Living Pretty With Your Pets: Gina Julian

Hi everyone! I’m Gina Julian and I’m an artist and designer living in Franklin, TN. You may recognize my name from my former blog, The Julian Home, where I chronicled the journey of building our house here in Franklin so that it would hopefully be our last. One of the largest factors that affected how we built our new house was our love of greyhounds, so naturally a lot of design decisions were made to accommodate this large breed of dog and their everyday needs. The Julian family has long been a supporter of greyhound adoption and we knew we wanted our home and our furnishings to be as dog-friendly as possible.

Since the beginning of our marriage Michael and I have been lucky enough to have three greyhounds in our lives. They have proven to be one of the sweetest breeds of dogs, especially due to the tough life they experi- ence when living at the racetrack before their retirement. Our most recent hound is Eric (his racing name was Gable Eric), who has lived with us for almost two years now. We adopted Eric a few months after we closed on our house, and if you can’t tell from the photos, he’s a bit of a ham!

Eric took no time at all settling into his forever home. The only place in the house that he is not allowed is our bed. But aside from that, he can pretty much take his pick of sleeping and lounging spots. When we’re not on the sofas he likes to make himself at home. Greyhounds LOVE to lounge where you do, so leather sofas were a must in the new place.

And he’s just so darn cute, I don’t even mind if he uses my expensive designer pillows. I mean, what good is a pillow if you can’t use it, right?

When we built our house we knew we wanted a way to bathe our hound that would be quick and efficient. Picking up a 70+ lb. greyhound and putting him in a bathtub is not an option for me, so we decided to delete the garden tub from our master bathroom and install a large glass-enclosed walk-in shower. Eric still isn’t the biggest fan of bath-time, but it sure does make it a lot easier on everyone.

And did I mention that greyhounds like to run? Greyhounds are the second fastest land animal (the cheetah
is fastest) and can reach a speed of up to 43 mph in only three strides. Watching them run is one of the most thrilling things about living with a greyhound, so we purchased a lot in our neighborhood that had a long, odd strip of land that would be unusable to most families, but made a perfect greyhound run for us.

Eric likes to think of himself as a “hound about town” and frequently runs errands with us in the car or truck. He has friends at Home Depot, Walgreens, our bank, Tractor Supply and even our local wine shop. As you can imagine, he’s very popular with the locals.

And because a hound cannot live by treats alone, Eric can usually be found going to work with either me or
my husband to help us make the kibble money. I work from my home office so it’s a pretty easy commute. We always joke around and tell people that Eric’s title is “V.P. of Good Moods and Positive Attitudes” because that’s what he seems to be best at. He’s also a master at “holding the clipboard.”

Michael and I are avid motorcyclists and roadracing enthusiasts, so we sometimes help out at the offices of Next Moto Champion as well. Eric went to work with Michael every day over the summer, and we are proud to say that Eric was named Employee of the Month twice during his tenure!

Eric’s favorite thing to do is drag out all his toys and help me redecorate. A dog after my own heart! He helps me make design decisions like which rug I should use in the living room…

Which decorative objects belong in the foyer…

and firmly believes that our bath mats belong on his dog bed and not in the bathroom.

You can be sure that greyhounds will always be a part of the Julian family in some way, shape or form. They are some of the most loving, easy-going and low-maintenance dogs you’ll ever encounter. If you’re interested in making a fast friend and learning more about greyhound adoption, feel free to contact me with questions, or you can visit Greyhound Pets of America to find the closest local chapter.

Thanks so much for reading, and a huge “thank you!” to Julia for allowing me this opportunity to spread the word about this special breed!

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 This V.P. of Good Moods and Positive Attitudes has certainly stolen my heart. How can anyone resist his charm? Those eyes and that giant beautiful nose. I’m in love 😉