GALTX

Mach One, aka Mach One Drive, is a 7-year-old red fawn male born February 6, 2006. His sire is San Tan Riffraff and his dam is DC's Embargo. He has 13 races to his credit on Trackinfo.com, from October 15, 2007 to July 11, 2008. He came in last place in most of those races, leading no doubt to his retirement. Mach One arrived with severe toenail issues, which was suspected to be symmetrical lupoid onchodystrophy - SLO, but Dr. Dennis Crow of the Dermatology Clinic in Dallas later diagnosed as vasculitis. Dr. Crow has Mach One on a treatment plan that he is responding well to. The condition is lifelong, but manageable.

Mach One is cat and small dog tolerant.

What made us cheer for Mach One a day or so ago was, admittedly, something most or many of these canine kids do every day: He played. He'd been outside and the brisk air was like an adrenaline shot. He bounced inside the house, play-bowed, grabbed the stuffed beaver that was so generously given to fosters for Christmas. I threw it in the air and he grabbed it. We played tug o'war and his foster sister Angie (who is a trip in herself) joined in.

I'd never seen Mach One do that. When he came to our house, he was so shy I kept looking in the dictionary under that word expecting to see his picture. His tail seemed glued between his legs. He acted almost embarrassed to eat, as if he didn't quite deserve a meal. He hardly allowed himself to be petted, and was very wary.

He still has his quirks, which are rather endearing. He'll only get to his food bowl via a certain route, but he gets there -- several times a day if he thinks it should be filled more often.

He wags his tail on a very regular basis, and allows me to reach down and wrap my arms around him. He goes to the door when he needs to go out. He does have issues with his toes and will need to be on medication forever, but he takes it easily and it's not expensive. The only time I've been aware of any problem was when I started to wipe his mud-covered paws and he flinched.

Mach One pays no attention to our cat and he loves his foster sister. When nobody is home, he has free run of the house, but tends to camp out in one spot and, as far as we can tell, stay there.

He'd do fine as an only dog, I think, but I'm also a believer in a dog having a friend to pal around with. In other words, I'd love to see him in a home with another dog, one who will be like a big sister or brother to him.

Mach One's Foster Mom