Jess (Sixteen Gauge), Ellie and Family

By Fatima |

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Above: Jess and Indie

A few weeks ago I got a lovely email from Ellie from Auckland. I met Ellie and her family about a year ago on GAP walks in Auckland; they used to come along with their gorgeous GAP greyhound Jacko (World Bank).
Jacko unfortunatelly passed away from bone cancer last year :-( He was gorgeous hound - a true character. Below is the picture of beautiful Jacko:


Ellie told me then that she would be reluctant to adopt another hound any time soon -the pain was just too much :-(
I could totally relate to that....
However, life works in mysterious ways :-)

Ellie says:
I wasn’t really looking for another dog, we had lost our darling Jacko (World Bank) to bone cancer about 6 weeks earlier and Indie (our scruffy terrier) was just getting used to having us all to herself. I sat at the computer and typed in 'greyhound' on the TradeMe website and up popped an ad for 'Blossie' – she was a retired racing greyhound whose owner had died and she had been passed from the pound to Paeroa Dog Rescue. She looked a right sight, all curled up in a small dog basket. She looked sad and really skinny and I couldn’t resist ringing up to enquire about her.

We arranged to come and meet Blossie that weekend. I remember feeling very nervous – unsure how any of us would feel about the possibility of having another greyhound in our home. She greeted us at the gate by leaping all over the place. It was quite a greeting – she was all smiley, waggy and happy – I think it was the sight of the kids. Needless to say, the meeting went well and Blossie – now renamed Jess, came home with us that day. The first thing we did was give her a bath – after being in the pound for some time she was a bit on the pongy side.

After her bath, I phoned Sonja at GAP and she told me to read her tattoos on the insides of her ears so we could find out her racing name. Her racing name was 'Sixteen Gauge' and she raced against Jacko in November 2005, and lost to him. She hadn’t been a very successful racer - unlike Jacko!

Jess greeted Louie (our cat) by touching noses with him which was great. She also gets on well with Indie, although Indie was quite jealous to start with, and she still growls at Jess if she thinks Jess is hogging all the cuddles, but generally they are happy together – and partners in crime!

Jess is very different from Jacko, for a start, she barks! I got such a fright when she first barked – I couldn’t believe that big deep bark came from my skinny little Jess. If Indie barks at someone passing the gate, Jess joins in, and she sounds scary! She also barks if I leave her outside too long and she wants in. She is a totally inside dog – Indie might take herself outside to sit in the sun, or dig a hole... but Jess likes nothing more than lazing the day (and night!) away on her bed. She only ever seems to venture out to go to the toilet and eat her dinner. However, once I get her leash she’s up like a flash. She is awesome off leash – she never gets too far ahead of me and always waits for me to catch up. She loves the water and will often take a dip in the sea.

We are so happy to have Jess and I’m glad we had the opportunity to give another greyhound a home. It felt like it was meant to be, Jess losing her owner and us losing Jacko. She has definitely helped mend some broken hearts with her bouncy cuddles and pointy greyhound nose!