Greyhounds are for life not just for the track (Greyhound)

Member Name: faithlessone

Product:	Greyhound
Date:	13/09/08 (192 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Years of faithfull adoration,

Disadvantages: They like us will die eventually

When I was a little girl I had a terrifying encounter with a neighbours dog, (a black labrador) at the age of three I was bitten on the face without provication and this resulted in the animal having to be destroyed. Inevitably, my mother took to avoiding all dogs and would often cross the road to avoid us having to have any close contact what so ever. I grew up curious about dogs, but, always insecure about what to expect, this changed when my mother in law suggested a day trip to an animal shelter.

It was 1996 and the month was december, the venue was Woodgreen animal shelters in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. I had been to animal shelters before as a child with my parents but we would focus mainly on the lovely cats and other small animals. This time however, we were going with another purpose. The dogs.

There was a big metal fenced area which contained some 50 or so dogs all which were quite vocal and some did actually come up to the fence to greet you. It was out of the corner of my eye that I saw this beautiful majestic looking greyhound, blue grey in colour with four white feet and a white stripe on his nose, he appeared at the fence and seem keen to get my attention. I was so taken with him I enquired straight away with the kennel hands how to go about taking him for a walk. After filling out a form at reception, name and address and of course handing over your car keys (so you cannot do a runner with the dog!) we were given a small disc to give to the kennel hands.

On finding one of the kennel hands I handed over the disc which she placed on the dogs collar. This disc was a coloured disc and allowed other members of staff to identify the dog as one of theirs and also to note he was being walked by prospective owners.

Information wise, all they could tell me was that he was found outside the police station in Cambridge and thought he was probably used for hare coursing. They had named him two socks due to the fact out of the four white feet he had two of them were higher than the other two and looked like he was wearing socks. Our walk went extremely well and I was very keen to adopt him. In order to do this you had to tell them at reception and they would place another disc on his collar so no other people would be able to take him for a walk and pursue him for adoption. Following this the receptionist has to organise a visit to your home to check it is suitable, this includes having a fenced garden and a big enough property for the dog to have his own space.

Following your inspection (which took about a week for them to organise!) you receive a phone call to say whether you have been successful or not, thankfully we were! We went down to pick him up about 5 days after the phone call mainly because he had to be castrated before he was allowed to come home with us and start his new life.

When we arrived we had to go and collect him from the kennels and take him to the centre's vet. He looked rather sore in his "area" and we were advised not to let him fuss with himself or he could upset his stitches. The vet looked at his teeth and guessed he was about three years of age and advised us they live in general to about 10 - 14 years, but of course all dogs are different. He also told us that in general they are very quiet and placid dogs that are usually very healthy and with that apart from telling us to feed him three meals a day to start with to help increase his weight he wished us well and said goodbye. We went through to reception and made our donation, something they ask for and then we went out to the car park and put Socks in the car and went home.

Within days of having him at home with us he felt like a big part of our family. After a couple of weeks of decent meals he started to resemble a healthy looking greyhound with meat covering his rib cage and spine. Greyhounds in general are pretty trim but when we first viewed him at the animal shelter he looked totally emaciated and very ill but still with a twinkle in his dark brown eyes. Christmas came and went and with time I learned that the rule they imply at the shelter of "no cats" is a crock of ***t. We had a cat called Snowy (white and longhaired) who had gone missing about three months before that eventful day when we went to the animal shelter, who reappeared as by magic and settled back in at home, fine, and it caused no problems with Socks whatsoever. Maybe they impose this rule as a precaution??

Socks likes his walks almost as much as he likes his food, following his spell on the streets of Cambridge he picked up some bad habits of stealing food from peoples hands as we walked by!!! this did get better over a period of time and he turned into a lovable rogue. He is very quiet and only barks on command, he is not a guard dog by any means but he keeps you fit and is very loyal and attentative. He loves his treats but is not a dog that respects toys, if you threw Socks a frisby he would look at you then look at the frisby and walk off as if to say if you want it, you get it!

We found out after about two years that he had definately been trained by someone to kill Hares. We were out walking on an area designated as greenbelt land when out of the corner of my eye I noticed something moving in the distance, running really fast, before I could react Socks had shot off like a bullet (he was super fast) and caught this Hare jumping over a ditch. He came running back to me with the Hare in his mouth and dropped it at my feet. He had broke the Hare's neck and there was no blood or anything. Mortfied, I tried to bury the Hare in the corner of the field. Socks appeared a little upset that he was not being praised for his good deed but as I had not expected it and did not approve I was dumbfounded as how to react. He never did it again I am pleased to report. I rewarded him instead each time he ran and came back on command, something he really enjoyed.

One of the things that I find unbelievable is how many greyhounds are looking for a home at any one time. At about the age of three profesional greyhounds are retired from running (all professional greyhounds have a tatoo in their ear) and appear in the many animal shelters a round the country. There are now many greyhound rescue centres a round the country which look after these retired dogs and aim to rehome them. That in itself is an improvement as animal centres destroy dogs after a period of time and these greyhound rescue centre will not! People are mislead into thinking that greyhounds are difficult to look after and require a great deal of walking. This is not true and is just a myth, they require no more walking than any other dog. Also, they think they will not be able to house them with any other pets, again not true. I myself have two cats and another dog, Leon a dobermann. He is much more of a handful than Socks.

Socks is now 14 and a half years old, he is unable to go for walks anymore as he has extremely bad arthritis in his back legs and loses his balance now and again. He still has an amazing zest for life and good appetite (with very bad gas!) but the worst thing of all is his inability to hold his stools anymore. We are aware that he is on his final countdown, but while he is still pleased to be here and not in apparent pain we will still continue to love him and care for him. We are not looking forward to the time when it comes for him to go, but, when it does we will be pleased he chose us as his family that eventful day back in december 1996.

If you can offer a home to a greyhound then you will not be sorry. They will reward you with years of loyalty and affection. When our daughter April was a toddler she would often fall over straight on top of him, he did not flinch, growl or try to bite her. If our daughter was upset he would try and comfort her with a lick and the offer of his paw. How cute is that? All you need is a comfy dog blanket, a fire in the winter and some shoes for walking.

Thanks for reading.

Summary: A most magestic breed of dogs, loyal and extremely loving