Update from Pearl (Thrilling Pearl)

By Fatima |

Monday, October 31, 2011

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Stefan & Lisa from Palmerston North adopted gorgeous little Pearl (Thrilling Pearl) in May this year, and we just got an update!

Pearl is doing very well and has settled in better than expected.
She started off as a delicate little flower we tip toed around her and pampered her. LOL Then when she got settled and we got to know her we realised she was a very intelligent hound and was a bit of a player. Sometimes in the morning she would yelp and wake us up. It sounded as if she had hurt herself, we would fuss over her and keep her in the house all day as we were worried (She is not really one for hanging around outside)and then she would be absolutely fine.We even went to the vet one time to find out she was absolutely fine.

She just didn't want to be left outside whilst we where at work.She is quite happy chilling out on the beanbag all day but when we come home from work she goes nuts and does this crazy little dance.At first we got scared but then realised its her little joy dance showing us she is happy to see us!  She does this big sprint thing in the back garden at night time.It is very funny.Pearl also loves cuddles - she is very affectionate even it the attention is from strangers, everyone has to acknowledge us on our walk.

She is also very cheeky, we have to shut all the doors in the house when we are out otherwise she goes for a wander and usually makes herself at home on one of the beds.We also have to put the dinning room chairs on the settee otherwise she gets snuggled up on the settee for the day!!!
Pearl is not into toys at all, she is just into cuddles and long walks by the river. She just loves smelling every single tree and plant we walk past.
She has this twitch thing going on when she is asleep.At first it concerned us but after the first week of having her we soon realised this is something she does.She doesn't know how to bark only in her sleep.It is very sweet.
We couldn't imagine life without Pearl, we love her to bits.We recently went to Australia for a week and we missed her and talked about her everyday.She is such a joy. All our friends and family think she is just lovely.
We are even thinking of getting her a friend as we eventually will be moving to the country.But that is up to Pearl. :)

Update from Ernesto (Fixer McKay)

By Fatima |

Saturday, October 29, 2011

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We just got an update from Ernesto (Fixer McKay) who went to his forever home in Wellington in August this year. Well actually, his new Mum Jennifer wrote it for him: :)

The moment Adam and I set eyes on Ernesto up at Sanson, we just looked at each other and realised we'd both fallen in love with  him instantly! He was called Zac then, and had only been at the kennels a few weeks. We'd chosen a name for our greyhound long before we even applied to GAP. I'm a bit of a "radical socialist", and have a penchant for a bit of Cuban History. Adam put his foot down and said I wasn't allowed to call our potential future son Ernesto, and so we agreed on naming our dog this. He's named after Ernesto "Che" Guevara, and the name suits him immensely!
Within three days of arriving home, Ernesto had learnt his new name, understood where his bed was and that he was to sleep there, where his water bowl lived, and was getting the hang of this going outside to pee thing.

Our cat, Akira, wasn't so happy with the new arrival! He's 9 years old, so used to being an only child. Ernesto couldn't have cared less about Akira - gave him one little look and has pretty much ignored him since. After a couple of weeks of avoiding the house like the plague and running away from everyone, Akira has accepted Ernesto and firmly put him in his place. Akira is back to his old routine of snuggles and hogging the heater and bed at night. I think Ernesto is secretly hanging out for the day that they can snuggle up together, but I don't think Akira will have a bar of it. :)

We've had Ernesto for two months now, and we can't imagine life without the little guy. Not that he is little - skinny, yes - he's a fussy eater - but he's pretty tall. My parents have 5 year old Leonberger, Strauss, who is, of course, much bigger than Ernesto, but he's not far behind in the height stakes. They hang out a bit, and get on great. They're both pretty chilled out. In fact, that describes Ernesto perfectly. He is a very confident and happy boy. We take him everywhere with us - visiting friends, to the waterfront, into town - and he just goes with the flow. Nothing phases him. We've taken him into all sorts of situations with small children and cats, and as long as he has a place to sleep, he's all good.

In the last few weeks, his personality has really started coming out. And what an awesome personality it is! He's one hilarious dog. His FAVOURITE thing in the WORLD is cuddles. In fact, "cuddle time" is probably his favourite words behind, "dinner", "car" and "walk" (I did suggest alternate names for these to fit the revolutionary theme, such as "rations", "tank" and "march", but Adam just looked at me with that "only I could love you" face....) ...Ernesto can't get enough of cuddles. Part of our bed time routine is him standing on the floor at my side of the bed for cuddles, and when I sent him away, some cuddles from Adam, and then he's off to bed. In fact, to Ernesto, there is no such thing as a stranger, just another potential cuddler. He has this adorable way of snuggling his head at your hips and just begging you to rub his ears.

He follows me around everywhere during the day, which is of course, acceptable - I am doing VERY interesting things, like putting the washing on, and doing work. What is the cutest is whenever I get up in the night for whatever reason, I have to walk past his bed, and without fail, every time, Ernesto gets up and follows me to see what I am doing (usually just visiting the bathroom). He has a drink from his water bowl, and heads back to bed, evidently disappointed at the non-adventure. But, I love it - it's simply adorable, and makes me smile every time. (And makes Adam jealous....)
And the tail wagging - goodness me! His favourite part of the day seems to be when Adam gets home from work - he hears his truck park on the street and is at the front door almost instantly. And this dog gets so excited. Sure, everything makes him excited - as soon as I put my handbag on, he knows something is happening. He jumps around, smiles, and that tail barely stops. Sometimes, he wags that tail simply when you look at him. He's obviously really happy, which is great!
When we got Ernesto, we were warned about his hilarious smile. If you didn't know him, you might suspect he was being aggressive, but the little tyke couldn't be that way if he tried. His smile consists of baring his teeth, and snapping a bit. It was a bit surprising at first, but it became pretty apparent that he does it when he's excited and super duper happy. Needless to say it is the most amusing thing we've ever seen. Totally classic!!
My almost-four year old niece, Aurora, loves animals. Strauss is one of her best friends, but I think Ernesto might have taken that place. She met him for the first time last weekend. It took her all day to be brave enough to say his name, and was so proud of herself once she got it. We popped along to Animates to meet Robyn and some other greyhounds, and Aurora was in her element. Ernesto LOVES Animates - especially the rabbits and birds. After that we went into the city - Aurora insisted on seeing the bucket fountains - and had lunch along Cuba Street. As usual, lots of people came to pat Ernesto and commented on how handsome he is. Aurora piped in each time with "He loves cuddles. It's his favourite! You can cuddle him, he loves it" and would proceed to lay her head on his and wrap her arms around him. It was adorable. Every second word out of her mouth was "He's so cute".
So, all in all, we love Ernesto a huge, huge amount. He's really made our lives so much better, and we couldn't imagine not having him. We feel extraordinarily blessed to have this amazing, adaptable dog, who went from his previous life, to the GAP kennels, to us all in the space of a few weeks. My mum used to train assistance dogs for people in wheelchairs, so I had a pretty good grasp on everything we needed to do, and I'm really proud of the way we've handled integrating Ernesto into our family, and also really proud of him.

.....and every night, when he wakes me up in the middle of the night with his in-sleep barking and whinging, and skinny legs running as he dreams...I'm so thankful to GAP for matching us with this fantastic dog :)

Pictures of the day: gorgeous Alfie (Alfa Dancer)

By Fatima |

Monday, October 24, 2011

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I just stole these pictures off Alfie's Mum's Facebook page. Isn't Alfie just gorgeous?

Little Moby showing Alfie Opoutama Beach, Mahia.
Alfie's first visit and he just loved it :)

Update from Brody in Auckland :)

By Fatima |

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

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Brody and his brother Oska The Snautzer

Linda and Craig from Auckland just sent us an update on their gorgeous boy Brody:

FINALLY, an update on our boy Brody :) When he was up for adoption, he was called "Paulie"; we then named him "Lloyd" (after his trainer Lloyd Gill, who passed away shortly before we adopted our boy) and then finally, he somehow became "Brody"! As if he wasn't confused enough already with his new lifestyle change, we had to give him an identity crisis as well!
We have had Brody in our family now for just over 9mths. He has an 8yr old Standard Schnauzer, Oska, for his new brother and a couple of geriatric cats that he finds very interesting.
He thinks we are seriously strange sometimes, with our funny little ways, but he has decided life is not too bad here in Henderson, West Auckland. In the early days he couldn't understand the concept of going for a walk and we would fairly much have to drag him round the block or to the park....now he bounces off the walls when he sees the lead.
 His personality has developed over the months as his confidence has grown with us and he is now a playful, cheeky wee boy. Very gentle and kind, loves attention but not too fussed on kisses (but just sighs and puts up with it.) He is very low maintainence, being happy to have a burst around the lawn every day and snooze the rest of the time away. We have managed to put a few Kilos on him with a raw meat diet and his coat has fairly much regained all the lost hair on his rump. It is awesome to see him settled in with us and looking so healthy and happy and that's thanks to GAP and all the hard work they do. I would so encourage anyone thinking of adopting a Greyhound (or two) to take the plunge, they won't regret it.

Meet our new foster boy Lucky (Mint Octane)

By Fatima |

Monday, October 17, 2011

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Lucky and his toy shark :)

Cute Lucky (Mint Octane) arrived last week and is just gorgeous! :) He has recently retired from racing (he was a good racing dog, many starts and many wins and placings). He was trained by Pam and Denis Schofield (my Louie's trainers :)
Lucky is a big doggie -he raced at 36kg, and I expect his pet weight will be 38kg! He is very tall, with longest legs. And cute as a button, very affectionate and playful! He loves his soft toys -I took some pictures of him playing with them today:

With his soft lion toy :)

Last weekend we took Lucky to have a run with our greyhounds and their friend Benjamin The Corgi. Lucky and Benjamin made friends and had a great time jumping in and out of water!

Lucky, Benjamin The Corgi and Lucy

Hilarious photo!
Benjamin chased Lucky into the water- Lucky went head first! LOL!

He recovered really fast tho :)

Lucky is a real water baby :)

fg

Update from foster care: Rocky (Pure Dreamer)

By Fatima |

Sunday, October 16, 2011

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Gorgeous boy :)

Linda and her Ginger (Destiny's Run) from Auckland just sent us some pictures and an update on their foster boy Rocky (Pure Dreamer):

Rocky is just lovely! He walks beautifully on the lead, has the waggiest tail, and just loves EVERYBODY! :) He has lovely manners, and is very affectionate :) Not to mention cute as a button!

What do you mean I cant take this bone  inside...?

Update from foster care: Kourtney

By Fatima |

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

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Tug of war :)))

Cute little Kourtney is currently being fostered by Jacquie, Tony and their greyhound Jolie (Snowie Secret). Last week we got an update , and some cool photos:

We've had Kourtney (little black girl on the photos) in our family for 5 days now, and she's delightful. She's  very smart, and has already learned to wait politely at doorways and  (usually) not to steal things off the table.
She has also figured out how to open the washing machine door if it's not clipped shut, and to use her nose
to get the kitchen door open.
One aspect we didn't expect is that she  retrieves a tennis ball! She fetches it and brings it back to us, and even  uses her nose to find it in the long grass. The photos are of a play session  involving the tennis ball, a knotted sheet, Jolie, and the pool. We were  pretty impressed that she didn't fall in - but it was a close thing for a  while. She ended the session with a yummy dinner of chicken, biscuits and rice, and is currently asleep on her bed.


Fostering for GAP is a wonderful adventure, and we've not met a greyhound that we didn't fall in love with!
Jacquie, Tony and Jolie

Happy girls
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This pool has so many possibilities...

Playing fetch! :)
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Yummy....

Update from foster care: Barney (Swanky Lee)

By Fatima |

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

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Handsome Barney (Swanky Lee) is currently in foster care with Stacey, her flatmates, and their cute collie cross Maddie :) Seems that Barney is having a great time with his foster family :)
Stacey just sent us some pictures :

Barney and Maddie :)

Lucy gets her own Pop Art portrait!

By Fatima |

Monday, October 3, 2011

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We have just received a special delivery from the USA: a pop art portrait of Lucy!!
Check it out (you can click on the picture to see full size):

We ordered it from Pop Dog designs shop on Etsy. Lisa, the artist behind this shop, takes your favourite photo of your dog (or cat!) and 'pop art-s' it. She has some ready to sell designs, and of course does comissions -like this one for Lucy :)
The process in which Lisa creates her artwork is explained here.

Picture of the day!

By Fatima | 0 comments

Rosie (Rialto Rosie) supporting the All Blacks! :)

Kyrewood run with Tyler (Glaze)

By Fatima |

Sunday, October 2, 2011

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Today  we took all our doggies to have a run at Kyrewood :) The team:
our foster greyhounds Tyler (Glaze), and Cutie (Call Me Cute),
Louie and Lucy (Tyler is Lucy's half-brother!) ,
and of course, resident Corgi Benjamin.

Here they all are (except my precious Louie, who was busy looking for rabbits :))):

Cutie, Lucy, Tyler, Benjamin The Corgi

Tyler and Benjamin made great friends and had the best of time chasing the daylights out of each other up and down the paddock :)))

Tyler and Ben :)

Some more action shots of handsome Tyler:

Note Tyler's curly tail! :) Yes, he IS Lucy's brother :)
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Lucy and Tyler
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 Then, it was time to cool off in the water jump:

Cutie , Ben and Tyler in water jump :)
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Tyler LOOOVES water!

That was fun!

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