Brooklyn’s Forever Valentine

by Carey Theil, author of Brooklyn Goes Home

When we brought Brooklyn home for the first time, Gina was curious. Then furious. Who was this big white and brown dog, this interloper from the Fare East, doing in her house? More importantly, why was Christine giving him so much attention? It didn’t seem to matter to her that they were both greyhounds.

I loved Gina and we became close in her last days before cancer took her across the Rainbow Bridge. I nursed her during this terrible time, and we became inseparable. 

But for most of her life she had no use for me. She only had eyes for Christine. When Christine entered a room, Gina’s heart grew wings.

So this was the complicated family dynamic Brooklyn found himself in after we rescued him from Macau’s Canidrome, the worst dog track in the world. He had spent ten years living in a concrete cell, and had not had a family since he was a tiny puppy a decade earlier.

Over time, Gina began to warm up to Brooklyn. She realized how friendly he was, even to our cats!  When he was diagnosed with cancer, she saw him lose a leg. She saw him struggle for life after a stroke a year later, still appreciating each day. In truth, Gina truly came to adore Brooklyn. One night, she even walked over to his bed and laid down to comfort him. This was unthinkable behavior for our stunning fawn dog, a greyhound who only had eyes for Christine.

And so it was that during the three years that Brooklyn lived with us that his closest friend became Gina. She was with him every day, galloping around our office with him, kissing him. When his final days finally came, we all spent weeks holding on to him for dear life. She loved her brother, and did not want him to go. None of us did.

Somewhere in the sky Gina and Brooklyn are now together and we have no doubt she is Brooklyn’s Forever Valentine.