Thursday, January 27, 2011

GAP TV Ad Made by Saatchi and Saatchi:)

Here in New Zealand we are very excited about this TV ad donated to GAP by the famous Saatchi and Saatchi!  It's a bit different but very cute.  The gorgeous Greyhound featured is one Fatima and Rachel fostered a while ago.  She is now greatly loved in her forever home:)  Please have a look at the video and share it around.  It's for Greyhounds everywhere!



And a bit more exciting news.  You know Frankie's soul mate and Beryl's BFF, Lucy?  Well, a few weeks ago she got her Rally Novice title scoring 98/100, her best score yet.  And this is with very little training over the previous 2 months as Rachel, who trains Lucy, has been out of action with a broken thigh!  Way to go Lucy and Rachel.  She was the equal first Greyhound, with her 'brother' Louie, to get her CGC and is the only Greyhound in NZ with any other title.  What's next?
Lucy and Rachel with her last trial certificate and ribbon:)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

We Went to the Beach Yesterday:)

No work for me yesterday and a lovely day for a trip to the forest/dunes/beach for me and the kids.  We met up with my girlfriend and 1 of her Shelties and headed off.  We start in the forest, head out through the sand dunes which have quite a lot of pine trees on the edge and Frankie AND Beryl went hunting!!  Frankie always does but this was the first time Beryl had joined him.  She eventually emerged grinning with her tail tip bleeding a little.  She'd obviously done some tail bashing while she was in there.  I took quite a few photos but didn't get any 'stunners' and none at the beach as I didn't want to take my camera in the sea in case I got bowled over!  As it was Beryl was doing so much splashing around it would have got wet anyway, lol.  She had a great time frolicking in the waves.  But I know I wasn't as much fun as another Greyhound would have been!

So ... here are a few photos of our morning
Beryl wonders why Connie isn't puffing?  
Beryl mooching, Frankie on a mission!
The only other person and dog we saw!  A trainer and his Greyhound:)
Hmm, what's over there?
Going up to explore!
Coming back to Mum:)

Sighthound

That's a pretty steep dune after lots of running!  
Frankie checking up on us, top left corner:)
Beryl coming over to us, Feral Frankie off on another mission!
Beryl admiring the view
Thanks for that, Connie, I had a wonderful time:)
And I took a little bit of video of Beryl trotting around on the dunes then doing a great recall which finished with her crashing into me, lol.  I affectionately called her a bitch, lol!  Truly!




I hope everyone is having a great week.  And thanks for all the comments on my last post.  I'll be 'replying' to some of them in a post soon:)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Greyhounds V Other Breeds

I'm not sure what to call this post as it's not a fight!  I've just been wondering what draws other people to certain breeds of dog.  There are so many to choose from how did/do you decide what is the right breed for you?  And then there are the muttley (Frankie type) dogs, where I guess it's often a case of falling in love with a particular dog at the SPCA or where ever.  I got Frankie from an auction site.  The time wasn't really right for me to get a dog but the sad expression in his eyes, skinniness and unattractiveness kept drawing me back to his post and photos again and again and finally, a few hours before his post finished I emailed his rescuer to see if he was still available.  Obviously he was but I had to pass a home check before he could come and live with me.  And a week or so later I met him and really fell in love.  The ugly duckling in the photos had turned into a swan after a few weeks in foster care.
Such a sad boy:(
Just a bit happier now?
When my thoughts turned to getting him some company as I'm away from home for around 12 hours a day during my busy time at work (now!) I didn't really have a breed of dog in mind.  I used to breed and show Shelties.  Absolutely wonderful little dogs but I'm past looking after a long coated dog and they do have a tendency to like the sound of their own voice which was OK when I lived in the country but not a good idea now that I'm in town.  And I didn't think their nature would gel all that well with Frankie.  Then there were JRT's.  My ex-husband had custody of our 2 (although little Katie died a year ago today, RIP sweetie, we miss you) and just Josh is left to look after my ex in his old age.  And he is so good.  A really special little dog.  But he and Frankie aren't buddies, which has a lot to do with Josh thinking I am still his Mum (which I am, of course!) and I shouldn't have another dog!!!  And there is the matter of all the white hair which seems to constantly shed!
Katie and Josh as youngsters
By this time we'd met Fatima and Rachel and they had begun serious fostering for GAP (Greyhounds as Pets), and Frankie and their own little girl, Lucy, had fallen in love.  Frankie enjoyed the company of all the foster dogs to a greater or lesser degree and there were none he didn't get on with.  My thoughts started to swing to getting a little female Greyhound, I'd never had a 'big' dog and didn't think a big Greyhound would fit in my house, lol!  Although I've long had a hankering for a black standard Poodle, but then there's the coat thing again.  Well, my first thought when I saw Beryl in the flesh was OMG, she's huge!!!  She's actually an average sized female but next to Lucy she looks big:-)
Lucy and Beryl
Standing next to Louie - not so big:)
And when Beryl curls up she's about the size of a pillow!

Anyway, we're all living happily ever after and I guess I just kind of slid into Greyhounds without realising it to begin with.  But you know what ... I'd never want to be without one now!  So I guess they're my breed.  Beryl is perfect for me/us at this time in my life.  Sometimes I'll meet another Greyhound and I think hmmm, if I didn't have Beryl ... but then I get back with Beryl and I slap myself for having such a terrible thought.  Part of me would really love another Greyhound but the sensible part of me says 2 dogs are enough for 1 person to look after physically and financially.  And I really don't want to share myself with another dog, if that makes sense.

A very good reason for getting a GAP Greyhound again is that I'd be giving a good (hopefully Frankie and Beryl would say GREYT!) home to a Greyhound who needs one.  So many people don't realise what wonderful pets they make.  I didn't until I got Beryl.  She's way better than I thought she'd be.

Another good reason for getting a Greyhound is the Greyhound community!  I've met so many lovely people and hounds since getting Beryl.  

OK, that's more than enough of me waffling on.  I'd love to hear how you came to have your particular breed/s of dog and what you love about them and how they suit you:-)

And it's Saturday Blog Hop time again.

It's co-hosted by Life With Dogs Two Little Cavaliers and Confessions of the Plume! and if you visit any of their blogs you can find out how to join the fun:)  Thanks for visiting mine.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Greyt Greyhound Gallop @ the GGG

I just found a few short videos I took at the Greyt Greyhound Gathering at the end of November so I had a play and did this. And I discovered I can upload it to my blog directly from Youtube, how cool is that!! I don't know what it will look like though, guess I'll find out soon:) This is a few of the 52 hounds that were there enjoying a short burst in a big paddock. It was way too hot to run around for long!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Beryl Can Be Quite EVIL!!

I've mentioned before about Beryl's warped sense of humour and how she likes to really test my nerve at the park by running straight at me, full speed and only dodging around me at the last millisecond!  She usually does this when we don't have company and she gets a big kick out of it:-)  Well, she's developed an evil variation on this .... the other night she's running full pelt at me and dodges to go to the right, then she dodges back to the left!  I won't repeat what I was thinking but I was fully expecting to end up on my bum, I don't know how she missed me, lol.  She hasn't had the opportunity to try it again but she will.  I don't know if my nerves are improving or getting extremely frayed!  Yes, I could stop her doing it quite easily but I enjoy the pleasure she gets out of it too ... and I don't know what she would think up next, it could be worse;-)

On Wednesday I had an unexpected day off work and I had a bad case of cabin fever and needed to take the kids somewhere different for a walk.  As it wasn't too hot and there was a nice breeze blowing I decided we'd go do the forest/dunes/beach walk about 40 minutes from home.  But then I couldn't find anyone to come with us!  I hadn't taken the kids for a walk anywhere without moral support before and was a bit nervous about it but thought we'd go anyway.

We had a great afternoon and apart from the sand being too hot for Frankie's delicate feet (lol) we didn't have any problems.  I'd thought being between Christmas and New Year there might not be many people at the beach but I was totally wrong!  Luckily where we came out from the dunes onto the beach was between 2 groups of people and cars and the kids didn't put a foot wrong.  Beryl really enjoyed frolicking in the sea and Frankie came in enough to cool his feet off.  I couldn't take any photos of them in the sea as Beryl was splashing too much water around but I did get some good photos of her in the dunes on the way back to the car.

Frankie didn't stand still long enough to get a photo!
Oh yeah, this is my kinda place!
Where's Frankie?
At home
Tasting the wind
Feral Beryl
Desert Dog ... shame about the missing feet, duh!!
We're all looking forward to our next trip to the beach but it might not be til the school holidays are over in early February.

It's New Years Day here in New Zealand and we'd like to wish everyone and their families a wonderful 2011.  2010 seemed to have been full of disasters and tragedies around the world and although I wasn't personally affected by any it really is about time we had plenty of good stuff happening.  Take care, Sue, Frankie and Beryl
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