Meet our cute foster greyhounds: Copper (He's A Stunner) and Dorrit (Bodhran Cailin)

By Fatima |

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

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Copper and Dorrit LOVE each other :)

We are currently fostering the cutest greyhound pair: Copper and Dorrit :)
They settled right in and made great friends -they LOVE each other :) They sleep together,  hang out together in the house and outside and play together (well, it is mostly Dorrit who plays and Copper watches her adoringly or runs afetr her :)) .

The moment they saw each other -it was true love. Copper is 5 yrs old, and Dorrit is only 2.
They both will need to be placed in homes with another dog(s) as they love and need canine company - oh how I wish they could be homed together!!! If anyone out there is looking to adopt two greyhounds , these two would be ideal!

Sharing a doggie couch :)

Copper has a beautiful temperament, he is calm, adorable and soft doggie, who is beautifully behaved. He spent some time in his trainer's house aswell - so pet life is not new for him. He loves his food, his bed, walkies, and of course, his little Dorrit :)
Dorrit is adorable, happy, waggy little girl. She LOVES her toys and playing with them! She loves chasing balls and even fetches them back sometimes :) Dorrit is a collector of toys, shoes, cushions, gardening gloves and what not -she gets all this and takes it to her bed :) She never destroys anything- she simply stores everything in her bed, it is hilarious! She tried to get Copper to help her, but he just follows her adoringly while she is taking yet another shoe to her bed :)

Dorrit The Dingo! (you can click on pictures to see full size)
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Copper in his usual position :)
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Chilling out with my Louie

Beautiful doggie

Yesterday we took everybody off to Scott's Ferry beach, where they had a mighty run and played in the waves :)

Dorrit chasing Copper (you can click on the pictures to see full size)

With our Cobby (Cawbourne Snowy)

In the water with Beryl (Winsome Deluxe) and her Mum :)
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Dorrit loves water

Dorrit and Cobby
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I took over a hundred photos of the beach run but I can't put them all here...If you would like to see all of them, they are available on this public link:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150721366423360.419724.675888359&type=1&l=772c69bdcf

Meet a true top athlete: Les (Les Baxter)

By Fatima |

Monday, April 9, 2012

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When I heard that amazing racer Les Baxter arrived to GAP - I was there at the kennels in a flash, I could not wait to meet him!
I love all greyhounds, but top racing doggies are my love and my passion. I love their temperament and their demeanor - they are extra special dogs and a joy to adopt.

Smiling Les :)

Les is a happy, waggy, gentlest cuddle monster, very affectionate big red and white doggie (he raced at 33kg).
He was having a great time running around and getting cuddles while I took these pictures. He is amazing with all dogs , and has had a great time making friends with boarding dogs of all breeds and sizes.

Making friends :) (you can click on pictures to see full size)

Les is also very very handsome, with lovely markings and gorgeous smile :)

Les was trained by South Island trainer John McInerney, and during his very successful career, he had 166 starts, with 25 wins and 67 placings! Impressive or what?! You can see his racing history here:
http://www.thedogs.co.nz/greyhounds/profiles.aspx?AnimalID=9834

Les's trainer emailed me with some very interesting facts from Les's career :
Les had his first race on 9 September 2008, for a 7th placing. But this did not deter big Les! Throughout his career he raced a massive 166 times at different tracks all over the country, from Manukau in Auckland, to the Southland track in Invercargill. All of those race starts resulted in 25wins, 40 seconds and 27 thirds, and over $57,000 in stakes earnings! He was a true professional.

 Les LOVED going to the races, he was so bouncy and full of himself that in some cases he was almost impossible to hold onto! He had his own special space at the front of the dog bus, I could always see his smiling face in the mirror looking at me as if to say "Are we there yet?!?"
Les's favourite race-day handler was Mick, he always put his best paw forward when Mick was at the races. Quite often he could be seen standing up on his back legs and waving his front legs around as if he was boxing with Mick, waiting for the walk to the boxes (or in Les's case, bounding!) :)
Right until the end of his career, Les raced in the top grade as a sprinter. His first ever win was on 30 September 2008, and his last win was 20 November 2011.  His last race was 10 January 2012, when he was retired due to age.
During his long career Les raced in 13 individual feature heats, as well as competing in 5 feature finals.
He was everyone's favourite at home and was a popular boy at the races, with the kennel staff greeting him each week with a big pat.
I doubt there are many dogs around who are a tough as Les, he was one in a million racer, and he will be one in a million pet :)
I have just done some research into Les's bloodline - he is beautifully bred, his  Dad is famous sire Big Daddy Cool - whose many offspring have been rehomed via GAP :) This is Les' Dad (who is almost completely white :)):

Les' Dad!

And these are a few pictures of Les winning his races (click on pics to see full size):

Update from Rose (Jubilee Line)

By Fatima | 0 comments

Rose running on Port Waikato beach

Murray and Luckana from Waikato adopted lovely Rose (Jubilee Line) in February, and they just sent us this update:

Rose settled in very quickly and has even taught herself to bark just like a real guard dog when someone knocks on the front door! We were very impressed , though the wagging tail tells the real story . :)

The wide open space at the Port Waikato beach proved to be a great place to have a 100 mph sprint and look forward to another run there real soon . We have had many happy walks around the block here at Onewhero and the two rugby fields are a great place for an early morning run ... and a big bonus one day was finding a real bunny rabbit hiding in the middle of the field ... holy flamin undies Batman , talk about all your dreams coming true that day . He ran and she ran and he ran and she ran around and around ...... it was bunny's lucky day as Rose couldn't fit under the fence . One nil to Bugs Bunny .

Hanging out with friends :)

So far life is pretty good living in the countryside and Rose always enjoys a yummy cooked meal every morning and night, and now has a new routine which includes lots of sleepins and afternoon snooze in the sunshine outside on the deck . Rose is a mummys little girl ...
She made a new greyhound friend too: little Abby from Blockhouse Bay, whose owners Iris & Brian  are my mum's and dad's neighbours so we always call in for a "silly session " when visiting .
Here we are with Abby:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LUCY!

By Fatima |

Thursday, April 5, 2012

2 comments

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our little Lucy The Ferret, who turns 4 today!
She got a new fancy martingale collar from Rachel, a matching pink hat from me, and a photoshoot from Sonja !
Isn't she gorgeous?

And her brother Cobby could not resist trying the hat on: :)

Picture of the day: Harley (Black Timpani) and his hippo friend :)

By Fatima |

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

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Update from Concord (Belfast Bill)

By Fatima | 0 comments

Concord and his brother Larry

We just got this update from Dominique and Tim, who adopted cute Concord (Belfast Bill) in January this year:

Thank you so much GAP, Concord has been such an amazing addition to our family. When we first got Con, he adjusted to home life much faster that we could have expected. He is careful and polite and tries his best not to impose.

He plays babysitter to his new brother Larry (a dogwatch rescue pup) and has been a great calming influence and good role model for Larry, who thinks the world of his big brother. Larry follows him everywhere and copies everything he does (which is great because Con is so well behaved). It is quite funny to watch, Con goes outside- Larry goes outside, Con lies down-Larry lies down, Con gets up and has a long stretch-Larry gets up and has a long stretch, Con eats grass-Larry eats grass, it is super cute, Larry also has no concept of personal space and Con has been very tolerant of the intrusion.  He really is a dream dog.

There is no myth behind the "lazy greyhound" concept, I find it very hard to find photo's of Con when he is not lying down.
He has really embraced life away from the track, spending countless hours lounging around, he would happily sleep well into the afternoon if I didn't get him up out of bed. He really enjoys the creature comforts, he started hinting as soon as he arrived that he would like a pillow, (he would go to bed early and go retrieve a pillow fro the spare bed, and I got out of the shower one day to find Con, who has never jumped on the bed, spread out with his head buried in the pillows), so I gave him his very own pillow, he spent a few minutes gratefully rubbing his head all over the pillow and now sleeps on it every night. He wont sleep on his raised bed unless it has a duvet (which he now has two of) on top. Now that he has another he likes lying on one and being tucked in under the other, he even tucks his nose under so just the top of his head sticks out.
I recently took him to Nelson with me for work and he travelled like a dream and all the motels were more than happy to have him, one even let him sleep upstairs which took him only one go to get the hang of and once up there he felt very very important indeed.
At the vet he had to lie on a table and hold very still for an ultrasound scan, another vet walked in and asked if he had been sedated, "No this is just his personality".

He has been to the dog park very regularly and is great with most dogs, the only time the chase instinct has raised its head is if a white spitz type dog is running in the distance or a small dog is running and he hasn't had a chance to meet it yet. If I introduce him to dogs he doesn't chase them, two of his best friends are little Jack Russels. He has met three cats now and was very well behaved indeed, he just sniffs them and then ignores them completely, apart from mums cat who tried to scratch him so he ran away from it (sensible). It did take some training but he comes back right away when called and he doesn't wander far off lead (I still wouldn't risk having him off lead close to roads).
He has changed gradually since his arrival, he seems more relaxed and more affectionate, he plays more and is more confident. His coat changed and is now sleek and shiny and he eats much more. When he first arrived I had to feed him many small meals as he hardly ever finished his food, he now gobbles down his food and comes looking for more. He only had one accident inside in his first couple of days, which was my fault for not taking him out early enough.
He really has not added any extra work to our family, and he has added a lot of extra enjoyment.
He is the perfect dog. Everybody who meets him falls in love with him.
I would happily recommend a Greyhound as a pet for just about anyone who is willing to love them.
He is quite sensitive and I would hate to see his face if someone was cruel to him (especially after seeing the horror just the word "No" causes).

Update from Leeny (Leeny Title)

By Fatima |

Monday, April 2, 2012

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Leeny and 'her' black cat Punga :)

Kim and Carl from Otago adopted gorgeous Leeny (Leeny Title) recently and just sent us an update:

Lovely snuggly Leeny. :) She is indeed a dark horse! When we first brought her home she was shy and meek and wanted nothing more than to be cuddled and to luxuriate in her new bed. But as the days go on a far more complex personality is being revealed! 

Leeny with her greyhound-X brother Nathan :)

 She has quietly become the boss of her Lockley brother, Nathan, and has him wrapped around her little claw. He has a healthy respect for her maturity - which she reinforces from time to time with little challenging woofs and the odd nip on the legs, but she wins him over again by licking the insides of his ear - a treat he would happily die for! They act like old soulmates, spooning together in the sun, playing tag in the back yard or seeing to the very serious business of guard-dogging from the safety of the lounge window... :) The only member of the family she is having trouble bending to her will is Punga the streetwise black cat, who either pretends she doesn't exist, stands up on his back legs to smooch her face (the horror!) or grabs her round the bum, african-lion-style!!! Deep down, she would like to tear the smug little bugger limb from limb, but her impecable manners would not allow it! :) 

She is a true elegant lady, but has a bubbling undercurrent of mischief and chaos. And, she is a real thinker - as my Mum said; that dog is as shrewd as a desert rat! Several times a day I have to supress a giggle just looking at her, as she surveys the scene from her throne. 
 She can be relied on 100% to help me put the baby to bed, flopping down on the rugs while we say our goodnights. Leeny is incredibly tolerant and gentle with the little girl, the only problem being that she has a penchant for two fluffy toy wombats which can usually be found soggily stashed in her bed! 

Leeny has a big presence which all our visitors remark on. But when all is said and done she can be counted on for being the most affectionate, velvety, hug-loving dog I have met so far. She has fitted in to our family as if she had always been here and we love her to bits!!! 

Picture of the day: Hunting and gathering :)

By Fatima | 0 comments

Lea and her Mum went for a gorgeous beach walk on Sunday to Waikawa Beach -
she proudly pranced up and down with her beach find.
 After a little negotiation, she agreed to leave it behind! Wheww. :)

Update on Larry (Mshindi)

By Fatima |

Sunday, April 1, 2012

comments

We have just received an update from Michelle and Matt, who adopted cute Larry (Mshindi) two months ago:
What a couple of months its been! Larry has settled in well with his new family and aside from a quick reminder from the resident cats (Aggie and Gus)  on day one , everyone has gotten along well and he’s definitely developed a soft spot for Aggie. :)
Larry’s personality is really starting to show through now, he’s actually quite sneaky when he wants to be , as his new Dad found  out after leaving his steak on the bench and turning around for a couple of seconds!!! :)
He has his own couch in the sun room where he spends his time keeping an eye on the comings and goings of the street but at night  he sleeps next to our bed. On the weekends he likes nothing better than to jump up onto the bed for a cuddle and a bit of a sleep in and has even been known to curl up with the cats if no one else is available.

Larry has fast become a special part of our family and it’s hard to imagine what is was like without him around!