events to attend! On those days, we get to wear our pretty green uniforms and visit with new people while we show off a few of our best tricks—last fall we attended Good Dog Citizen school and our Handlers have taught us to sit, stay, shake, bow and lie down.
When our day comes to a close we go for a big walk or run before we go home. Home is an apartment on campus. Two roommates live with us—yep, that’s what I said, THEY live with US—the pair make sure we eat, get evening and weekend exercise and they take care of us during school breaks and holidays. It’s cool! We get to sleep in their beds, on their couch and wherever else we like. We have a big yard at the apartment and lately I’ve been letting Vic play with me. (When we first moved in together I had to show him who was boss. I quite like the role of Alpha dog.)
ENMU is great to us! We have our own Facebook page where we post photos and comments about our days (ENMU Vic and Tory). We also have our own webpage on the ENMU website (www.enmu.edu/greyhounds); there you can learn about us, see photo galleries and request us at special events in the Clovis/Portales area.
Yep, it’s hard work being so cute and lovable all the time but it suits us just fine! XOXO Tory and Vic