Deerhound people know that deerhounds aren’t really like greyhounds.

My wife wants me to write an ad for this site at MADA, which is the Middle Atlantic Deerhound Association. I’ve been flummoxed, to be honest. Somehow I see lots of Obama stickers on Volvo and Subaru SUVs.

This is a deerhound site but not really. And I’m thinking that the political content here is not going to sit well with a lot of the people who devote chunks of their lives to deerhounds.

I mean, not every post even contains a deerhound photograph, let alone topic.

In fact, I think a lot depends on what people, including you faithful readers, think deerhounds are.

For example, All deerhounds DO look alike. Watch the linked video to see how true that is. Much more than greyhounds do. And greyhounds are a big part of how most of us arrived at deerhounds. We started with greyhound rescues, pure and simple. Why I’m thinking the deerhound crowd won’t like Deerhound Diary. The story of greyhounds is the story of Oppression by the Man, including tattoos in the ears. Canine Holocaust in service to the capitalist enterprise of dog racing.

I’ve been there too. We still have Molly, and I’m still grieving for Patrick, Andrew, and Sonny. We’ve done the transfers from foster parents to us in mall parking lots, and there’s nothing like the feeling you get the first time a track greyhound can climb the stairs to your bedroom.

When I confessed my fascination with deerhounds, my wife repeated what she had heard, that deerhounds are simply bigger, hairier greyhounds, and just as comfortably dumb. As she had dutifully learned from the pervasive sighthound propaganda.

But now we’ve had two. The first was Psmith. Who changed all the rules. Monstrously destructive as a puppy, which he was for three years, then progressively a kind of mystic Scot, remote, gravely affectionate, and kind. We lost him prematurely, at the age of six, to the bloat.

Losing him hurt so much I was prepared to go without another. My wife knew better. She found another breeder, another litter, and went through an admission process worse than what applicants to Stanford and Harvard go through. The result was Raebert.

Who looks, predictably, almost exactly like Psmith but bigger, and couldn’t be any more different in terms of personality and character.

Why there’s this site. He’s the smartest dog I ever had, and I’ve had two scarily smart German Shepherds. His breeder was smug when she told us, “my deerhounds aren’t dumb.” Jesus. What an understatement. Life with Raebert is a constant battle of wits, and he wins almost as much as I do. But he wins in the end anyway. I’ll explain more of that as we go, but what I’m thinking about right now is the assumption embedded in the astonishing “how much they all look alike” meme.

They’re all utter individuals. As are we. Which is a thing I’m thinking the progressives, for all their avowed tolerance, keep forgetting. All conservatives are bigoted idiots. All black people must be loyal liberal Democrats or they’re Uncle Toms. All women must be hard left feminists or they hate their own sex. All deerhounds are friendly dopes we need to protect because they can’t protect anybody. Which does nothing to explain THIS image:

Fast on the draw…

Deerhounds may be greyhounds in some respects, but they are also Scots and very far away from greyhound couch potato propaganda, which greyhounds also are in my experience. Deerhounds can be smart, brave, cunning, manipulative, piercingly understanding, not to mention mischievous jokers, and they are one of the best proofs of the infinite diversity of creation I have ever witnessed. We also love each other as only two total sonsofbitches can.

Raebert was never trained to shake hands. HE initiates. He needs to hold hands.

That would be my pitch to MADA. And come to think of it, to all of you. This site begs to differ. And at times our eyes turn to blue fire, relict of the heather.

Guessing my wife won’t think this is a good ad…

What exactly is it we think a direwolf was?

You know. One more Scottish danger.

Raebert? Maybe. I’ve seen that in him. The ultimate of ultimates. If you’ve never seen it, good luck to you. I spend my time trying to understand the savagery in all of us. Maybe you should spend some time trying to understand me.