Happy New Year everyone!
Our mission for 2013:
This year we are setting ourselves a mission. What do we want to do? We desperately want to find homes for our longer stay, previously homed and/or our older greyhounds. It may or may not be possible to home all of them, we can only try on their behalf. We feel deeply that these dogs especially have waited more than long enough to settle permanently into a home of their own.
Dan our longest stay boy is very overdue an adoptive home of his own.
Longer stay greyhounds are sometimes, but by no means always ones that perhaps wouldn’t suit a novice owner. Older greyhounds can be hard to home because naturally people do fear that they won’t have very long with their new pet before old age claims him or her.
The greyhounds that we’d especially like to see in homes this year include Dan (arrived August 2011), Ben (arrived December 2011), Blue (aged 6 and previously homed), Noo Noo (arrived May 2012), Ozzie (arrived June 2012), Lady (aged 8 and previously homed), Basil (arrived July 2012), Penfold (aged 7 and previously homed), DJ (arrived July 2012 and previously homed), Jonnie (previously homed), Willie (previously homed), Star (previously homed), Georgie (aged 8 and previously homed), Jet (arrived May 2012) and Tilly (previously homed). Frighteningly that is 15 greyhounds out of the 26 greyhounds that we are currently responsible for that we have made part of our 2013 mission to home! Some will be easier than others and new arrivals will also be homed to suit the circumstances, needs or preferences of the adopter.
Blue is still waiting for an adoptive home of his own. He’d love an experienced greyhound family, possibly with a bitch already in residence and no young children. If that sounds like you, then please consider out boy Blue.
If you are thinking of adopting a greyhound then please take a look at the dogs listed above, perhaps ask to meet them. They need a chance of a loving home just as much as, if not more so than our more recent and/or younger residents.
We will no doubt find out in due course if we will succeed with our set mission.
What went well in 2012?
We now have a much increased number of foster homes available and subsequently the highest ever number of greyhounds on our books (currently 26) as a direct result of being able to place a few more hounds into those valuable foster homes.
Fundraising too has been very successful this year. Penny and Adrian have undoubtedly brought in the most through their sales of jams, pickles, cakes, car boot sales etc. and we thank them for their valuable and ongoing support. Saara however also deserves a big thank you as she ran several bric a brac stalls at a variety of events during 2012 and also raised significant amounts for us.
Our annual Kennel Open Day was another highlight that went exceptionally well after the appalling weather very nearly meant calling it off altogether.
Special Recognition goes to Carol, Lucy, Mo and Saara:
Marie and Jane would like to bring the above named ladies, who are very much a part of the Lifeline team to your attention. All four have gone “above and beyond the call of duty” by acting with professionalism, dedication, enthusiasm or by just putting in plain hard work often in the form of extra shifts, additional responsibilities, long distance home checks and/or emergency/short notice fostering when at times their own personal circumstances were difficult in the extreme. If we had medals to award, we’d be giving one to each of these wonderful ladies!
All our team members do a fantastic job and all do everything they do for no pay and for the plain love of the dogs. We are extremely grateful to everyone on our team and we appreciate all their combined efforts. Without the team as a whole it wouldn’t be possible for us to continue doing what we do.
2012 Homing Figures:
For the statisticians amongst you we are now able to announce that 58 greyhounds found their homes during 2012 (initially this number was higher, but returned dogs have been deducted so the figure is an accurate account of dogs placed permanently during 2012).
We are pleased by this figure, it is a little less than last year, but not significantly and 2012 was an especially difficult year to home dogs in. Many people were understandably extremely cautious about taking on extra responsibilities and costs when the economy and job insecurities preyed a lot on their minds.
Of those 58 greyhounds placed 32 were girls and 26 were boys. Very pleasingly 41 were black or mainly black in colour. Bearing in mind that the majority of greyhounds arriving are black it’s very good to see that correspondingly those black hounds are getting adoptive homes.
Many re-homing centres (not only greyhounds or even just dogs) find that placing black coloured animals can be especially difficult. Of the remaining non black homed greyhounds last year 6 were brindle, 6 were white or mainly white, 3 were blue and just 2 were fawn.
Since our inception in May 2007 we have now found homes for 334 greyhounds and 1 lurcher (who we believed to have been a greyhound when we agreed to accept her from the dog warden). We think that 335 homed hounds is something to celebrate, especially as it has all been achieved without a single penny of wages being paid.
What’s the plan for 2013?
To copy a now common phrase “Keep Calm and Carry on” is pretty much what we plan for 2013.
It’d be wonderful to say we’ll be generating 50% more homes, we’ll move to purpose built, heated kennels and such like, but those are just dreams. In reality, the numbers of homes are not nearly as important as the quality of the homes we find, a very important part of which is finding the right dog to suit each individual family. Our kennels are not heated (the building are not suitable to install heating into), but thanks to the generosity of our supporters and fundraisers we do have a very large selection of cosy coats for the dogs to wear.
They are already “double rugged” and if the weather turns freezing again as we expect it to shortly then they will be wrapped in even more coats as necessary. In winter we often see what look like barrels on spindles (the “barrels” are of course not fat greyhounds with the possible exception of the rather cuddly Noo Noo, just greyhounds wearing many coats), but it doesn’t matter what they look like just that they remain warm and dry.
Recently Homed Greyhounds:
Molly, Farrah and Ginny were adopted during December.
Reserved Greyhounds:
Maddie is reserved.
Don’t let Lungworm kill your dog!
Please be aware of Lungworm, it’s a killer that many of you won’t necessarily have heard of. It is spreading fast in the UK and many dogs have already died from it. Don’t panic however as Lungworm is very easy to prevent and equally if diagnosed early it can be treated very successfully too. Late diagnosis of Lungworm does not always have a happy ending however.
The following link will take you to a Lungworm Information site. For preventative treatment of lungworm you will need to contact your vet. Treatment/prevention of Lungworm is by prescription medication only.
In Memory:
December saw the passing of three much loved adopted greyhounds. Tank, Farran and Lucy all passed to Rainbow Bridge and they leave devastated families behind them. Our thoughts and sympathies remain with Angela who lost Farran; Ady, Debbie and Family who lost Tank and to Nick and Paula who lost Lucy.
Lucy 10-02-2001 to 27-12-2012
Thank You:
Thank you to everyone who has donated goodies for both dogs and staff. We have extremely healthy stocks of both dogs treats and people treats now.
We Need More Foster Homes – Can you help?
If you think you might be able to foster a greyhound then please read our Greyhound Fostering Information page.
Fundraise for us using eBay
You can now sell items on ebay and choose to donate between 10% and 100% of your sale price to Greyhound Lifeline. If you are an ebay member you could also simply donate by using your Paypal account. For ebay members only please visit their Sell for Charity page and enter “Greyhound Lifeline” in the Charity name area.
If you are a UK tax payer please also tick the Gift Aid box. Please read ebay’s terms and conditions carefully as we cannot be held responsible for any problems you may encounter. Could you sell your unwanted items and help us to buy food, provide veterinary care and generally look after the greyhounds in our care at the same time?
Interested in Adopting a Greyhound?
Enquiries should be directed by telephone or text message to Greyhound Lifeline
- For all enquiries:
- 07769 348310
Or by email to enquiries@greyhoundlifeline.co.uk
Or Contact us using our Contact page
