Harry, Sara and Sean

By Fatima |

Friday, August 28, 2009

Today's feature story: Harry (Flying Squadron) and his parents Sara and Sean, from Torbay, Auckland.

Sara says:

Adopting a greyhound through GAP is a bit like internet dating; you fill out a questionnaire to give them an idea about you and what you’re looking for, then you have your home check (thanks Fatima!), and if all goes well, you wait (obsessively checking your phone and e-mail) until they give you the call to let you know that they’ve found the perfect hound for you. The team at GAP did a wonderful job of match-making and we got Harry just over two months ago.
Harry is exactly what we wanted in terms of age, personality and colour, and he has quickly won his way into our home and hearts. How can you resist those big brown eyes?

We asked for a dog that was quite active as we wanted him to come running with us, and we also needed one that was independent enough to be left at home on his own while we’re at work – he’s doing well on both counts. Harry was a pretty successful racer in his time, but he is now slowly learning the way of the pet - rather than single mindedly chasing small fluffy things around in circles! He comes running with me every morning, which is great for motivation to get myself out the door on cold dark winter mornings, and he’s learnt to accept that my definition of running is more like a gentle stroll for him (although I take some satisfaction from knowing that even though he beats me paws-down on speed, I win the stamina race - he’s the hare and I’m the tortoise).

A lot of people have asked us why we wanted a greyhound, which is a bit hard to answer because it wasn’t so much of a conscious decision than a succession of decisions, which led us to eventually meeting Harry. After living overseas for a number of years, one of the things we were most looking forward to upon returning to NZ was getting a dog. I had grown up with dogs, and I had really missed them during my student and travelling days when it clearly wasn’t an option to have a pet. Secondly, we wanted to give a home to a dog that needed one, but realised that with us both working full time, we wouldn’t be able to train a puppy. I can’t even remember how we came across GAP, but adopting a greyhound was just an idea that developed in the back of my mind and grew and grew until it eventually took over – and once you go on the GAP site and start looking at the hounds, there’s really no going back!