Re-roofed and Re-filling our Kennels!

We are very pleased to announce that the roof replacement work on our kennel blocks has finally been completed. Once again we have dry kennels to keep our dogs in whilst they wait for us to find their adoptive homes. This now means we can begin to welcome some new arrivals in again.

New Greyhounds arrive:

Today saw us welcome the first 3 of our new arrivals and 2 more are expected to join us on Tuesday. Brief details about today’s new arrivals Dice, Slick and Lottie along with descriptions of all our other greyhounds available for adoption can be found in our Greyhounds Needing Homes Gallery.

We’re not quite ready to fill every kennel yet as there is still a small amount of maintenance to do. This ought to only take a few more days mind, so by this time next week we hope to be back to having our regular number of 17 greyhounds in residence. Of course we normally have in excess of 20 greyhounds available for adoption as a few are always in foster care rather than in kennels.

Jet:

Jet has the dubious title of being our current Longest Stay Greyhound. We’re not at all sure why and neither is his doting foster mum Mo. Jet himself certainly does’t understand why no-one wants to adopt his loveable self.

Our Jet has told us that it’s time for him to take charge of his own home seeking mission now. He’s talked to enough greyhound friends to know the sort of home he wants, but just as importantly he knows that he’ll make a perfect and much adored family member for the very honoured family that wins his love and loyalty.

Jet, our longest stay greyhound who has up to now waited

Jet, our longest stay greyhound who after 21 months of waiting is still available for adoption.

Jet tells us that this is his last phase of being called a “working dog”. He will be retiring officially just as soon as he has achieved his elusive adoption. He’s been dreaming of retirement with a family of his own. Going on trips to the beach, walks in the countryside, the occasional pub lunch with essential stray chip coming his way, games of football with his family and a nice soft bed to curl up in and watch TV from whilst relaxing with his family of an evening.

We look forward to seeing Jet’s very own write up very soon.

Dog Walking:

We’d love to see all our dog walkers back with us as we should very soon be back to needing lots of you to help us. We apologise to our walkers who have continued to help us over the past weeks as we know some of you have been disappointed by the lack of dogs  available for you to walk. We hope though that like our staff you have enjoyed the more relaxed time and made the most of getting to know our existing residents a lot better.

Winston black male

Winston enjoying his time in his foster home where he can now stay until he finds an adoptive home.

Fostering News:

Further good news is that those dogs already in emergency foster care will remain out and in foster care until such time as they are homed. There’s only one small change to our foster dogs and that is that little Rosie will be moving foster home on the 18th February from a temporary one where she’s been very happy to a long term one where we’re sure she’ll be just as happy. Thank you to Cathy and Nigel who were stars in a crisis to look after Rosie and give her such a wonderful foster home when we had no where dry for her to go.

Staying in foster care is the most fantastic news for those dogs. Occasionally some dogs, once they become used to luxury (i.e., home life), they can find it hard to settle back into the regimented life of kennels with its necessary lack of human contact during the evenings. Equally the daily socialisation with other breeds that is given to dogs in the “real world” helps the greyhounds’ socialisation skills massively.

Tipsy black bitch greyhound

Tipsy another lucky hound to have moved into foster care. She’s having a training period with K9 Matters before she heads back to her regular foster carers once they return from holiday.

Thank you to all our wonderful foster carers who have been amazing through the crisis and continue to be after it. Thanks also to Marina and Chris as well of K9 Matters. Marina and Chris have stepped in to look after Tipsy whilst her regular foster carers take a holiday. Tipsy was much more relaxed and better behaved with her foster carers to what she was in kennels, but little Tipsy we all have high hopes that under Marina and Chris’ tuteledge you’ll soon become a model pet and people will be queuing up to adopt you. Tipsy is long overdue a home of her own as she’s been waiting with us a whole year already!

Roger:

Roger is not currently available for adoption since he has problems with his eyes. He has cataracts and at least one other eye condition which is making him unhappy. He is on eye medication and pain relief to alleviate his discomfort although we do not know yet what condition(s) he as.

Roger has been referred to a specialist eye veterinary centre and his initial appointment is tomorrow. After that we hope to have some answers on what his problems are and with luck there will be a positive way forward so that Roger can be successfully treated.

Roger greyhound brindle small

Roger has been referred to an eye specialist veterinary centre.

As the route forward is unknown at present for Roger we may need to ask for assistance from the public to collect sufficient funding to see Roger’s treatment through to a successful conclusion. At this point of course we do not know his diagnosis, treatment or any associated costs. The most important thing is for Roger to be pain free and to be able to enjoy his life to the maximum.

Homed Greyhounds:

Lucy, Piper (now Pippa), Lance (now Lurch), Bobby (3 legs) and Bobby (4 legs) have been adopted.

Greyhounds in Foster Care:

Niki, Jet, Banksy, Winston, Roger, Tipsy and Nelson 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.

Postage Stamp Appeal:

Many of you may already know that the Retired Greyhound Trust collect used postage stamps to raise funds for the greyhounds in their care. For some of you collecting the occasional stamp here and there and finally getting around to posting a collection off may be a bit of a nuisance.

Thanks to the inspiration of Penny and Adrian (who have started the branch collection very nicely) we are now collecting as a kennel too. In due course we’ll arrange for a bulk lot of stamps to reach the RGT and save you the postage cost of sending them yourselves. From as little as one stamp, please bring them in whenever you visit us. We have a collection bag in the kennel kitchen for you to use. All stamps are welcome, but most especially the ones from abroad. Thank you everyone for supporting greyhound welfare Nationwide.

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.

Niki fawn greyhound female playing
Niki is in foster care and she’s still looking for her adoptive home.

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.

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?

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