Nightrave greyhounds blog: louie

Showing posts with label louie. Show all posts

Picture of the day: Louie helping me clean the rug :-)

By Fatima |

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Posted in charlston state ,| GAP ,| louie | 0 comments

A walk with Louie's ex-trainers :)

By Fatima |

Thursday, September 17, 2009

.
A few weeks ago, we went for a walk with Pam and Denis Schofield, Louie's ex-trainers, who run busy greyhound kennels in Huntly.
They live in Devonport and we do meet for walks as often as we can. One of many great things about adopting Louie is that I got to meet lovely Pam and Denis (and their son David)! They both are just gorgeous and great company, and needless to say, we love hearing about our dogs' racing careers.

I took many pictures as the day was nice, but they mostly turned out out-of-focus
:-(
On the picture below (you can click on it for full size):
Denis (sitting down), holding my Louie (Charlston State), followed by 3 of Pam and Denis' pet hounds (the ones with coats :-))) and Helen with her hounds Cruzer (Charlston Kid, Louie's litter brother) and Enzo (Micro Benny).

Helen has had Cruzer for 2 years, and recently adopted Enzo, who looks so like Cruzer! :-) Helen now has two perfectly matching hounds! :-)

Muriwai beach walk last Sunday

By Fatima |

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

A few of us went for a walk last Sunday, and I chose Muriwai beach:-( Not good - the beach is full of 4WDs zooming around the place :-( It has no road rules to speak of and it is in fact classed as a highway (I never knew this -but Harry's mother Sara said that was the case!!! :-(

We could not really relax as we were worried about 4wds speeding around the beach, but the hounds managed to get some great runs, including chasing the kite (Rosie and Cruzer)! (check out the picture on the left :-))

Irene’s Delta (who has lost LOTS of weight) took flight and chased a quad bike, all the way to the carpark!

Delta (Thrilling Delta) used to be a good racer, and we suspect she used to be trained using a quad bike -something to look out for when getting a new hound! I think it is great to contact the trainer and get the background on how the hound was trained and his/her particular quirks :-) Delta was a good girl and stopped when the quad bike did - but boy, i have never seen anything running so fast! (and she is 6!!! :-) Once a champion -always a champion!

We were also joined by Dallas, Jonathan and their standard poodle Sterling - they are currently waiting for a hound of their own. Sterling gets on so well with the hounds, and he tells us he can't wait!

Hounds on the picture above (left to right): Cruzer, Sterling the poodle, Delta, Louie, Harry, Wolfie and Rosie (double click the picture for full size)

Picture of the day: Louie

By Fatima |

Monday, August 17, 2009

Posted in charlston state ,| louie | 0 comments

Dog Park Days: Louie, Jin and Wolfie

By Fatima |

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Ratchet (Wolfie), Charlston State (Louie) and Groovy Again (Jin) strut their stuff at the Point Chevalier dog park.

Louie and me

By Fatima |

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Posted in charlston state ,| GAP ,| louie | 0 comments

When I adopted a retired racing greyhound (via GAP NZ), almost two years ago, it was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Louie (Charlston State)is just gorgeous, and special. He was a very successful racing greyhound, winning many races during his long career (he was trained and raced by the lovely D Schofield from Huntly). He was retired at 4 ½ years old. His life as pet is well deserved – he worked hard for it! He enjoys his life as pet, he loves his couches, his walks, the car, he loves his cat Mitzi. He enjoys meeting other breeds of dogs: his favourite breeds are Chihuahuas, Bischon Friese and other small fluffy dogs :-)
When I adopted Louie , I knew little about retired racing greyhounds. I have never been to a greyhound race. I had no idea how fast greyhounds were. I have never even met one!
But when I saw Louie, and when he looked at me, it was love at first sight :-) He knew he has found his mother, and I have found the best dog in the world.

Greyhounds make FABULOUS pets - if you suit them. They are NOT watchdogs, they will take some time to learn to play games and chase balls, they will NOT go on an all day hikes, and they are usually NOT small.

However, they generally love kids and are friendly dogs, they are couch potatoes (BELIEVE IT!!!) and will lay asleep on a comfy bed (preferably yours) for hours and hours. Exercise is supposedly 2 x 20 minutes walks per day (yep – that’s it!) although with a bit of work the top condition a dog can walk for up to one and a half hours (but no longer!!) . They are sprinters, not runners.

Greyhounds are the best companion animals you will find. They bond very closely with their family, they are not agressive, and are very sensitive. They are quiet dogs, many rarely bark at all, and with a short coat they are very clean to have around the house. They are extremely smart and also have a terrific sense of fun.

Any greyhound owner will tell you what a privilege it is to have these highly intelligent animals sharing their home.

Before you adopt, it is essential to research the Greyhound and understand their quirks. This is where this blog comes in! :-)