Princess Kari
I know many Greyhound owners think that their dogs is the best that ever lived. I would like to take a moment and tell you about our very special Grey.
My wife and I found Prini's Karen aka Kari through an ad in the Sentinel. A woman had rescued three ex-racers and placed an ad in the paper just before Christmas of 1995. My wife decided to get me a dog for my birthday and the moment we saw Kari, it was true love. The woman told us to take her home and if we wanted to, we could return her after the weekend. We took her for a walk and by the time we returned to the woman's house we knew that we belonged together. That was how we met Kari.
Kari was special in so many ways. At one GPA/GO event she sold kisses to raise money for her fellow ex-racers. She went to as many fundraising shows as her little body would take. She became a therapy dog and went to nursing homes and hospitals. Kari cheered the staff as well as the patients. She was diagnosed with an unusual cancer in her left front leg in June of 2000. We felt that as long as we could save Kari and she could have a good quality of life, we would have the leg amputated.
After the surgery she continued to visit her friends at the nursing homes and hospitals. She especially liked working at the Berk Unit (brain injury unit) at Sand Lake Hospital. The neighborhood children would often call for Kari to go for walks with them. On Halloween. she would carry a small basket around her neck and go trick or treating with them. She would get dog biscuits from the neighbors. One of Kari's favorite pastimes was to lie on the grass in the sun an warm her aging bones.
Kari appeared one time as the poster dog for special needs Greyhounds. She also "danced" with the Orlando Ballet in four performances of Giselle in 1999. Everyone started to call her "The Princess" because she always managed to be noticed in a crowd.
After the hurricanes last Fall she started to cough. We thought it was allergies. Finally we took her to the vet in December. She was diagnosed with lung cancer. We had part of her lung removed but unfortunately it had spread to entirely through her lungs. She fought a valiant battle, but decided to cross the rainbow bridge in March, 2005.
Princess Kari, we will miss you and remember you forever. - Phyllis and Ron Zunk