Update from Concord (Belfast Bill)

By Fatima |

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

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).