Welcome Greyhound Lovers to my Blog about
Gorgeous Greyhounds

We have adopted two gorgeous greyhounds from ex racing backgrounds although neither one was suitable for racing. Dezzie, Desmond who we are calling Dizzy is a confident if a little over exuberant dog and Lily is a very nervous bitch, wary of men and is hand shy. But since meeting her, she has improved by the hour.

This blog is their story, this welcome post will always appear on top (postdated) and you will find the most recent post just beneath it, do come here often. You may have a nervous dog yourself and find my tales inspirational but please, be sensible as what works for our dogs may not work for yours. I am not an expert by any means, and here I just explain my techniques and describe the progress the dogs have made.

Most greyhounds are very laid back and do not have the behaviour of our dogs so don't be put off either! We have specifically chosen a dog with lack of confidence and a dog with overconfidence as we welcomed a challenge of this kind and you may not, so talk to people who know your dog best before making a decision about committing yourself. I was 25 when I got my last dog and 42 when I lost him and that is nearly all of my adult life with one dog, so I am grateful I didn't make a hasty choice.

However, if you do choose a greyhound or greyhound cross, do visit this blog often as you may find that you are not alone if you are experiencing the same challenges as ourselves and you may find our dogs' stories supportive and useful. Of course, I will try to make sure this blog is very photo heavy with gorgeous greyhounds and try to write it from their point of view.

I will also introduce dogs who are looking for a home who have either been rescued by the RGT or by Essex Greyhound Rescue. Occasionally there will be dogs who are not ready to rehome and who are not improving in kennels and these dogs will be looking for a temporary foster home either with or without other pets present. These dogs may have challenging behaviour that needs to be addressed in order that they can compete with all the other dogs in finding a forever home. They could be nervous

All rescue organisations will want to meet you, match you with an appropriate hound and then check your home and all members of the family including other pets.

Comedy Duos separated at birth

Who does the pair on the left remind you of?
Dizzy and Lily?
Well no, the big blue brindle is actually a girl, and her name is Bella. The blue and white hound is Bully.

Both ex racing greyhounds are looking for a permanent home, You can find their details here. I have it on good authority these dogs are very cuddly, especially Bully who likes to jump up for a cuddle!

Even if you can't offer dogs like this a home, giving anything you can will help them have good food and get their vets bills paid. You can find out how to donate on the Castledon Kennels website, or if you prefer I can collect a donation from you for Essex Greyhound Rescue (where my babies come from)

I the meantime, marvel at the likeness between these two hounds and our own two. Uncanny isn't it?

Pics of the hounds in their new collars, coats and PJs.
Very cute, need I say more?

Dizzy Lily
A Snood for a Hound

Pezdiva with her snood for Maggie is the first pic I have seen of my pattern for rescue hounds. I won't tell you where Maggie is, it could be anywhere in the world, as I don't want to advertise the whereabouts of dogs for security reasons.

If you would like a free pattern for your own rescue dog, then email me telling about your hound. If you don't have a rescue hound, tha pattern is for sale at $3/£1.50. Even if you have a rescue dog, donations are most welcome as Julie from Essex greyhound rescue says she is going to make sure that all the dogs in the rescue kennels and the ones fostered at her home will get a special Christmas dinner made from some fresh meat. The remainder of donations is needed for food, collars and leads and the most biggest expense the vets bills as some dogs arrive with broken limbs and all sorts of conditions that need treatment before they can be put up for rehoming.

Doesn't she look cute and snuggly and warm? I will be keeping pics of all the rescue hounds who get one of these, that is if their owners send me a pic. Then I am going to stick up a gallery of them on Flickr.

Knitting Patterns for Charity

Dizzy Lily
A Snood For a Hound

I used to think that clothes for dogs was a silly idea. Until we got greys and I realised just how much they feel the cold (just feel their icy ears and nose on a cold day!). I noticed that the indoor kennel coats just didn't keep Lily warm and she kept burrowing her head under pillows or behind Dizzy. Poor Lily though has a bald neck, so it was time to cover it. I came up with this shaped snood knitting pattern. I didn't adopt greys just so I could knit for them, I promise! I think Dizzy will only need his snood when it is really icy outside as he is a warm boy.
I am selling it for £2.00 GBP and donating 100% to the Essex Greyhound Rescue service (or Lurcher Link if you are a lurcher owner). The Dizzy Lily/Snood Pattern can be downloaded from the sidebar via PayPal which will convert to any currency.

Can anyone give a temporary foster home to Macy?

Talking of Essex Greyhound Rescue, they have just had a dog come into their kennels called Macy who hates kennel life and is not eating due to anxiety. Julie feels that if this hound was given a chance in a foster home, she would be able to put weight on and become more rehomeable because at the moment she is a bit thin. I would so love to give a temporary home myself, but last time we thought of doing that we had decided on one dog and would foster another, and what happened? We ended up adopting both dogs anyway. Now our plans for fostering are over as 2 is the max amount of dogs who will fit into this home.

If you think you can give little Macy a foster home, I think she gets on OK with other dogs, then do contact me and i will put you in touch with Julie. Obviously you would need to be in the UK and being in the Essex area is going to help greatly.

Lily is going Bald

Alopecia is quite common in rescued greyhounds. Sometimes it is because they have been lying on hard surfaces in kennels, sometimes it is due to diet, and other times due to thyroid, stress or hormones.

Lily had a tiny patch of fur missing and bald legs when we got her. The legs have a much better covering of hair now but the patch on her neck has got worse.

The vet's opinion is that she has a mineral deficiency and that she has seasonal hormonal inbalance. The cure, is to try taking PetTabs as a vitamin and mineral deficiency so that is what we are doing.

Dizzy's paw update

Last night was Dizzy's last chance, to see if the ulcer on his pad had healed (it has been there for 4 mths now!) whilst taking the extraordinarily expensive antibiotic Marbocyl. The verdict was to let him have another course of these antibiotics, this is his 5th course (or more) and 3rd or 4th of Marbocyl, I can't bear to look at all the bills in total, it costs £116 for each packet for 2-3weeks.
Our bill last night was £230.

Dizzy relaxing in my knitting boudoir..ahem some rules have been relaxed

Someone somewhere made a silly mistake allowing that to develop in the way that it did and now we are paying the awful cost. However, I decided to make a decision with regards to treatment without taking finance into the equation, just to see what is the best way forward. So, we could have opted for 4 days on 4 days off to see if that would be just enough to control any infection but having skin ulcers myself, that take years to heal, I just wanted to give him the best chance of healing, he deserves it.

The paw has cost us at least £500, if not more and he may eventually have to have another operation to debride it. Apparently, when he was returned from his first owner, who said she 'it's not him, its me, I just can't share my space with him', he had a wound and we were told that it was because she had walked him so much, didn;t have a car and so it was a blister from pads on the hard surfaces. The vet was not sure about this, he thought it was unlikely to have been a blister from walking and more likely to be a wound where a foreign object penetrated, he did find a stone lodged in there during surgery.

Well, we just have to press on, and it doesn;t look anywhere as bad as it was, but it is quite deep and makes him limp.

Poor Dizzy Rascal!

Holiday Privileges

The hounds were so cute on hols. Here they are outisde our little blacksmith's cottage in a private valley with a stream running by and fields with a footpath to the beach.
We thought poor Lily was going to get a burst bladder as she wouldn't wee away from her garden at home and we thought she would be a total nervebox for most of the 2 weeks. What a cutie, she managed to wee in public, in a field next to the main route to Tintagel castle with people within hearing distance as well.

How we loved bonding with our dogs. Physically as well. no words can describe how cuddly greyhounds are, and yes, we weakened and we let the hounds come and cuddle us on our bed after breakfast. Needless to say that all stopped when we got home here.

Lily's confidence just grew and grew on holiday. I was swelling with pride for her progress. They loved getting in and out of the car and going for drives, short walks (because Dizzy has an ulcer on his paw) and lots of lounging around in the garden too.

It was a bit nippy at night so the hounds wore their towelling sun coats to keep warm, and naughty Lily was caught climbing up into the living room chair.

We turned a blind eye, well; holiday privileges again!



She also got up and cuddled her Dad, and considering how terrified of men she normally is, that was an amazing thing to see. She is such a little Daddy's girl that I feel a pang of jealousy at their closeness.

Dizzy is still the big baby he ever was. His walking on the lead has improved loads and we didn;t really have any trouble walking around with the dogs, or taking them to pubs, eating fish and chips at Tintagel or any other activity.

Now we are back in London things are a bit different. Lily went back in her shell to begin with but is coming out again and has done a few toilet activities in the local park. We can take her off the lead as well for very short bouts and she will walk near us. A couple of times at the cottage she escaped and always came back.

Embarrassingly, after a welcome cuddle with Steve and I and my Dad and his parrtner Jeannie, Lily and Dizzy bolted off and Dizzy did his usual trick of running into the nearest open door and finding a person to love.


We love these dogs too too much! It feels so special to have rescued these hounds, and given them what they need and a little bit more.