As soon as I had a stable home in Ireland to bring in a hound, I went searching. Greyhounds aren't seen as pets by most Irish. They are seen as vicious or dangerous hunting or racing dogs. So most of the folks I dealt with were either involved in hunting or racing or rescue. I began by spending several weekends working at a Greyhound rescue in Offaly, doing what I could for the hounds and the operator. Eventually I absolutely fell in love with one of the Greyhounds there and asked to adopt her. She was notable for being skittish around people and not very sociable. Her name was Ciara, and I will include a photo of myself with her in this gallery. Ciara approached me one day while I was resting on some logs I had split. She took well to me from then on, and I thought it would be good for both of us to adopt. When I approached the owner of the rescue I was told she would think about it. I asked a few times since while I volunteered my weekends there, and was given the same response. Eventually I had to change my work schedule, and the 3 hour round trip it took to visit the rescue just wouldn't allow me to visit during the day time. I feared I would never see the hound again. After a couple of weeks hiatus, I rang the rescue owner. She informed me she had sent the hound, Ciara, off to England to be with someone else. I was heart broken. I never saw Ciara, or the rescue operator again. I was informed a few years afterwards by someone who knew the operator that she thought I was too transient to care for a hound. I was good enough to work at the rescue. Just not good enough to adopt a dog from them...

I then took it in to my own hands to turn a working dog in to a pet. I began to look at hounds that were put up for sale on the classifieds - advertised for hunting or lamping. The trail soon lead to a farmer in Carlow. I was told he only had males, so I only had male names in mind before I arrived. It came to be he really only had females. At a loss for a name, I decided to go with Ceatharlach - the county I got her from. I noticed the sign as I exited the county headed back towards Dublin. I thought it would be a good name for her.

Carlow passed away last year, and burying her was one of the toughest things I had to do.

Speaking of transient, Carlow/Ceatharlach has been to even more places than Roman. Not quite as many US states, but much more countries. Just off hand - Amsterdam/Netherlands, Mexico, England, Wales, Ireland, Canada, and the US: California, Oregon, Illinois, Washington, Utah, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, and she's been on a plane half a dozen times and a few ferries. She didn't enjoy the planes much, but she was always happy when we settled, even if it was just a short time. She is buried on a friends family estate in Waterford, Ireland next to our beloved lurchers Shadow and Fia and our little boy whippet Arlo.