For Your Entertainment - Who Wants a Used, Slightly Dusty Greyhound Puppy?

The event I’m about to describe happened about three months ago, before I had a blog to record it. I was reminded of it last night, and thought that it might be of equal amusement value to both jewelers and dog owners who read my blog. The text is taken from an e-mail I received from the puppy's owner, a jeweler. She sent it to a few friends and me, the puppy's breeder, immediately after the incident occurred, thus the present tense writing.

Before I continue, let me introduce the main character: “Jack”, aka “DM Union Jack”, born June 14, 2007. You can, if you’re interested, read more about Jack on his web page. Jack is Kathy's current show dog, and the younger of the two greyhounds who grace her residence. Um, wait. Maybe “grace” isn’t quite the right word… read on.

(September 25, 2008)

Jewelers talcum powder is unscented powdered talc, normally used for separating rubber mold halves and for freeing waxes from the molds. It’s quite difficult to find in stores, and when I do find it, it’s in tiny quantities and frighteningly expensive. It’s much cheaper to buy it in bulk. It comes in five pound bags, sold by some jewelry making supply companies. It’s very useful stuff–when you need it, nothing else will do. However, jewelers talcum powder was never intended to be used for decorating purposes…

The box containing my recent supply order was on a chair in our living room because my shop is currently full of casting projects in progress (24 freshly invested flasks waiting to be burned out). I can’t get to the shelves behind them to put anything away just now. I had to leave for a bit this morning to run some errands. I was gone for one hour, and returned to this.

One fifteen-month-old greyhound puppy who shall not remain nameless is in deeeeeeep doo-doo. He chewed open the big outer box, then removed and opened several of the smaller inner boxes, including the one containing the powder. Do you have any idea how hard it is to get talcum powder out of the cracks in hardwood floors?

Do you have any idea how far five POUNDS of talcum powder can spread when the bag is ripped open and shaken?

Thank your deity of choice that my husband’s laptop didn’t end up full of powder. It was sitting on a rolling table next to the couch (the powder covered base of the table can be seen at the upper right of picture #2). The laptop only got a light dusting that blew off with canned air. You can see from the photos that Jack and his uncle Slate have plenty of dog toys…I guess those weren’t enough. Sigh.

Along with the powder trick, Jack also ate the handle of a chasing hammer, tried to eat a roll of bronze wire, chewed up a bag of hand lotion samples which were not in the box (on top of the powder on the dog bed…yuck!) and opened the box containing a graphite crucible for my Electromelt (the expensive machine that melts silver for casting), dumping the crucible on the floor. Fortunately the $20 crucible was not broken.

Jack puppy had only recently (as of last month) earned the right to be left uncrated while we were gone. He was doing pretty well until today. This little prank has just earned him the right to be crated until he turns 50…

And if you’re wondering why there are no pictures of a powder-coated greyhound? The brat managed to do all this without getting any powder on himself, other than his toes which are already white! He met me at the back door when I returned, and the only clue I had to what awaited me in the living room was white paw prints on the dining room floor.

Three months later, we still see daily reminders of this incident. Some of the living room floor is gray where the powder sifted into the woodgrain where the finish was worn. Outside, the concrete driveway and the red brick side of the house are coated with white powder where I shook out the dog bed over a trash can. Taking a bag of garbage outside last night and seeing the bright white patch of concrete glowing in the light of the full moon is what reminded me to blog this.

Jack is still alive and as cute as ever. But he’s become an incurable box opener. Every time a package arrives here, I have to hide it or he’s after it within minutes. When he opened the powder, he had to have gotten some up his long, pointy nose. Talcum powder must be addictive…