News

May 2008

A month of madness.
I had arranged for two brindle lurchers to be saved from a pound the month before, and then found a fosterer for them.
It all started out great, and with a greyhound adoption program in the UK agreeing to take them.
Their transport through Ireland and to the UK was organised, as it also was for four other greyhounds.
I was filled to capacity and it was quite a strain.
Then 5 days before transport the fosterer phoned me to say that, even though it had nothing to do with the two dogs themselves,
who were well behaved, I had to take the dogs from her immediately.
The explanation for this demand just plain didn't wash.
I said I needed a few hours to organise something for them.
Two hours later the phone rang and I was told they would be getting taken to a boarding kennel in an hour.
What boarding kennel? Where? What do they charge? What are they like?
Volunteer Wendy agreed to meet the fosterer and drive the dogs to me, and so for 5 days I had twenty dogs here and no volunteers.
Once they left, having "only" 18 dogs seemed easy!
Three dogs I was caring for also left a few days after that, so I was then "down" to 15!
But the really good news is that at the end of the month Christopher, Brus and Tammy went to their new homes, Christopher to a couple with a lovely small
red lurcher and a great big cat named Randall, and Tammy and Brus to a couple with two cats and a big back garden.

April 2008

And three MORE greyhounds came here this month!
Handsome Tiger, steady-as-a-rock Cari, and a little later, tiny frightened Fiona all came here.
Tiger and Cari joined the "barn group", as there was plenty of room in there for them, and they settled in with the others very well.
It is good to mix different personalities in the barn, as the more stable ones tend to positively influence the others, and an older girl like
Cari (8 yrs) won't put up with bad manners from anyone.
She quickly became the barn matriarch! Tiger is a dog who never saw a bad day, and was well cared for all of his 3 short years.
At the end of the month I received a call one Friday morning from a county dog warden who had removed Fiona from a home where the owner
was reputed to have let another of his greyhounds starve to death.
By Friday night she arrived here from 3 hours away, a tiny, skinny and absolutely filthy little thing.
She was too small and frightened to go into the barn, so the first several days she was crated in the kitchen at night and only slowly allowed
to run loose with the "house group".
No adoptions took place this month, which sort of went hand in hand with the miserable weather.
She was one of the most nervous dogs I ever had here.
In the midst of it all, my daughter got married in Denmark, so a trip to the Danish countryside and then the marriage
ceremony in Copenhagen was made in the middle of the month as well.

March 2008

March had a bit more activity than February, though I was away for about 5 days in the middle of the month.
I am doing historical research on a book about greyhounds as pets, and use the Bodleian Library at Oxford for it.
I have to say, it is a treasure trove of information, and so much rich information is to be had there.
While there, I received an email from a pound manager who asked me to please take a poorly dog who,
as he wrote "really needs to get out", and so I arranged to take him in on my return.
That was Christopher, a red fawn lurcher who looked like an old dog when I finally got him.
Brus was booked for a home with two cats, and so began to undergo serious cat-socialising "lessons".
The owners wanted a second greyhound from me as well Two little untattooed greyhound girls from the
same pound were also rescued from there earlier in the month, Petal and Penny.
They were in a boarding kennel in the countryside for a few weeks, and then at the end of month Petal arrived here
(she was the more nervous one) and Penny went to a nearby foster home.
During this month lovely gentle little Dora was homed (with cats) and Cara's people adopted her as well.
The work they had done with their Dane was pretty admirable, and Cara was well up to the task of being his playmate,
as she loves to play hard.

February 2008

This was a relatively quiet month, with the arrivals from January, Dora and Sam, still settling in and doing so very well indeed.
Two more exracing greyhounds were also taken in, named Charlotte and Devon.
A real mutt-and-jeff pair, Devon was tall, graceful and deer-like, and Charlotte was short and more sturdily built.
There were many emails of interest, but only two materialised into actual visits: one for Cara and one for Sam.
By the middle of February, Sam was adopted by a family in Northern Ireland who also had a cat, and the people interested in Cara
were asked to exert a bit more control over their rambunctious Great Dane before returning to visit Cara again.

January 2008

This was a happy and sad month. 
On January 3rd, little Dora - a greyhound or saluki cross - arrived from a Dublin pound. 
Clinically emaciated, weak and shivering, little Dora fit right in here and has blossomed into a lovely, gentle girl. 
Two days later Sam arrived, and the two were sharing beds very quickly. 
Poor Sam was another neglect case, found as a stray in a town, and picked up by the dog warden. 
Another rescue took him initially, but asked me to think about taking him, as he was not doing well in kennels. 
 
On January 8 my darling little Daisy was on the receiving end of a very bad bite from an outside (not from here) dog. 
Although the vet arrived 2 hours later to stitch her and she seemed to be healing well, 4 days later she died in her sleep, 
and we could only imagine it was a blood clot that caused it. 
She had become so good, so well behaved, so adoptable, I am so very sorry she never got the home she so thoroughly deserved. 
At least, however, she knew that here she was loved and appreciated, and had freedom and space and comfort. 
I think of her often and miss her quiet presence. 
 
By the end of the month two dogs I had arranged to remove from two pounds were about to go to the UK, and one of them is 
already lined up for a home there. 
In the meantime, they had stayed with a friend of mine and were extremely well cared for, as well as spayed and vaccinated 
and otherwise made ready to go. 
At the end of this month I had also started to arrange for 4 dogs - in 3 separate cases - to be saved, and a fifth was added to that list on February 1st. 
 
Brus was provisionally booked for a home at the end of the month, and another potential adopter is soon going to make up her mind. 
If only Daisy had not died, it would have been a very good month. 
She is buried in the back field, and in the spring daisies will be planted at the site.

December 2007

December was a very active month! Lovely 7 yr old Jenny found a home here in Ireland with a very nice family and their very active little spaniel.
Photos and reports on how well she settled in were very good, and I am now told that she literally just ignores the cat.
I am very happy for her, as she was a dog who seemed to have started out in life with good training and
care, and then ended up in the pound with her 2 yr old son, both of them looking quite poor.
A really happy ending for Jenny.

I was also involved in the homing of an older greyhound or greyhound cross (9 or 10?) from Donegal, named Sparky.
The family who had him were unable to keep him, and they brought him here with all his dog paraphernalia, as well as some tears for their boy.
Fostered by Wendy for a week, in the meantime a home was found for him in the UK with someone who well knows how easy it is
to have an older greyhound.
He is very much loved and I am told accompanies his people on homechecks for potential adopters.

This month Susie, Sparky and Brus also were spayed and neutered.
This means a 45 minute drive to the vets, arriving by 9, and then driving back home for the rest of the day.
They the dogs are picked up again around 6PM.

In mid-December Susie went to her new home in the UK, and joined the ranks of several other dogs, including those who come in for home boarding.
She is apparently good with the puppies and smallies, and adjusted to her new home quite quickly.
A lucky girl indeed.

Little Lilly/Faith arrived here indirectly from the pound a few days before Christmas.
The tiniest tattooed greyhound I ever saw, she was in a few different locations for about 3 nights before coming to me.
Very thin, full of fleas, a large corner of her ear missing (likely from being grabbed by another dog), having had at least 2 recorded litters,
this little darling was painfully frightened and shy.
GOD knows what she had been through.
By the 2nd and 3rd day she began to come out of her shell and one could see a happy little girl in there.
Only 6 days later, she got her Christmas present by being adopted by a couple here in Ireland who are both social workers.
The last of 3 dogs they looked at, she took to them and their 2 small terriers amazingly, and even followed the husband to the door when he went to get
something from the car.
Now named Lilly, she is doing very well, and is even adapting well to their two year old son!

The best present of all was the adoption of Fergal.
About 2 weeks before Christmas, I said to Wendy "if there's any dog here who really needs his own home for Christmas, it's Fergal."
He had been here a YEAR, and even though he was such a good boy, and so very adoptable, even good with cats, no one wanted him.
About a week later I got an email from a well known UK author who lives here in Ireland:
he had been visiting my website, and could not stop thinking about Fergal.
He wanted to at least inquire about adopting him.
To make a long story short, 2008 ended with Fergal going off to his new home on December 29.
I have to admit, I cried.
After everything that dog had been through, here he was, off to his new life.
And he has been an excellent boy in all ways.
Of course - it's Fergal (now spelled Feargal, thank you)!

November 2007

The month began with a long drive to Rosslare Port here in Ireland, where Poppy's new mom had taken the ferry from France to retrieve her new family member.
Having driven up from the south of France the day before, Valy and friend Nathalie took the ferry from Calais.
Poppy was delighted to meet NEW PEOPLE OH BOY!!! and jumped into their car like she knew where she was going.
She is now happily living with several other dogs, cats, chickens, ponies....and children!

Brady left for his new place in the UK about a week later.
About a week after that I took in two older lady greyhounds, Susie and Clara.
Both of them 9 yrs old, Clara was a bit thin, and had come from another rescue which reported she was not doing well in kennels.
Susie had been saved from the pound, where she was in quite sad condition, to say the least.
The two girls shared the large old greenhouse attached to the side of my house, and had their own garden to mooch around in.
Slowly I began to let them off leash in the fields, and they loved it.

October 2007

This was an eventful month.
Poppy was booked for her new home in France and had to get microchipped as well as get a rabies vax and
pet passported in preparation for her November journey.

Most momentous was the story of Sergeant, a 9 yr old male greyhound who had been left in a pound in poor condition, taken in a so-called rescue who did not know
how to care for or assess him properly, and then after a few weeks asked me to take him in.
He died shortly after he arrived here, and it was quite a shock, something I reflect on quite often.
You can read his story in the memorial section.

This was also the month Cara was returned, due to a change in family circumstances.
She had only been with her people 2 months, and I helped them find a home for their other dog as well.

Mother and son Jenny and Tango were spayed and neutered, and, as usual, did quite well thanks to the skill and
post op care of Brittas Veterinary Group in Thurles.

On October 24 I was informed of a large white male greyhound at the county pound in Dundalk, and the next day he was brought 3 hours to a town near where I live.
As I did not really have room for him, but did not want to see him PTS, I took him in just temporarily.
I named him Brady, after the man who drove him so far and would not accept any money even for fuel.
For the few weeks he was here, Brady proved to be an excellent boy, running loose in the fields with no problems at all, including
running loose with other dogs, both male and female.
An intelligent gentle boy who is now with a private sanctuary in southwest England.

September 2007

On the first day of this month I picked up a greyhound from a vet in the Dublin area, a real cruelty case in every sense of the word.
Not on the website yet pending an investigation, "Brus" has now transformed into a smashing boy with loads of personality.
He will be up on the website in the coming weeks.

Three girls here went to the vets to be spayed on the same day, September 11: Posie, Poppy and Molly.
Taking 3 to be spayed at once is not a sign of desparation, but of the excellent surgical and post-surgical treatment all my dogs get at Brittas Veterinary Clinic in Thurles,
County Tipperary.
My hounds leaving Brittas always leave there totally unaware anything at all was done to them, and I literally have to control them the next day, as they are oblivious
to their stitches.
Never once having to use a "lampshade" collar on hounds having had surgery with Brittas, I have to salute them for their excellent work.

Posie left for her new home in Jersey on September 27, and the night before I took in a greyhound from another rescue, calling her Tammy.
A couple days later, Milish and Ava, both long-termers here, went to their wonderful new home only 30 minutes from here.

During September a few other greyhounds were helped to safety and did not spend time here at all.
One of these dogs was a 7 yr old male greyhound who had been locked in a shed for about 2 years.
Owned, with several other dogs, by an elderly man who only a few years ago had been cited for cruelty, they were all
surrendered when the old man recently died.
This was the only greyhound, and he looked quite elderly.
He is now called Bertie and is in the care of Sheena at Clare Animal Welfare.

Also, a big thank you to my good friend and Voice of Reason from Galway-Roscommon who wishes to not be named.
Tirelessly and selflessly helping greyhounds and lurchers at every chance she gets, we cooperate quite a bit on getting dogs transported and helped.
She often drives them to the UK herself, all at her own expense.
A great friend and an excellent person to cooperate with!

All in all, it was a busy enough month, and much credit goes to my once-a-week human volunteers, Wendy and Maria (and sometimes Emma and Aaron),
and also to my own 4 dogs, who act as models for the others to follow.

August 2007

August was a good month for OGS.
Several booked dogs left, though few inquiries were made.
August is a slow month for adoptions, as people are away on holiday, and parents are readying children for school.
It is a good time to catch up and take stock of things.

During this month, Sighthound Welfare Trust held an auction on behalf of OGS, and over €1000 was accepted from them.
Some of this money will go towards any one of the following projects: a new roof on the "stone room",
which is an 11'x14' very old stone room in back of the scullery.
Last year the floor in there was built up and insulated, and this year an old blocked entrance to it (through the scullery)
was opened up and a double door put in.
There are other projects this money could go for as well, just in case the roofer cannot fix the roof before the winter.
It will also be used to support dogs here who are not paid for by the local SPCA or the Irish Greyhound Board.

Beautiful friendly little Cara went to her new home in early August, as did the quiet and reserved Julie.
Petra arrived from Sweden to spend several days with her selected Beauty before bringing her back to Sweden with her.

Nathelie Cloux from the French sighthound rescue Levriers en Ditresse and her two children visited here as well,
with her 12 yr old son Leo having Molly sleep with him every night.
One night when Leo went to bed early and we overlooked putting her in his room, Molly took it upon herself in the middle
of the night to go outside (a back door is kept slightly ajar), leap the big gate, and jump onto the very large concrete
planter which sits just under the window in the room where Leo was sleeping.
I heard dog footsteps in the driveway and looked outside, and there she was, on her back legs on the planter, trying to
figure out how to get inside to be with Leo.
I brought her inside and let her into Leo the "normal" way.

In mid August Tango and Jenny were rescued from the pound and brought to safety, staying with a friend initially while
space was made for them.
The International Greyhound Forum took place in Dublin, and I relied on friends and Emma and Wendy to care for the dogs
so I could attend this. Little Posie was taken in at the end of August, though a month later she was already adopted!

As usual Wendy and Emma helped me out on a weekly basis, and the dogs have well learned to love the sight of them.
Although Emma will not be coming now that school has started, they all still recognize Wendy and make a big fuss when she arrives!

July 2007

In June OGS received a phone call from Wendy, who had recently moved to Ireland from the UK with her 14 yr old daughter Emma and 
husband Brian.
Having volunteered in the UK for greyhound adoption programs there, they were interested in helping out if they could here in Ireland. 
Of course I said YES!

Starting in late June and then all through July and into August now, Wendy, Emma, and sometimes Brian come faithfully once a week. 
When they are here, every single dog gets walked, and certain dogs are selected out for grooming. 
Dogs with socialization needs get walked twice, with different groups of dogs each time, and my own two greyhounds and
sloughi usually just accompany them off-leash. 

Some photos here of Wendy, Emma and Brian just a few days after Poppy
arrived:



1)Wendy able and willing to tolerate being attacked by an enthusiastic Poppy....look at the swing of that tail!



2)Emma grooming Poppy with a rubber mitt in one hand, and gently supporting her with the other.



3)Emma and Brian bearing the brunt of a "I'M-POPPY-DONTCHA-JUST-LOVE-ME?" invasion.....

Tori off to her new home with lovely Francoise....she will be keeping company with a fine, happy 9 yr old male greyhound as 
well as Francoise's OH!

Two new additions this month are Poppy and Molly. 
Poppy had to retire early due to a track injury, her owner opting for her to enter an adoption program. 
Molly was removed from a rescue kennel where she was well cared for but found to be quite low in a kennel environment. 
More about these two darlings in the adoption section.

Molly

Poppy

June 2007

"Three greyhounds here went to permanent homes this month, one of them quite a long termer, Cricket.

Beginning with June 1st, Aoife went to join owners Ann and Ray in the UK with three other hounds from Orchard: Maxi, Sophie, and Bailey....and Ann and Ray's own long-termer, Brandy, an adorable terrier.
These 5 enjoy long walks at the beach as well as the local heath, and Aoife has proven to be an affectionate and biddable girl.

Cricket, who had been at OGS since February 2006 and arrived in very poor condition, now is living in Ireland north of Dublin.
Owned by Erin and John, and with a feisty companion named Biscuit, Cricket finally, at long last, got the loving home she deserved.

And on the last day of June, Dash went to go live in a household with former OGS "guest" David, as well as a collie and a large lurcher. Dash is now also keeping company with a newborn foal and its mother, as well as two humans whom he allows to think they "own" him. He is quickly joining the other dogs in Welsh-language comprehension!

Fawn has left Ireland and is now in the UK with her foster family and will be available for adoption shortly through http://shropshire.retiredgreyhounds.org/.

May 2007

This little mite of a greyhound was hanging around a picnic area on a very busy motorway for almost a week before she let herself be caught.
It took 4 visits and lots of food to catch her!
Now called Fawn, she has joined the rest of the dogs here and is extremely well behaved, getting along with all the other dogs.
She is great in the car, on the leash, and with cats and small dogs.
Fawn is only 2 years old and yet clearly has already had a litter of pups within the past 2 or 3 months.
On June 1st Fawn will be traveling to the UK to her new foster home (which also has a cat), and will be available for adoption through http://shropshire.retiredgreyhounds.org/.
Her time here will have been short, but she has made a very positive impression.

Here is the position she'd been lying in for days!

standing in the parking lot near the back of my car- she would not touch the food if it was IN the car, even at the edge of the back. In fact, she barked at me to put it DOWN. Keep in mind the dog in this photo is only 2 years old......

Eating near the picnic tables first

After eating

It was very windy

No interest in cats at all!

Fawn, in the middle here, mixes well with the other dogs.

A girl who loves her comforts!!!