Unfortunately we are approaching that horrible time of year for animals where fireworks seem to be going off at all times of night and on no specific day. As ever many animals, including several of our own pets will become very stressed and fearful at this time.

Some dogs need nothing and are perfectly unaffected by the noise, but others are complete wrecks and they develop huge terrors making their own lives and yours a misery for weeks to come.

There are things to help and these come in a variety of forms. A quiet and dark safe place is one option, but there are herbal remedies, homeopathic remedies, pheromone collars and sprays, de-sensitising noise CD’s, behaviourists too could help you and your dog and of course there are drug options available as well in some cases. Drug treatment however will generally necessitate a trip to your vet first. There are probably plenty of other options too that have not been mentioned. What works for you could be different to what works for  someone else.

However you and your pet cope, please remember that at this time more than any other it is vital that your dog wears a close fitting collar with clearly legible ID tag attached at all times. Frightened dogs do sometimes slip collars, break through fences, pull out of your hand and just run off in sheer terror. Please minimise the risk to your dog as much as possible and help prevent a tragedy from happening.

Other things to consider now include maybe start to feed that evening meal in daylight and bringing your evening walk forward in time to try and avoid periods of darkness as much as possible.

Good luck everyone, let’s hope our animals all stay safe at this traumatic time of year for them.

The Ever Growing Waiting List:

It has been and still is a very busy time for greyhounds needing a homing place. As ever we have a very large list of greyhounds waiting patiently for a homing place. We are just one, relatively small greyhound homing kennels, amongst many others Nationwide. We are looking currently at a wait of at least six months for a male to come in and a little less for a female. Unfortunately we are not alone in having to quote exceptionally long waiting times.

There are of course always urgent cases as well. We are, like many other groups regularly in a quandary about what to do.

Queenie was a previous emergency arrival. We don’t regret taking her in, but we do wonder why we still have her. She’s a nice, straight forward greyhound. There must be another chance of a home out there for our girl surely? Her previous owner became homeless. No shelter, no food and no money to care for her.

In some cases to say “no, sorry you will just have to wait” put’s a dog at risk and as individual volunteers who already do everything we possibly can for these dogs these situations leave us with little choice but to accept the emergency arrival. We simply couldn’t live with ourselves if we later discovered that the dog in question had come to a sad end. To do this however, it is plainly unfair to those dogs who have waited patiently.

Please readers, if you can promote greyhound adoption in any way whatsoever then please do so. We need your help to raise awareness that greyhounds make wonderful pets.

We simply cannot help those dogs still waiting until there is a place for them to come to and stay while being assessed and promoted for homing. It’s a very well known phrase that is being borrowed here but it is very true: Every adopter who takes on a greyhound actually saves two. The one they have adopted and the one that can then fill his/her homing place.

New arrivals:

We have two new arrivals, unfortunately both were unplanned and came in from different places. The new boys are Scotty and Jerry. Both dogs were in situations that meant we had to take them in and quickly and both the boys are really good natured and should prove straightforward to home.

To those of you with dogs waiting then please accept our apologies for the further delay. We will get to you as soon as we possibly can.

Information about all our available greyhounds can be found in our Greyhounds Needing Homes Gallery.

Homed Greyhounds:

Rosa and Sparky have been homed.

Reserved Greyhounds:

Roger is reserved.

Greyhounds in foster care:

Niki and Jet are in foster care. If one of our foster dogs interests you as a potential new family member then you simply need to call us and we’ll arrange a mutually convenient date and time for you to meet him/her.

Thank you to:

Penny and Adrian who have excelled themselves again this year having recently passed over a further £427 that they have raised for us. This bring their total fundraising efforts for 2013 to an amazing £4011! They are stopping there for a much needed rest and in Adrian’s case surgery which will put him out of action for a few weeks. We wish Adrian a speedy recovery. Well done Penny and Adrian!

Saara who has recently had a greyhound tattoo done to raise money for Greyhound Lifeline. Saara was sponsored for her tattoo and we have yet to know the total, but she did very well in her fundraising anyway.

Here’s the evidence of Saara’s fundraising. A very unusual way to do it, but it worked nicely and the tattoo looks good as well. Thank you Saara!

Foster Home Appeal:

We need more foster homes. Ideally we are looking for foster homes within easy traveling distance of Fleet, Wokingham, Alton or Southampton as we have trusted volunteer team members in those areas who would be able to assist with viewings if a trip to the kennels was not possible.

We prefer foster carers who have some experience of dog ownership and training. Homes without cats and young children are especially sought because homes with young children and/or cats or inexperience dog handlers severely restrict our options of the greyhounds we could place with you.

If greyhound fostering is of interest to you, then please visit our fostering information page to see if it could be the route for you.

Greyhound Events:

Our colleague Mo, with a little help from others is holding a Meet and Greet at Jollie’s Pet Shop, Totton, Southampton on Saturday 19th October from 10am until 2pm.

Jet (still looking for a home) and Bonnie (most definitely homed) will be our canine representatives on the day. If you are in the area then please go along and support Mo.

With thanks to Jollie’s Pet Shop for allowing us to run this event.

Lungworm can kill!

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.

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