Dog Blog: Oops…..

Sunday 4th March

So, how does one slide into greyhound addiction…….

• Go to Battersea Dog’s home, ask for a small female lurcher; take their advice and actually take Blue – a large male ex-racing greyhound…

• 

  Ollie making himself at home - he shares a granddad with Lynx and a great-granddad with Ty hence his resemblance to both!

  Blue the greyhound is great, let’s get another………

• Blue and Lou are fabulous – oh no, Lynx is in desperate need, let’s foster….
• When Lynx goes back to his original home we’ll be back to two – that’s a good thing….
• Oh no, we’ve lost beautiful Blue, there’s a vacancy…..
• If there’s a chance let’s adopt Lynx….
• But it’s very quiet without Blue and we could take in another foster and Ty really really needs a loving home….
• Lynx’s mum can’t take him back – let’s adopt him – hurrah!……
• We can’t give up on poor Ty, he’s so vulnerable – let’s adopt him too – hurrah!…..
• It is quite a challenge to transport three greyhounds round the country, maybe after Lou’s day we’ll go back to two……
• Two is definitely the optimum number….
• Oh no, we’ve lost Lynx, our lovely lively boy, but maybe this is our chance to stick with two like we intended……
• No, it’s no good, we need another lively boy, it’s too quiet without Lynx……

So how come we are now sitting at home with our new pack of FOUR greyhounds – permanent fixtures brindle girl Lou and black boy Ty as well as foster hounds brindle girl Poppy and black boy Ollie?????

We are such suckers for a sob story…..

Dog rescue charities are full to the rafters at the moment, and Greyhound Homer (Suffolk) have recently been inundated with hounds sent to them by the National Retired Greyhound Trust after a greyhound trainer went bust, leaving all of his hounds in need of new homes. Sadly, though, they’ve also had 3 returnees (from other homes) who appear to have suffered from terrible neglect – in Poppy and Ollie’s case they came back starved, dehydrated and in very poor condition. They weren’t even fit enough to be fostered, but after a month or so of loving care in kennels, along with some major dental work, they are looking much better. They’re not quite ready for rehoming – Poppy needs to put on a bit more weight and both need a bit of time in a home to get them settled and happy before we start looking for a new family for them.

Poppy is tiny enough to be a lapdog.....

Poppy and Ollie have lived together for many years and are a proper pair. They are very spry for ‘oldies’ – Poppy will be 11 in August and Ollie will be 9 in April – they seem to be very bouncy considering what they’ve just experienced. They are very diminutive compared to our hephalumps, being both a slighter build and underweight.

Feel free to join in with the general hilarity, but our plan is to foster Poppy and Ollie for a couple of months until the weather gets warmer and Greyhound Homer have had a chance to clear their current overload. After that they’ll be ready to find a new home, hopefully direct from foster without having to go back to kennels for any length of time. Of course, we will give updates as we find out more about their characters, and I don’t doubt that they will give regular reports about the quality of their care here…..

So, think about it, could YOU provide the loving home that Poppy and Ollie deserve? Remember that wherever they go, they go together…..

If you have room in heart and home then get in touch with Sally or Kevin at Greyhound Homer. Needless to say, given their history, stringent home checks will be done to ensure that these poor hounds have the best of care for the rest of their days…..

Now, if you feel outraged about the neglect that these hounds have suffered, don’t waste your energy having a rant about their previous owners, do something more constructive and give a donation to the animal welfare charity of your choice – it’s the best way to make a difference, unless you want to foster or adopt of course 🙂

Lou and Poppy are both top girls - there may be a reckoning at some point but it's peaceful for now....

No matter how nice the new home there's always some annoying downside - like baths! Twice in Poppy's case - once to get her groomed and once to clean off the duckweed after she fell in the pond!

Ah, and this is Ed, Sarah's new foster dog, which brings her to nine - it's ok, as long as she's got more dogs and boats than us we know we're perfectly sane!!!

Archie at our house - he is promoting a new houndie olympic sport - sofa gymnastics!

Sarah popped in last Friday - we drank coffee and the combined half-packs charged around! When we first met, Sarah had five hounds and we had two; I'm not sure how it happened but we currently have 13 between us 🙂

How many greyhounds does it take to dig a hole? One to dig and one to watch of course! That would be Lou and Ty in action....