Bonnie (Iteru Kefa) and her new family in Auckland

By Fatima |

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

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Melissa and her family (from Auckland) applied to foster GAP greyhounds and on Thursday 29 April this year, they got their first one: a small female greyhound Bonnie (Iteru Kefa).
Three days later Melissa had fallen in love with her and could not stand the thought of her leaving (this might sound familiar to many of us 'failed' foster carers ! :-)
Melissa and family officially adopted Bonnie the following Monday.
Melissa says:
Bonnie is such a lovely girl and she has settled beautifully into her pet life and new home. She is very much a routine girl (which fits in well here, as so are we)! At night time she stands on her duvet cover and enjoys me dragging her to our bedroom, which is where she is sleeping so well throughout the night. She happily waits on her duvet in the morning until my husband and I are ready to get up or until we call her to us. She is even more gorgeous in the morning, so happy to say 'morning' as she licks us.
She seems to love my husband Tony and son Samuel, but me being Mum I seem to be the favourite, I get followed round the house all day and am loving the company of our new darling.
She loves to sprint in the back section doing about 6 laps at a time then runs inside and lies on her bed again!
Bonnie has enjoyed a cafe in Ponsonby and going to soccer on Saturday mornings, and regular walkies, all the new things around her don't seem to bother her, she is interested to take it all in.
We are so grateful we have adopted such a sweet Greyhound and am sure she is going to give us years of special times and memories :). Thanks Irene and Sonja!












Bonnie has also gone for a playdate with Brodie (Top Deal) and his family :-)

Nikki (Iteru Ra) in her new home

By Fatima | 0 comments

Cute little Nikki (Iteru Ra) has been adopted by Kerrie, Chay, Frankie, Harry and Olivia from Kapiti.
Her new Mum Kerrie says:
Nikki has settled really well - on her first night she had a good look around the garden with us, done her business, had some dinner, then came in and sat down by the fire and then followed the boys and Olivia around like mad!
When we put the kids to bed we had some quiet cuddles with her ,which she loved and went to sleep on my leg. When we got up in the morning she was all excited and bouncing around when she saw the boys :-) We all had a walk to school which she loved, smelling everything she went past :-) She is quite funny- as she was walking she had such a bounce and looked so happy. She loves our company and just feels like we all have a special bond with her - feels like we have had her forever.

The Sharps and their hounds Ivan, Paulie and Jill

By Fatima |

Saturday, May 8, 2010

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Above: The Sharps (minus Lynda!) with their 3 hounds

Lynda Sharp is well known to all of us who live in Auckland region (or used to live there) :-). She is a GAP Regional Coordinator, and the owner of three beautiful greyhounds :
Ivan (Kaiser Izmir), Paulie (unraced), and (recently!!) Jill (Most Excused).

I have just now stolen all Lynda's Facebook photos - check them out:

Below: Lynda with Paulie, Jill and Ivan
Below: How many gorgeous hounds can you fit in one car? :-)
Below: Jill is obviously one very stressed hound!


It's a hard life when there's only one bed, one slice of sunshine and two hounds. Compromise Jill and Paulie style!

Jess (Sixteen Gauge), Ellie and Family

By Fatima |

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

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Above: Jess and Indie

A few weeks ago I got a lovely email from Ellie from Auckland. I met Ellie and her family about a year ago on GAP walks in Auckland; they used to come along with their gorgeous GAP greyhound Jacko (World Bank).
Jacko unfortunatelly passed away from bone cancer last year :-( He was gorgeous hound - a true character. Below is the picture of beautiful Jacko:


Ellie told me then that she would be reluctant to adopt another hound any time soon -the pain was just too much :-(
I could totally relate to that....
However, life works in mysterious ways :-)

Ellie says:
I wasn’t really looking for another dog, we had lost our darling Jacko (World Bank) to bone cancer about 6 weeks earlier and Indie (our scruffy terrier) was just getting used to having us all to herself. I sat at the computer and typed in 'greyhound' on the TradeMe website and up popped an ad for 'Blossie' – she was a retired racing greyhound whose owner had died and she had been passed from the pound to Paeroa Dog Rescue. She looked a right sight, all curled up in a small dog basket. She looked sad and really skinny and I couldn’t resist ringing up to enquire about her.

We arranged to come and meet Blossie that weekend. I remember feeling very nervous – unsure how any of us would feel about the possibility of having another greyhound in our home. She greeted us at the gate by leaping all over the place. It was quite a greeting – she was all smiley, waggy and happy – I think it was the sight of the kids. Needless to say, the meeting went well and Blossie – now renamed Jess, came home with us that day. The first thing we did was give her a bath – after being in the pound for some time she was a bit on the pongy side.

After her bath, I phoned Sonja at GAP and she told me to read her tattoos on the insides of her ears so we could find out her racing name. Her racing name was 'Sixteen Gauge' and she raced against Jacko in November 2005, and lost to him. She hadn’t been a very successful racer - unlike Jacko!

Jess greeted Louie (our cat) by touching noses with him which was great. She also gets on well with Indie, although Indie was quite jealous to start with, and she still growls at Jess if she thinks Jess is hogging all the cuddles, but generally they are happy together – and partners in crime!

Jess is very different from Jacko, for a start, she barks! I got such a fright when she first barked – I couldn’t believe that big deep bark came from my skinny little Jess. If Indie barks at someone passing the gate, Jess joins in, and she sounds scary! She also barks if I leave her outside too long and she wants in. She is a totally inside dog – Indie might take herself outside to sit in the sun, or dig a hole... but Jess likes nothing more than lazing the day (and night!) away on her bed. She only ever seems to venture out to go to the toilet and eat her dinner. However, once I get her leash she’s up like a flash. She is awesome off leash – she never gets too far ahead of me and always waits for me to catch up. She loves the water and will often take a dip in the sea.

We are so happy to have Jess and I’m glad we had the opportunity to give another greyhound a home. It felt like it was meant to be, Jess losing her owner and us losing Jacko. She has definitely helped mend some broken hearts with her bouncy cuddles and pointy greyhound nose!

Beryl (Winsome Deluxe) with her new collar :-)

By Fatima | 0 comments

Beryl's Mum Sue just sent me some pictures of Beryl modelling her new martingale collar that just arrived from the USA (etsy.com , i feel, is becoming the bane of hound owners' lives! :-))




Beryl looks amazing :-) The cute kelpie-cross on the pictures with her is her new brother Frankie:




Beryl in Timona park:


And Beryl in her new crochet coat:

Meet Lucy (Leumeah Miss) - "Simply Grey" greyhound

By Fatima |

Thursday, April 29, 2010

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A very special greyhound has just arrived to GAP Kennels in Sanson and is up for adoption: Lucy (Leumeah Miss), who has recently retired (after having a very succesful racing career with Canterbury trainer John McInerney). She is a gorgeous blue fawn girl, with the cutest smile :)

But that is not all!

Lucy is also the dog on the rails (far right) on this Simply Grey (www.simplygrey.co.nz) image:


Cate Marshall, greyhound handler and photographer responsible for this and other gorgeous Simply Grey images of greyhounds, recognized Lucy while handling her on the track , and has just written a diary of the "Dog on the Rails" for my blog! (Thanks a million Cate! BTW- I have writen about Cate and her own hounds before, in one of my previous posts here)

Cate says:

It started as a typical Tuesday in Christchurch...a kiss for Joe, Grace & Flynn and off to Addington for a day of racing. With 20 races ahead of me, I knew it would be a busy one - just the way I like it. Minutes before race 20, feeling exhausted, hungry and covered in mud, I agreed to help out a trainer and handle one of their dogs. She was small, but strong with a quiet confidence. I collected her from the race kennels and as I put her race cover on she gave me a smile which was infectious and something felt, well strange -I couldnt put my finger on it. So off we went - out to the track, into the boxes and away she went. A winner!!! What a great way to finish my day of racing.

It was some weeks later when her trainer asked me again to handle her as she "seemed to run well for me". Of course I agreed and a funny thing happened...we all realised that this little dog was in fact the "dog on the rails" in the Simply Grey image ‘Track to Sofa’! Meet Leumeah Miss (Lucy). I had goosebumps on my goosebumps. What are the chances of Lucy and I meeting on the track?

I was thrilled when her trainer and owners agreed to put her on the GAP list and this past week Lucy officially retired from racing. I brought Lucy home to the "Know More Kennels" to meet Joe, Grace and Flynn and the fun began. Lucy learnt that the pots and pans cupboards are for climbing into, that licking that stuff called "soap" in the bathroom is NOT nice and the sole purpose of fences are for sideways trampolining. I stood back one afternoon and watched four dogs make the most amazing race track through my house, into the kitchen, through the shed and back into the house.

Below: Lucy with Flynn, Joe and Grace



Last week I got a call from Sonja and Irene at GAP that there was a space available for Lucy and with a tear in my eye (yes, I could have quite happily kept this wonderful girl), Lucy set sail on the ferry to meet Fatima in Wellington. After a great breakfast and a comfy ride with Fatima, Lucy met Sonja and Irene at the GAP kennels.
Today, Lucy has passed her temperament testing and is now available for adoption. She is happy as ever and running round the kennels and enjoying the start of her retirement.

I feel very honoured to have met Lucy and to have handled her in her last win of her career. Simply Grey wishes Lucy all the very best in her new home and thanks everyone who has been involved with her adventures (so far!).