A very special greyhound looking for forever home

By Fatima |

Friday, January 28, 2011

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One of my readers just emailed me and alerted me to the fact that a very special greyhound is at the GAP kennels and waiting for forever home: Ray Adcock trained SHADOW BOXER.
He is retiring due to age (he is 4.5) and minor injury. He has had 52 starts, and out of that , 20 were wins, and another 17 were placings! :)
Truly stunning racing doggie -now looking for a sofa :)

Check him out winning one of his races:

Shadow Boxer

We hope the clever boy finds that perfect home soon!

In the meantime, my news is that Lucy (our unraced 2yr old puppy) has managed to hurt her gracillus while running at the park! Gracillus is typically a racing injury - Lucy never raced professionally, as she was too slow and was not chasing properly. But, she did her gracillus anyway. Talking to GAP greyhound owners , i find that many pet greyhounds (either raced or not raced) get typical racing injuries while pets, while running at the park or at the beach. One of my friends owns a greyhound who was retired at 4ys old with NO racing injurues -but in the next few years as a pet, he dropped both of his gracillis muscles(while running in the garden) , broke his tail (while wagging madly!) and also broke his hock (again, while running madly!).
It is quite common for pet greyhounds to get as many inuries as racing greyhounds - I think it has to do with training, the nature of the dog, and the terrain it runs on.
So i truly believe that competitive racing does not necessarily cause injuries - my retired greyhounds (and my foster greyhounds) are as likely to break their hock while running at our huge park, as they are at the race track. Not to mention the gracillis! :) I have seen many seasoned racers (who come to GAP, retired due to age) being in perfect nick, with no injuries , despite having a very long and successful racing career.

Anyway, Lucy  needs to be kept quiet for a week or so - especially as Rachel wants her to be ready for the big 'Rally O' competition on 6th of February.  So no running, swimming and especially no 'pitbulling' with Frankie for a while. Lucy of course, is phylosophical about all this:

Oh well I suppose  I will survive...

DANGEROUS DOG alert!

By Fatima |

Thursday, January 27, 2011

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This 'dangerous' dog is Milo, a greyhound who lives with Sharee and family in Carterton :) (you can click on the picture for a closeup)

AND- he is running with children!

Look at his smile! :)

For those who don't know, Milo is  demonstrating one of the best examples of greyhound smiles I have EVER seen! :)
Milo is not always this 'agressive' though :

Milo and his brother Taz

Milo and his little human :)

Saatchi & Saatchi GAP TV ad!

By Fatima |

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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Saatchi & Saatchi donated a gorgeous TV ad for GAP. Thanks a million to everyone at Saatchi & Saatchi!

 The greyhound featuring in the ad is Luna (Moon Dancer), who was one of our foster greyhounds! She appeared on this blog before  - in these posts.

She has a home already but there are many, many more beautiful ex-racers looking for forever homes.
This ad will be played on Trackside channel too, and we have high hopes for it!
Enjoy it and then please share it with your friends. The more people that view it, the more may choose love from an unexpected place! :)

The ad is below:
(bloggers and webmasters can share directly from our GAP YouTube channel -the way I did, or you can simply send a link to this blog to your friends and family and spread the word)

Pictures of the day: Niesha and her cat

By Fatima |

Monday, January 24, 2011

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Very cute : Niesha (That's Sarah) and her cat :)

Precious Angel and Ringo , looking for forever home

By Fatima |

Friday, January 21, 2011

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Recently, I have written about the sudden passing of Lloyd Gill, greyhound trainer and a big supporter of GAP. His lovely Mum Jean brought all his racing greyhounds and also his pet greyhounds to GAP. Many of them have found homes already.

This post is about Lloyd's pet greyhounds, his house dogs, Angel and Ringo, who are still waiting for that special forever home. They are oldies, Angel (Ruawhata Road) is 11, and Ringo (Supreme Paragon) is 9.
GAP vet has checked them out and there is nothing amiss; they are fit, have no health problems and even  have good teeth too :)
They both need a quiet home and would prefer company at this stage of their life. They have passed all temperament testing -they are great with dogs of all sizes , and they are both cat-friendly too.

It was bit chilly in GAP kennels today, and this is where we found Angel and Ringo:

We love each other...and we miss our trainer :(

I have met  both Angel and Ringo and they are both absolutely precious. GAP kennel managers told me that they would prefer not to have these doggies fostered -but to find them a forever home asap. This is because they would like to spare them yet another transition.

I hope someone who has a quiet home can adopt one (or both?) of these precious dogs. They have so much love to give...

We have also done videos of Angel and Ringo the other day. You can watch them here:
Angel:


Ringo:

Coolest dog bed ever !

By Fatima |

Sunday, January 16, 2011

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Check out Yonce's cool bathtub bed!

Yonce (Bea Lorian) was adopted by Jan from Waihi in October last year. Jan sent me the cool picture above and an update:
Beyonce came into my life in November and after much thought regarding that very unusual canine name, decided to just call her Yonce pronounced 'Yonsay'. She only has one thing in common with her namesake and that is she is bootilicious, but even more so. She took a few days to settle in although no problems, just lack of confidence as to what was going on.

She is the only dog and shares the house with two fat female cats who she gives a wide berth to. They ignore her so I have no problems with any of them and can go out and leave them together. She has no interest in the chooks either, I was pleased about that too. She is good to leave on her own and is quite happy to stay in one of her beds while we are out, but is always waiting to duck under the garage door when she hears it opening on our arrival back home. She always goes out with us and is just learning to jump herself into the vehicle, but mostly I have to heave her in. She seems to know when we are going out and races out to wait at the car. If we cant take her anytime, she makes me feel giulty, so I have to bribe her with a pigs ear! she is happy with that !

One of her favourite spots on the lawn.
She has 1/4 acre with a bush area as well.

Naturally she is frightened of the cows and horses, but she just sits by the gate of the empty paddock waiting for us, like a good working dog while we move fences or whatever.I am teaching her to run beside the quad bike so that she gets a good run, but now she knows her boundaries and takes off ahead of me. She loves to go down to the river at the bottom of our property and likes to play and paddle in the shallows. I take her out to a paddock every day for her run and just stand while she has little sprints or just mooches along with her long snout to the ground. A rabbit jumped out one day and she was off, unfortunately it disapapeared under the fence and she came back to me so bewildered as to where it had gone. :)

Checking out the paddle pools

She is not playful, ignores any toys, wont chase a Kong or ball, her fun is bringing into the lounge pieces of our clothing or footwear and leaving it there. Doesnt chew anything luckily, only her bones on her deck couch which she thinks is set up for that purpose. She is a quick learner and I have only had to say NO to something once and it doesnt happen again.

This lovely girl is a delight to have, so quiet, good manners, confident now and I have no worries about her wandering off as she just stays around the house, she just loves our company. We are a retired couple, so she just suits us fine.

She has a coat pattern similar to a tiger, eyes like scorched almonds and ears like a butterfly wings when both up and pointed, and folded when lying flat on the head... ..fascinating to watch. My partner was very sceptical about my adopting a greyhound and is now totally smitten with her endearing ways. How can one not be !!

The day bed.....Happy Dreams looks like

Sammy's foster boy Hugo (Young Valiant)

By Fatima |

Saturday, January 15, 2011

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Handsome Hugo (Young Valiant) is beeing fostered by Sammy and her family. I just got some pictures - he seems very settled in his foster home :)

Hello!
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Love my beanbag!

Update from Riley (Utar Big Rig)

By Fatima | 0 comments

Riley and his big sister Mouse

Riley's new Dad Graeme sent me this update and lovely pics (thanks a  million Graeme!)

Wow...it's been a whirlwind couple of months for Boof. First though, lets change that name!! He's now called Riley...I'll explain later.
He finished racing in September, then had a brief spell at the kennels in Sanson before heading to Auckland for some time in foster care. His first week in Auckland was with Margaret, but there was a little too much stimulation for him there. He's a very inquisitive dog and is interested in everything that is going on around him, which is great for him, but not so good for everyone else.

We'd expressed an interest in him, so Irene asked if we'd like to foster him with a view to adopt. We have a quiet house in the boonies with only us, one (at the minute) cat and we already have a hound (Mouse, 'Sugar Mouse'), so he would have some company. She's very laid back and is a great contrast to him, but it was a good atmosphere for him to get used to being a pet.

Graeme with Mouse and Riley

The first couple of weeks were a bit full on. There were some toiletting issues to get sorted first. If he needed to pee...he would just pee...anywhere! It's a good job that we have lino in our kitchen. So lots and lots of trips to the garden. He would also pee in the garage (his racing kennel was on concrete so we can see why). We think a couple of accidents were sheer from relief that we'd come home after being at work all day :). We still have the odd pool in the garage when we get home, but we've just about got a lid on the problem. He will, however, pee to order in the garden.

He has chewed the toilet door handle a few times in a bid to escape the bathroom (he has access to the garage and the back yard through the day)...but that's only because he doesn't have opposable thumbs with which to open it. He managed to escape from Margaret's place too...a proper little Houdini.

He's very clever, and has learned to sit for treats. We're working on the 'shake a paw' thing now, and he's almost there.

We think a number of lessons at dog training will help him next year, as he has lots of energy to use up. He also loves to chase the ball, and will happily bring it back for you to throw again.
His name change came about because when he's happy to see you, he wiggles and dances from side to side. We were going to call him Wriggly, but it's a bit of a mouthful. That and the fact that he riled me up by chewing the doorknob...Riley was a good compromise. We also found he has an uncle called 'Run Riley Run'.
Now that he's been here a couple of months, he has settled right down and he's going to live with us for good. He's still full of beans and will sing us out of bed in the morning, but we're very taken with him. We're pleased that he hasn't lived up to the name he was given, but has instead proved to be a very clever dog.

Cornwallis beach

Riley's new best friend is the oscillating fan. He was a bit unsure at first, but now
he's permanently attached. It has been very hot today.

After a run at Kakamatua, all you want to do is sleep and rest your weary legs (on your  sister!)
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Riley's previous owners have sent us some baby pics. How cute is he?

Racing around the garden...it's all too much.

Pictures of the day : Tommy (National Debt)

By Fatima | 0 comments

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Cute brindle boy Tommy (National Debt) is staying with us for a couple of days before going to his forever home.
He is a gorgeous doggie -already has found all the toys (and 'killed' them!), and also the dog couch in the conservatory! :)
BTW -Tommy had 90 starts and many wins and placings -he is a true professional doggie :) And absolutely adorable too :)

Update from Amber (Little Gymnist)

By Fatima |

Monday, January 10, 2011

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Amber :)

Jan from Tokoroa adopted her lovely boy Badger (Brother Badger) in November 2009, and just a year later, she adopted his new sister, Amber (Little Gymnist).

Jan says:
Amber is a very obliging lady and has settled in well . Amber and Badger do seem to get along OK and like to race each other around the garden and whenever they get the chance to be off the lead. Whomever get on my bed first get to stay but the minute one gets off the other gets on. I have to feed Amber in the laundry with the door closed as Badger thinks her food tastes better than his! He always has to be out front on the lead while she walks quietly by me. He has become more affectionate toward me but he could just be jealous and trying to get my affection. :)

Amber has a broken tooth and its removal has been hindered by her having a high heart rate and high BP. Hopefully that has improved after antibiotics and pain relief and tooth should be removed tomorrow. (we are all wishing you the best for your operation, Amber!)
Recently I took the hounds to Day's park in Hamilton - and i attach some pictures.

I have to say Jan, you have an awesome looking pair of dogs! Just look at them :)

Amber and Badger

Gorgeous pictures from Spider (Chile Time)

By Fatima |

Sunday, January 9, 2011

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Spider (Chile Time) lives in Christchurch with Ashley Bradshaw , greyhound trainer and dog lover extraordinaire :)
Spider is also my Louie's half-brother!!!!!! They have the same father, the famous Overtime.

Ashley sent me some cute pictures of Spider - thanks a million Ashley!

Same little face as Louie :)

With Berlin (Twirly Berly), another pet of Ashley's

With his cat Daisy :)