Friday’s Fiver No 12

So Friday’s Fiver No 12 for February 17th goes to Give A Greyhound A Home

From their website:

GAGAH was established in 1999 with the sole aim of raising awareness about the plight of racing greyhounds and ex-working lurchers and to save as many of these wonderful hounds as we can.

We are a Non-Profit organisation, solely run by a dedicated team of volunteers who give their time and effort for free. Every penny donated to GAGAH goes to helping us save more lives and to look after the dogs we already have in our care.

To date we have found over 1000 homes for these adorable hounds, where they are loved and get the chance to have a happy, well deserved retirement.

We can accommodate 6 dogs at our Methlick kennels, 3 at the Hope kennels near Memsie, we pay for 2 spaces at Ebrie Lodge boarding kennels, and we have foster homes who look after another 4-5 hounds.

Over 10,000 greyhounds retire each year EVERY year, with fewer than 2,000 being rehomed, the rest are sadly put to sleep before they reach 4 years old.

Many of the dogs we get have been very badly abused or neglected, we rehabilitate these traumatised dogs and gently prepare and introduce them to the big bad world, and slowly help them to learn to trust humans again. We have had dogs in our care who have been so badly beaten they are just an empty shell who have shutdown, we've had dogs who are starved and neglected to the brink of death with some adult greyhounds coming in weighing 14kilos when they should be 30kilos, the heartbreaking cases are endless but I am pleased to say all have had happy endings.

Friday’s Fiver No 11

Still running behind I am afraid, so Friday’s Fiver for February 11th is Greyhound Gap

From their website:

Welcome to Greyhound Gap

Greyhound Gap is a small independent charity set up to rescue, rehabilitate and rehome greyhounds and lurchers who find themselves in a ‘put to sleep’ situation in UK pounds.  Funded almost entirely by donations, we rehome around 150 dogs each year.  We can have up to 60 dogs in our care at any one time, in foster homes or in holding kennels awaiting suitable foster homes. Greyhound Gap operates on a national basis so our dogs can be homed in most areas throughout the UK.

We have a network of volunteers across the whole of the UK who can help physically by: fostering hounds, fundraising, home visiting, transporting and walking our kennel hounds.  We also offer the opportunity to sponsor our long-stay hounds.

We are totally self funded and work extremely hard to raise the necessary monies to continue helping these wonderful hounds.   This is made possible by fantastic support from our network of volunteers and you, the general public.  Without that generosity we could not do the work we do and we are incredibly grateful for every donation we receive, however small.  Every single penny really does help!

More information on how you can help us or get involved can be found within the pages of this website.   Please explore the site and find out more about who we are, what we do and the hounds we help.

Friday’s Fiver No 10

Sorry!  I am very behind in my Fridays Fiver, so without further delay Friday’s Fiver for 3rd February is Last Chance Animal Rescue

From their website:

Last Chance Animal Rescue Centre is a registered charity based in Kent, UK - near Sussex, Surrey & London.

• We rescue, rehabilitate and re-home dogs, cats, rabbits and guinea pigs.
• All our animals are health checked, inoculated & identi-chipped.
• We have a full neutering policy.
• We carry out home checks and are able to re-home to most areas of the UK.
• We operate a no destruction policy.

Snowy Sunday

All last week, the UK forecasters were predicting that most of the UK would have snow showers on Saturday night and sure enough, Sunday morning we woke up to 4 –5 inches of snow.  Big deal, I hear our American/Canadians readers, but for us, here in the UK, especially here on the East Anglian coast, snow is quite a big deal, however little we get.

Thought you might like to see some footage of our snowy Sunday.  First up, is Raven being Raven (I apologise for me screeching in the back ground and if you turn the volume up really high you can just about make out the Sunday morning church bells), then the chicken’s first ever glimpse of snow (they were not keen at all, and in the end I had to clear a path the very short distance from the hen house to their feeder).  Next clip is Tillie & Raven getting excited on our departure for the mornings walk (heavily egged on by Nigel winding them up with a broom!) and last but by no means least, Tillie & Raven ‘zooming’.  Note Raven’s speedy, sleek run as opposed to Tillie’s ‘leaping in the air’ run. 

 

Doggy Cake Recipe

As requested by a couple of our blogging friends, here is the recipe I use for the hounds Gotcha Cake. The original recipe I got from Dog Cake Recipes but I tweaked the recipe very slightly by missing off the butter, I thought the oil was enough fat already.

Gotcha/Birthday Recipe

• 1 ½ cup of Flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon of Baking Powder
• 1 jar of Beef Baby Food (any flavour would do – its just for gooeyness)
• ½ cup of Corn Oil (I used rapeseed oil)
• 4 fresh eggs
• Natural Yogurt
• A few strips of Beef Jerky (I used chew strips like Scmackos, soft enough so you can tear them up)

Put the beef baby food, oil and eggs into a bowl and mix them thoroughly. Add the rest of the ingredients and make sure the final mixture is smooth. Tear the beef jerky strips into smaller pieces and add them. Pour into a lined 6” or 7” cake tin and cook in the oven at 200 C for about 1 hour. Turn out on to cooling rack. When cold spread natural yogurt over the top for frosting and using the strips, spell out the initial of your dog or using a squeezy bottle of sauce (I used barbeque sauce) write the initial letter or name. Serve and your dog will love it!

Raven’s 2nd Gotcha Day

You wait for ages for a doggy cake and two come along in the same week. Today was Raven’s 2nd Gotcha Day. Actually it was the day he came to stay ‘temporarily’ as a foster but after a few days, he became a permanent addition to the family, so we celebrate the day he arrived in the household.

Is it my turn this week?

Yum! Smells good!

No Tillie we are not having doggy cake every week.

I can wait…slobber, slobber, slobber….

Going….

Going..

Gone!

I could easily eat that again!

Er…maybe not!

Sorry for the blurry eating pictures but you wouldn’t believe the speed he ate it!

Friday’s Fiver No 10

This week’s donation goes to Galgos del sol a rescue based in Spain that rescues unwanted galgos.

From their website:

Welcome to GALGOS DEL SOL SOCIEDAD PROTECTORA DE ANIMALES NIF/CIF:G30856736

Galgos del Sol is a small rescue based in Murcia. GdS rescues abandoned and injured galgos (Spanish hunting greyhounds), rehabilitates them and finds them forever homes in the UK & other parts of Europe.  Thousands of galgos are abandoned or killed annually at the end of each short hunting season and as they are not always viewed as potential pets in Spain, they usually end up in perreras (pounds), where their lives are ended, often not in ways we would consider humane.  Galgos del Sol is entirely dependent on fundraising for its survival and is run by two dedicated women, Tina and Suzie with huge support from Beryl Brennan & other dedicated volunteers based in Spain, France and the UK.