Postcards from Lace

Wednesday, June 20, 2012
0 comments

Gorgeous 10 year old Lace is staying with us for a few weeks, while her Mum and Dad are visiting friends in England.
I thought to post some pictures of her here, so that her parents can see how their precious girl is doing :)
Lace LOVES living in our (ever changing!) pack  -  she shares beds, car seats and toys with our greyhounds and our foster greyhounds. She goes walkies with our pack, and also attends Canine Good Citizen classes with them too :)
(you can click on pictures to see full size)
Sharing a couch and a blanket with Cobby :)
.
It did not take long for Lace to find the warmest dog bed :)
.
Exploring the garden with our foster boy Alex (Cool Idol)
.

Bedtime :)

Meet lovely Lilly (Lil' Larrikin)

Sunday, June 17, 2012
comments

Lovely Lilly (Lil' Larrikin) recently arrived to GAP and is up for adoption. She is the gentlest, cutest girl. Lilly just retired recently, after an awesome racing career, with 95 starts and many wins and placings.
Her trainer sent me these pictures of Lilly (taken at her racing kennels) and also the writeup below:

Lilly is a gentle old soul with the heart of a puppy, a dog who loves cuddles, and is always up for a good lie down. She is easily handled, lead trained, compliant, and used to being around other dogs. She LOVES food, she will eat until she busts if the opportunity ever presented! :)

Lilly LOVES to be with kids, and is friendly with everyone,  although she is not one to jump right in, she needs a little time to digest anyone or anything new. But once that is out of the way -it is all fun!

She loves to run at speed on her hind legs (which is hilarious to witness) and she loves to spin round in a tight circle when you come home, and also when she gets excited. :) She loves long walks (anywhere), she has visited the beach, play parks, and the river. She is a very good traveller, and loves going for rides.

Lilly loves to be with people, but she doesn't like being left alone -she needs to have company (either human or canine) to be at her happiest. She does not like loud abrupt noise, or big moths. No fireworks or duck shooting please.

Lilly is no longer racing  (due to age) and she is left behind in the kennels every race day. She misses going to the races and being amid all the activity.
It is now Lilly's time to retire and enjoy just being Lilly. She needs a loving home and family that will be there, just for her. Once she feels safe and secure, she will give back ten fold.
She will always make you smile. :)

Farewell beautiful Angel (Ruawhata Road)

Friday, June 15, 2012
2 comments
One of our favourite pictures of Angel
A very special post just in from Nan and Susan from Hamilton:
We lost our beautiful Angel (Ruawhata Road) on Saturday the 9th of June. She was nearly 13 and a half years old, and we had the privilege of sharing the last year and a half of her life with her. The moment Angel came in to our lives, we wondered how we ever lived without her. She was a bit nervous, which is very understandable considering the sudden death of her trainer who she had lived all her life with, but it didn’t take her long to figure out that we had a lot of love to give.
 It took the cats a few days to decide she was okay, but our griffon Molly liked her from the start. When Molly went blind about three months after Angel arrived, Angel somehow figured out that Molly couldn’t see, so every time Angel got up to move around, she would look for Molly, and often stop and stand still so Molly could wander underneath her! 

We took Angel everywhere, and she charmed everyone she met. She was eagerly awaited every month at the local market, and well known amongst all our friends. When Molly passed last August, Angel really came in to her own – it was probably the first time in her life she was the only dog in the house, and it turned her into a bouncy puppy. When either one of us came home and Angel heard the garage door, she was waiting for us to say “Is that my Angel?” and once we said it, she would bound over for a cuddle. 
She captured the heart of my 81 year old mother who came to visit from the states- after a week with Angel, Mom was busy buying GAP Christmas cards to send to all her friends, and a calendar to “take home a greyhound of my own,” in Florida. Its not surprising really, because she had the knack of making everyone she met fall in love with her. Even the vet said “Greyhounds are one of the best breeds of dogs and Angel is one of the best greyhounds I have ever met.” She was a charmer.
These two pictures (with Susan) are pretty much good-bye shots as it was just before her final trip to the vet on that sad Saturday:


Some people might hesitate getting a greyhound who is almost 12 years old, but I can tell you, as hard as goodbye is, it is worth it. I would swear she was extra grateful to have a warm loving home to rest her old bones and enjoy her last years- and she managed to show us that love every day. She was a one in a million hound, and will be very sorely missed.

Update from Barney (Swanky Lee)

Tuesday, June 12, 2012
0 comments

I arrived at my new home in Upper Hutt on Saturday the 26th of November 2011 at around lunchtime and by dinnertime I knew I was on to a good thing. I have my own room, toys a plenty and every so often I even get my favourite dinner EVER - salmon! I have a couple of teenagers to run around the section with who certainly don't mind when I go absolutely crazy and run around and around the house like a madman. To top all of that, I have a new best friend, Kayla, who gives me constant hugs and tons of love.

When I'm not fast asleep on my mattress in the sun I'm hanging out for even a scrap of bread or with Kayla who is teaching me lots of new tricks like sit, shake, down, stay and spin. I look a bit awkward when I sit down and can't hold the position for long but I'm making progress!
The only bad thing around here is bath time. Getting a good ol' massage is excellent and I'm not complaining! It's the water, I absolutely hate it! I'm such a wimp!
Well I have to get back to my cruisey life now. I love my new family lots and I know they love me to bits too.
- Barney Griffin

Update from Copper (He's A Stunner)

Tuesday, June 5, 2012
0 comments
Copper (cockroaching!) and his sister Lucy
Last month, our gorgeous foster boy Copper (He's A Stunner) went to live in Auckland, with Antoinette and Andrew  and their whippet girl Lucy (and a cat called Marmaduke ! :)
I just got these pictures his Mum sent -aren't they the cutest? Antoinette says that Copper is a gentle giant, who has settled in extremely well and whose presence has cheered up Lucy The Whippet greatly. :)

Update from Wally (Boatswain Wally)

Monday, May 28, 2012
0 comments
Just over a month ago, handsome Wally (Boatswain Wally) went to live with Alice in Wellington.
Alice sent us this update:
Wally has settled into home life amazingly well and is such a georgeous boy and a big cuddle monster. We did have a few inital hiccups such as the stairs in the house which were absolutely terrifying and after a few weeks (and some gentle coaxing) he now takes the stairs like a champ and it's as if he always knew how to use them! He was also pretty scared of his nice new bed but after some time and tips from Robyn, now loves nothing better but to curl up on it in the sunshine and snooze.
He's adjusted to Wellington life really well and hops around like a little puppy when he's about to go out on his walks and absolutely loves his weekend walks with the other Wellington greyhounds as well as the GAP organised runs. He's such a gentle, big hearted boy that will go up to anyone and say hello and hope for some cuddles in return. Many people in the neighbourhood have commented on what a handsome boy he is. We've enrolled into dog school (possibly more for me than for him!) where we're working on getting better at recalls and lying down on command but he already has  bowing on command sorted and he's very proud of it too! :)

Look out for our wee interview in the next issue of Fast Friends!

Cute doggies up for adoption : Curly, Vulcan, Ellie and Trip :)

Sunday, May 27, 2012
0 comments
Karen (one of our volunteers) took pictures of new doggies up for adoption (thanks a million Karen!):

Curly (Karla Lewinsky) is the cutest blue playful girl. She loves children and is very dog social, as well as suitable for homes with cats:
Hello :)

Cute Curly :)
.
Trip (Triplem Hand) is a happy handsome boy:
Smiley Trip :)
.
Vulcan (Sunset Spock) is a blue brindle handsome and playful doggie. He is also a littermate of GAP greyhounds Shiloh (New Thing Now), Stevie (No Spoken Word) and Sasha (unraced):
.

And finally, Ellie ( Stabile Eyes) is another cute blue girl:

Pictures of the day: Grace (Go Jenny Go)

Friday, May 25, 2012
0 comments
.
Gorgeous Grace (Go Jenny Go) passed away a few days ago, at the age of 14. She was a great racer, then a breeding doggie, and later her trainer's pet (Grace never made it to GAP -she opted to stay with her trainers Gary and Gaylene,  and keep an eye out on the racing dogs in their kennels :)
She was an amazing racing dog, apparently a joy to watch on the track, and she was also an awesome Mum too :)
Here she is on her favourite couch - God Speed beautiful Grace xxxx


Ashley sent me a few more pictures of Gracie (thanks a million Ashley):


Update from foster care: Harry (Jag's Flyer)

Thursday, May 24, 2012
0 comments

Gorgeous Harry (Jag's Flyer) is in foster care in Palmerston North. Cheryl, his foster Mum, just sent us these pictures and an update:


Harry loves human company, and loves to lie down and watch people doing things. He is overall a very placid dog, and is highly trainable. His favourite food is banana. :)

He has a full size dog bed but during the day he loves moving around pillows to make different bed orientations, as you can see in the pictures! :)
 Harry collects his soft toys(and shoes) together and loves showing off his rhino to everyone. :) He's fallen in love with a set of squeaky toys we got him with extra loud squeakers. Wherever Harry is you're sure to find his squeaky platypus!

 

Adopt a kangaroo!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012
0 comments
Suzi with her friends :)
Gorgeous little Suzi (Natasha's Duffer) recently arrived to GAP and is up for adoption :) We were all laughing when we saw this picture above -she looks so much like a kangaroo! :)

Suzi is very gentle, cute little fawn girl who loves kids and playing with them. Her trainer took these pictures of her (thanks a million Deb!):

.

Meet handsome Rocky (Punk Rock Star)

Monday, May 21, 2012
0 comments

Gorgeous Rocky (Punk Rock Star) arrived to GAP recently and is just The Cutest! We are talking BIG, TALL doggie here -Rocky raced at over 39kg! He is as tall as a Great Dane - I think he looks amazing!
Rocky hitched a ride with me down to Sanson last week -he LOVES the car! He slept all the way :)
And wait for this -Rocky knows how to sit on command -so gorgeous:

Greyhounds in motion -beautiful video

Sunday, May 20, 2012
0 comments
.
A friend just fowarded this video to me , and I have to share it! It is beautifully shot in high definition, using a super-slow-motion camera.
I love the grins on greyhounds' faces are they are flying down the track - it is just a gorgeous sight :)

It is only over a minute long -do have a look: