25/02/2026
It is with sadness that we share that Val [Rollin' Water Val] has gone over the rainbow bridge. She was only six years old.
Val came into our lives when our friends from Copper Kettle Kennels offered to let us name a greyhound from their final litter before racing ending in Iowa. The Valvoda name is of Czech ancestry, and we understand it to mean 'rolling water', like in the rapids of a stream.
Val retired from the Iowa Greyhound Park after breaking her leg in just her second race while taking a turn to hard. Her medical issues never really let up from there.
She was allergic to human dander, in the same way that people can be allergic to dog or cat fur. She had Lupus, which is an auto-immune disease that causes the body to attach its own tissue. She had issues with crystals in her urine, requiring special dog food. [This is an abridged list, there was more that I have left off to keep this post on the shorter side.]
After finding indicators of cancer in a recent blood test, we decided to spoil her rotten and put her to rest while her quality of life was intact.
Val was our goofy girl who was always doing something silly to make us laugh. She was our only grey to figure out how to jump up on our king sized bed and managed to take over the whole thing. And she would be very vocal if we weren't petting her enough.
It was a devastating decision to send her over the bridge while she seemed to be fine, but we knew she would soon decline, and then it would be too late.
Dogs don't measure life in minutes, but in moments, and we had so many wonderful moments with her.
Special thanks to Heartland Greyhound Adoption for their help and guidance with Val over the last few years.
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