One year ago an adorable crazy little bundle of energy came to live with me. The puppy was already named Rascal by the time I brought him home. He is now known as Rascal the RV Whippet Dog.
Erica is the person who convinced me to get a dog. Every day she would text me links to places to get dogs. She knew I was interested in Whippets. She found some available Whippets that were nearby. The next thing I knew we were driving up to get a puppy.
Rascal is my first dog. I’ve shared my home with eleven cats. Friends warned me that a dog is much different than a cat. I had no idea. I was unprepared for what was coming the next year. I thought I was ready. I had food, a crate, leashes, toys, treats, and doggy beds. I had the yard fenced in so he could run around out back.
I didn’t get much sleep those first few months. He would whine for an hour when I went to bed. I would get up every few hours to take him out back to pee. I became familiar with what phase the moon was in.
My dear friend Erica knew a woman named Jasmine who had helped her train her dog Rocko. Jasmine now has her own dog training business. I hired Jasmine to come over to my home for six one on one training sessions. Rascal was a quick learner. I had her come over for another six sessions. Jasmine taught Rascal the commands of sit, down, stay, come, greet, drop it, off, leave it, and look at me. Jasmine also helped me figure out what food and treats to buy, what kind of leashes to use, and other invaluable advice.
Jasmine is training Rascal to jump through hoops.
Chris, Erica, and I were getting ready to go on our 2022 multi-month RV trip in May. Rascal was not ready for RV travel. I sent him to doggy obedience school for 15 days. The intense daily training really sped up Rascal’s obedience to where it was possible to take him in the RV. The first month with him in the RV was a challenge. We worked our way through the first month and he got better as the trip went on.
Rascal has been to 10 states. We left at the end of April. My friends Erica and Chris were looking for a property to move to in the North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia areas.
Rascal is a pure joy to watch run. He is fast. Whippets are about the fifth fastest dog breed attaining a top speed of around 35 mpg. Whippets are the fastest accelerating dog breed because they are smaller than the dogs that are faster. Rascal weighs 27 lbs. Other dogs such as greyhounds can reach 45 mph. Greyhounds are two to three times his size. He turns so quickly. He runs straight at you, and you think he is going to slam into you. At the last instant, he veers off to the side of you. I’ve seen him bolt out the Florida Room door and sprint to the southwest corner of the yard 80 feet away in under two seconds.
Rascal running with Chris and Erica’s dog Bandit in Tennessee.
Then we drove up into Michigan for Chris’s Grandfather’s celebration of life and the annual Reed clan 4th of July reunion. We spent about a month in Michigan before returning to Virginia.
Traveling back to Virginia again, Chris and Erica found their mountain farm home situated on 40 acres near Bristol, Virginia. I started my journey home. On my way home I stayed on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, for a few weeks. I am planning on returning to Erica’s and Chris’s new home in the RV next year. I will stay there for a while before driving out to Colorado for a few months.
Rascal is a very sweet dog. He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and loves everyone. He enjoys meeting other animals. He wants to play with my cat Mountain Lionness, but she will have nothing to do with him. He rarely barks. The only time I hear him bark is when someone approaches the front door.
Sometimes Rascal behaves well. I refuse to have a dog that is out of control and jumps all over people. Other times he gets so excited that can’t control himself when he sees other people or dogs. He is still a puppy.
Rascal is somewhat cat-like. He loves to snuggle with me, and crawl under the blankets. Often he curls up like a little kitten into a tiny ball. Other times he stretches out his long legs and manages to take over the entire king bed.
When I was a child in elementary school, my brother and I would come home from school for lunch. The school was only a 10-minute walk even for a small child. My mother would have a homemade hot lunch for us. While we ate, she would read books to us.
One of my favorite books she read to us was about a boy and his raccoon. The boy found a baby raccoon and took the tiny animal home to care for him. When the raccoon was about two years old, the boy decided to let the raccoon decide whether to stay or not. At the end of the book, the raccoon runs off into the woods. My mother knew I was going to cry at the end of the book.
Fifty years later I returned to my childhood home for Christmas. My mother still lived there and was 89 years old. This would be her last Christmas. After we had opened all our gifts, my mother said she had one more gift for me. Opening the wrapping paper, I instantly recognized the book about the raccoon my mother had read to us so many years ago. Somehow she found the book in the house. The name of the book, of course, was Rascal. That 50 year old book was the most beautiful gift I have ever received. And now you know the rest of the story and how Rascal got his name.
Six months later at the age of 90, my mother passed away. During her eulogy, I told the story of that last Christmas and final present and how my mother used to read to my brother and me. I don’t think there was a dry eye in the chapel.