Beautiful Ike is looking for that perfect retirement home - could it be with you? :)

Friday, September 20, 2013
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Isn't he just gorgeous? This is Ike (Bound By Pride), a recently retired sprinter who is now looking for a retirement home.
Ike is being homed by his trainer, who has asked us to help find a good, responsible and loving home for this special boy - so Ike has been spending some time with our pack in Feilding, getting used to living in the house, attending Canine Good Citizen classes in our local Dog Club, and generally having fun. He loves his bed, his walks, and interacting with other dogs of all breeds.

Ike has been a pleasure having stay with us, he is very cute, very well behaved, and a very loving, soft doggie. He has learned so many things while with us, and is very keen to please. He is one of those dogs who watches your every move, in case you  call him over to you. :) He walks beautifully on the lead and loves  his walkies :) When he gets back home, he flops in his bed and cockroaches for hours :)
Needless to say - Ike is very good looking, with lovely coloring (he looks like a Dalmatian cross!) and gorgeous brown eyes. He is about 33kg, neutered male, 4 years old.

Ike is looking for a home with someone who will want to possibly continue with his Canine Good Citizen or similar obedience classes, as he really enjoys them and is very trainable and clever. Ike is very keen to learn as well as very motivated by treats and praise :) 
He is not too bothered by little kids - in fact I suspect he is a bit wary of them, so ideal home will have some teenagers or just adults.
We expect that Ike will be trainable to live with cats, but he will need to be trained by his new owners in this regard. If you have a cat and want to give Ike a home, you will have to be committed to working with him in the settling in period to teach him that cats are friends -- not something to chase and not something to be afraid of. We are more than happy to give training advice to new owners.
Ike is perfectly fine being left alone at home, so he is suitable for busy people who go to work etc.

We thought to see whether any of our Nightrave friends would be interested in Ike - but of course his trainer will consider any good and responsible home for him.  We will be more than happy to help with settling in, advice , training or whatever else new owners might need.

Ike will go to his new home health checked, desexed, microchipped, vaccinated and registered. He has also had his teeth cleaned and polished (full dental) this week.
Ike will also come with a complimentary Nightrave designer collar and lead, of course :)

If you would like to know more about Ike, please contact us on nightravegreys@gmail.com, or call Fatima on 0274 526723. We are more than happy to arrange for you (and your pack if you have one) to meet Ike :)

Ike's racing history is here:
http://www.thedogs.co.nz/greyhounds/profiles.aspx?AnimalID=22098

And of course, some more photos of the pretty boy (you can click on photos to see full size)
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Cute Ike, with his roman nose and loads of freckles :)
With his mates Chevy and Louie

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Happy Ike having a run in our dog club :)

 
Below is Ike and his friends as Canine Good Citizen class in Feilding (sorry, pictures are awful as they were taken in the dark):
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Our beautiful Yellow (Gold For Thys) passes his CGC Foundations exam today !

Sunday, September 15, 2013
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Rachel and Yellow (Gold For Thys)
Our beautiful Yellow (Gold For Thys) had a great day at Horowhenua Dog Show today: he passed his Canine Good Citizen Foundations exam (CGC), on the first try, making him the fifth member of Nightrave pack to pass this exam on the first try! Number six Chevy (Cheverton) is still training for this exam :)

We are very proud of Yellow - he is a great example and great ambassador for retired racers. We did expect him to do well in this exam as he is already working at the Silver CGC level , however you never know what might happen on the day. Yellow will sit his Bronze CGC exam in October, so watch this space!
Not too bad for a greyhound who failed GAP (Greyhounds As Pets NZ ) 'temperament test'. Quotation marks are there by design -this is a dog who passes CGC on the FIRST try, who is an amazing pet and amazing obedience dog, yet he was on a death row in GAP NZ  - a greyhound retirement programme. Sad but true.
We were able to rescue Yellow from GAP's ridiculous verdict due to our friends inside GAP -we would like to thank them from the bottom of our hearts, althought we cannot name them here for obvious reasons. Yellow will continue to do great things for his breed -and we are so fortunate to have been able to adopt him. If he was  euthanized by GAP - retired racers would have lost a lot of positive exposure and good press. Yellow is well known in most dog clubs in Lower North Island and we know for sure that a number of people have decided to look into adopting a retired racer after meeting our beautiful Yellow. And that in itself is precious.
We do hope that GAP will learn something from this, and we encourage them to follow Yellow's superb obedience career. They owe that to the dogs they claim to love.

Yellow taking his exam :)
(To find out more details about this course and exam, as well to see the list of clubs offering it, please go to NZ Kennel Club website: http://www.nzkc.org.nz/goodcitizen.html )

Our friend Rebecca was there with her two greyhounds, Blondie and Lola, and they both passed the exam too - congratulations girls, from all of us at Nightrave ! Below is the picture of Rachel and Rebecca with three greyhounds who took part in the today's show:

Cate from Marshall Images was there today day taking pictures of greyhounds at this event - thank you so much Cate! We hear that next issue of "NZ Dog World" magazine will feature Cate's photographs of greyhounds doing their CGC exams - this is great news and so amazing for the breed promotion!

Here are some more of her gorgeous photos:
Yellow's recall test :)


Another one of Rachel and Rebecca with Lola, Blondie and Yellow , who was too tired to sit at this stage  :)
Yellow at his tied stay part of test (dog is tied up and is expected to stay calm and wait for his handler;
dog is not allowed to bark, strain the lead, jump, or become in any way distressed)
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Blondie (Fancy Kate) had a rest on top of her Dad Tristan!
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Yellow used every spare second to do some posing :)