Kenzo The Christmas hound! :)

By Fatima |

Saturday, December 29, 2012

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KenzoThe Reindeer with his Mum :)

We just received these gorgeous photos from Kenzo (Awesome Voyage) and his Mum Pat  -thanks a million guys!

 Look what mum made me wear, how undignified for a handsome chap!!
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But it was worth it -I got loads of presents! :)

Liver treats YUM!

Christmas babies :)

By Fatima |

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

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Binty Flaherty and her 8 babies :)

Our friends Clarkie and Jen emailed us with awesome news -they have Christmas babies :)
 
These 8 cuties (5 boys and 3 girls) were born on Christmas morning and are first NZ-born pups of champion Australian racer Prince Diablo, and Thrilling Louie's daughter Binty Flaherty. Mum and babies are doing well :)

And of course, some photos of Mum and Dad:

Binty winning in Wanganui
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Gorgeous Dad, Prince Diablo :)
 

You can see Prince Diablo's sire page here -he sounds like an awesome doggie!

Update 29/12:
We were just sent this cool video of Prince Diablo -  very impressive, do have a look:

Rest home visit :)

By Fatima |

Saturday, December 22, 2012

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Cobby (Cawbourne Snowy) is a natural  -  gentle, calm, polite and loving.
Residents absolutely adored him. I handled him myself as handlers must be with dogs at all times -
but I must say, he would have done this all on his own. He just KNOWS what to do :)

On Thursday this week, our area's Canine Friends(Feilding) organized a visit to a local retirent home.
To ensure that both residents and dogs have a great time , only current Canine Friends dogs and dogs holding CGC (Canine Good Citizen) Certificates are allowed to take part in such visits.
As always the Nightrave pack was in, and this time, represented by Cobby (Cawbourne Snowy, CGC Bronze) and Lucy (Nightrave Ferret, CGC Gold).

Lucy has also been invited to become a Canine Friend, and take on rest-home visiting as an ongoing part of her career. She has been pleased to accept! Cobby is likely to become a Canine Friend next year.

Everybody ! (you can click on pictures to see full size)
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Lucy and her friend Mitzi

Our local paper was there too and they took some photos - the photographer was SO impressed with Cobby's posing skills!! No surprise there :) Cobby posed and posed! :)

Update from our foster boy Alex (Cool Idol)

By Fatima |

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

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Cute Alex

 

We just heard from Evan, Bridget, Uriel and Isabella from Palmerston North, who adopted our foster boy Alex (Cool Idol) in June this year. We love hearing about our foster doggies in their new homes -thanks a million for your lovely update guys!

 

They wrote:

Alex, he is one fantastic dog!  From the initial shy boy we had, day by day we see new aspects of his comical personality.

There is the ‘teenage’ Alex; sleeping all day, always thinking of food and trying to raid the pantry, acting before thinking and doing things at 100 miles per hour! Then there is the Alex that loves playing with little kids, always gentle with our 2 year old Isabella and allowing her to tuck him in at nights and provide him with soft toys to cuddle up with. He refuses to run anywhere near small children and always seems to look out for them. :)

With Isabella

 Alex also loves plays, walks and runs with our teenage son Uriel - which is always handy for whenever he ‘discovers’ extra food. But it is with his (little) big sister that he is happiest with, Jessie our Shetland Sheepdog. She rules Alex, keeps him inline and takes his bed whenever she wants, leaving him to try and curl up on hers. He is always out to impress her, which Jessie uses to her advantage when she cunningly incites Alex to chase the cat and watches with her tail wagging when he gets told off!

Alex and his sister Jessie The Sheltie :)

  Quickly he has become a little celebrity in our family and area with everyone wanting to know about him. He can still be a little guarded when meeting new dogs and cats, but very quickly he becomes their willing servant! We can’t wait to see a few of his races on DVD, it is hard to imagine that this big softie had any sort of a different life!

Many thanks Fatima for all your advice and support you gave us with Alex !

 

 

I did warn Bridget that all the family will scream and cheer when they see Alex's racing DVD :). This dog was an awesome racer and looked amazing on the track.

 

For those of you who have not ordered  your greyhound's racing DVD yet - here are the details on how to do it: http://greyhoundsnz.blogspot.co.nz/2009/10/order-your-greyhounds-races-on-dvd.html

 

Please order it if you can - it is truly incredible to have a chance to see your dog doing what he/she loves. Just a tip: I personally would order winning races only, as camera seems to focus on winning doggie the most.

Look at Lindy (Dream On Cyrus) :)

By Fatima |

Monday, December 10, 2012

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Queen Lindy Lou :)

Jan from Napier just sent me these gorgeous photos of her girl Lindy (Dream On Cyrus) -thank you so much Jan!
 Lindy was an amazing racing greyhound  -she also had a litter of puppies after her racing career :) I think our good friend Clarkie whelped that litter  - i will doublecheck that (watch this space! :)

Her new Mum Jan says:

My Lindy is absolutely perfect. She is a very quick learner. She knows "wait" which is what I used when I open her car door before going for walk and for when I want her to wait inside while I go out to the car (we have no garage, car parked on road). It only took a couple of days for her to work that one out but on the odd occasion when I open the gate I see her head poking around the corner of the porch lol . She also knows "What does Lindy want" means she is going to get a treat but only if she takes me to her treat bag in the laundry. lol lol And she also knows if she is lying on her bed and I decide to give her a treat she musn't get up when she hears the zip of her bag open, so she waits patiently on her bed, ears perked and looks just sooooooooooooo cute when I come out of the kitchen to her.

My grand daughter's partner's wee boy keeps thinking Lindy is cold as when she is gooey and happy her wee teeth chatter away and the sides of her mouth shake and quiver. :)  There is a couple of times a day, most days, when she goes crazy and this is when we play with Lambie. It only lasts a few mins each time and this is just what Greyhounds do.

We met Chester (Ginger Biscuit) today and after talking to Chester's parents we worked out it was Chester I saw at the Horse of the Year show back in 2010. Chester's Dad said he sort of remembers me as I was there for quite a while AND came back for more pats. HAHA!

My grand daughter bought a 3 month old Shitzu, Riley, the day I got Lindy and they are becoming good friends. When Lindy is fed up with him she gives him a little nip on the ear but he doesn't always take any notice. Lindy just loves meeting small dogs on our walks, very social but she does not like big dogs at all and gives a few barks to tell them to stay away I think. Not sure so what I am doing is when I see one I get Lindy to run and I talk to her all the time, distracting her and the last couple of times it has worked :-) But when she met Chester the greyhound she was fine.  :)

Lindy and her little friend Riley
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To sum up, I love LindyLou more every day. She is just so gorgeous. Absolutely perfect for me. She has fitted in perfectly.  She is great with children in fact she is just little miss PERFECT :-)

We often get stopped when walking as people want to pat her or ask me questions about her so I tell them all about retired racing greyhounds   :-) 

Update 17th December: we just heard from Clarkie and yes, he has whelped Lindy's litter :) AND -he owns three of her puppies, who are being trained for racing. He sent us the picture of one of them, Polar:

 

Dear Friends

By Fatima |

Friday, November 30, 2012

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Me with my gorgeous greyhounds  

Today I was horribly upset to discover that someone has been spreading terrible rumours about me and Greyhounds as Pets (GAP).

Although up until now I have said nothing on this subject, since others are using my silence to make horrible allegations, I wanted to come and tell my side.

First of all, I love greyhounds. I fully support the racing industry. Many of my best and closest friends are trainers, and they have supported me through this hard time. I have planned, and still plan, to own my own racing dog soon, and maybe one day train my own dogs myself.

I love to watch the dogs race. I love going to the track, and I love the wonderful people in this industry.

Second of all, I have always been an ardent supporter of GAP - as a retirement programme for greyhounds, established and funded by the racing industry themselves. As many of you know, I have given both time and money in support of GAP, and together with my long suffering flatmate, have fostered nearly 200 GAP dogs on their way from racing into pet life.

I have NOT resigned from GAP.

Last Thursday, the Director of GAP, Jacqui Eyley, called me. With no warning, she informed me that GAP did not require my services any more.

Obviously I was completely flabbergasted, and extremely upset. I am still extremely upset. However, I did not resign from GAP. I did not walk away from the dogs. I would never walk away from the dogs.

According to Jacqui, GAP does not want or need me. (This has no bearing on individual staff or owners or volunteers, many of whom are my close personal friends and have stood by me throughout this terrible time. You know who you are and how much I value you!!) So despite how much I love GAP, and how much it hurts me to take a step back, I have been forced to send the Director the following email:

I was surpised to receive your phonecall this morning in which you informed me that my services were no longer required by GAP.
In accordance with your wishes, I will no longer:

Foster GAP greyhounds
Provide training and socialization for GAP dogs
Procure martingale collar supplies
Procure/donate/suggest items for sale in the GAP shop
Publicise GAP dogs available for adoption on my blog
Arrange transport for GAP dogs
Transport dogs myself
Assist at the Sanson kennels when Kennel Managers require help
Contact new GAP owners for dog updates
Respond to queries from new and old GAP owners
Take part in GAP promotional events with my greyhounds
Organize videos and photoshoots of dogs
Note that Rachel Rae will no longer assist with the website

(I forgot one more item in this email: I will no longer put up the GAP ads on Trademe and Pets On The Net. I have been doing this for 3 years for free and paid for all ads myself).

So this is the truth, my friends. Jacqui has effectively forced me to step back from GAP and from the dogs.

If you have also heard the horrible, upsetting rumours, I hope you will tell anyone spreading such things that they are not true. I'm very very sad at this outcome. But my love of the dogs has not diminshed, and I am still here to help in any way I can.

I hope that you will all still keep in touch, and keep on sending me photos and stories of your lovely dogs, which I will continue to post on this blog (my email: favdich@yahoo.co.nz ).

Thank you so much for being here for me at this time. It means more to me than you will ever know.
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UPDATE , August 2014: After lots of research I now know why Ms. Eyley fired me - she was scared of me exposing her own corruption. Please read my post from May 2014 , for all details and the proof:  http://greyhoundsnz.blogspot.co.nz/2014/05/a-long-avaited-blog-post-please-share.html
(this post is a bit long, but I prmise it is very interesting, if you are a retired/racing greyhound owner in New Zealand).

Update from Trip (Triplem Hand)

By Fatima |

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

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Gorgeous ex-racer Trip (Triplem Hand) went to live with Laura and Lee in Wellington in July this year - and here is their update on their life with the new addition:

With over-anxious first time parents poor Trip has to put up with a lot. We stood around staring at him awkwardly when he first came inside, on guard for the first signs of him making a mess. Quick to please, Trip delicately sat in the centre of the living room. We panicked- "Greyhounds don't sit, he must be about to do a poo on the carpet- outside, quick!".

 

There were grand plans of Trip being an outside dog during the day. Those plans lasted about 5 seconds. Recently retired gentlemen do not abide the outdoors. We have a shiny new kennel if anyone needs one?

Very friendly and overly enthusiastic to meet local dogs , Trip is starting to get a reputation around the neighbourhood- everyone is giving a wide berth to the small pony with the blue coat and muzzle. :)

Trip is an utterly independent hound, who is teaching us a lot. The value of an afternoon splayed on the floor, the simple joy in going for a drive, early mornings and jogging (/trying to keep up with him) at the beach.

Thanks to the GAP family for all your advice and support!

 

 

Update from Bart (Know Truth)

By Fatima |

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

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Little Bart (Know Truth) was a awesome racer. Bred by Rangiora trainer Gary Cleeve, Bart certainly made his mark at the track.
After retirement, he was adopted by the Lambert family from Waikanae recently. We just got an update from them:

Bart has settled in really well, he's lovely, cuddly and cheeky so fits in here well :) He loves going for walks, knows all the houses where dogs and cats live, but stays close to us and listens well.

Bart has adjusted well to living with three young boys, (although the drum kit took a a few days to get used to) and is now following the boys out to the garden much to their delight.

 

We love his mischievous ways, the standing on the back of the couch when we are not home to keep watch for our return, the brief attempt at trying to take over our 5 yr olds bed by jumping on and literally trying to push him out, the attempts to steal any food that takes his fancy - even while someone is eating it! Bart is a quick learner as to what is acceptable though, but he keeps us on our toes by trying something 'new' to see what he can get away with.

He's a perfect fit to our family and we love him to bits!

 

The photos attached are a typical day for Bart, from the playing outside with the boys, having a four year old determined to lay down like Bart, to the numerous sleeping styles...and of course the keeping watch for our return!
Thank you so much all at GAP, you do such an awesome job!!

Meet our foster boy Thys (Gold For Thys)

By Fatima |

Friday, November 9, 2012

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Our current foster boy Thys (Gold For Thys) is a beautiful dog who thinks he is a movie star! The first time you ask him to do something, he will smile and tell you "I have people for that....just contact them and they will sort it!".... :) He is very handsome, gorgeous light fawn color, tall and striking 35kg greyhound with a  huge smile :)

One from the portfolio :)

A loving friendly dog, Thys gets on great with our pack, and is so full of fun! He is bouncy and boisterous but quickly settles and calms in the house.  He loves to be around you, but also loves to be outdoors. He will happily play in the garden and sleep and sunbathe in the conservatory.

Thys really loves water and will spend hours playing in the paddling pool  and 'digging' in the water (you can click on photos to see full size) :

 

 

Like all our foster greyhounds, Thys has been attending Canine Good CItizen classes in our local dog training club and he really  enjoys them! He really loves to please (despite being a movie star!) and enjoys doing things right. I took this  picture of him during the class last week (he was handled by one of the lovely GAP volunteers):

Yup - of course I learned how to sit! :)

Thys would be awesome for a fun filled home, with maybe some teenagers around to have fun with! He loves kids but is probably a bit too boisterous for little ones. :)  He would be perfectly OK left at home while people go to work -he would spend the day relaxing and playing with his toys, and of course, digging in his paddling pool. This is why he is taking the paddling pool (from pictures above) to his new home -he has informed us that is was essential! :)

Yup -I am bringing my paddling pool with me!

With Benjamin The Corgi

 

Update from Morse (nee Horse -Whanganui)

By Fatima |

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

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Morse with his Dad Barry :)

Gorgeous Morse  (nee Horse, racing name Whanganui) went to his retirement home in Nelson a few weeks ago and has already settled in great. His new parents Sheila and Barry sent us this update and pictures:

From the Horse's mouth:

I am loving it here. My new mum and dad have changed my name slightly to Morse, like Inspector Morse on the TV programme, as they say I am such a clever and sophisticated chap. :)

I love the runs on the mud flats near home each day, but I trot along politely on the lead when I have to. I have met other hounds in Nelson, and even had my friend Jock the border collie come for a sleep over.

I am eating lots of good grub, always ask to go out to the garden for toilet stops, and have 2 lovely beds, one up and one down, to sleep on all day. I find the tiles in the lounge a bit slippery for my long legs, but hey!! I'll soon get the hang of them! 

Wherever we go people stop and ask about me, and I lean into them for a rub, and look into their eyes while mum and dad tell them about GAP and what a great way it is to get a lovely dog. All in all I think I have really fallen on my feet. Thanks GAP!!!

 

Meet cute Mickey (Mickey The Rat)

By Fatima |

Monday, November 5, 2012

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Mickey (Mickey The Rat) is in foster care in Upper Hutt, and we just received some pictures from him. Isn't he just the cutest? :)