Update on Rocky my foster greyhound

Rocky our current foster greyhound came to stay with us in September.  Since fostering him we have been told a little more of his previous history.  Apparently he was bred in Ireland in 2003 and bought over to England for the purpose of hare coursing, which he was quite good at.  After hunting with dogs was banned here in the UK he was no longer useful to his owners – another words once he could no longer make them any money, they weren’t interested.  So lucky for Rocky (as he didn’t meet a different more final fate) he was relinquished into the care of a rescue centre.  This is where his history gets sketchy for the next 2 years.  We can only assume he was pushed around the re-homing system, when probably in a bid to finally get him adopted he was transferred to Great Yarmouth Homefinders, part of the The Retired Greyhound Trust.  In 2007 he was finally adopted along with another greyhound by someone in Sheringham.  Rocky must at last have thought he had found his forever home but after 2 years he again found himself homeless.  This is where Annie of Action for Greyhounds stepped in and took ownership of him and this is when he came into our lives.  He had lived with a cat and was supposed to be cat friendly but Ali our cat was just too interesting for him and it took quite awhile for him to lose interest in him.  Now in the house he is fine with him but outside in the garden the chase instinct kicks in and he can’t resist giving chase.  Luckily Ali being very old now spends most of his time indoors and usually only ventures outside when he knows it is safe to do so.  Also Rocky is very interested in my chickens as the first thing he does when he is let out in the morning is to race over to their run to see on the off chance if one of them has escaped enabling him to have a jolly good chase round.  A couple of months ago this happened and he was gleefully chasing round the garden with one of my geriatric chickens in his mouth.  We managed to wrestle her out of his jaws and thought she must have died of fright but lo and behold she was none the worse for her ordeal.

Rocky is one of the quietest and easy to look after greyhound I have looked after.  In the house you wouldn’t know you had him as with most greyhounds he LOVES to sleep.  On walks he is easy to walk and doesn’t pull at all.  As he has been a hare courser in his younger days, he is quite ‘keen’ so on the occasions when we do let him off the lead, it has to be somewhere fairly safe if he gets it into his head to take off as his recall out our garden is non existent.  Most of the time he is content to quietly lollop alongside sniffing all the wondrous smells that are in the big outside world.  As yet there hasn’t been any interest in him.  As Action for Greyhounds is mainly a campaigning group it will be a matter of waiting for that one special person or family that wants a dog with Rocky’s personality.  He is so friendly with everyone he meets, young and old alike.  Very clean in the house and sleeps all through the night and can be left in the house safely.  Most of the time he is ok with other dogs but once in awhile he will take an instance dislike to a dog he either meets or can see on the other side of the road and he will snarl and bark aggressively – although i think this is out of fear mainly as he is quite submissive especially with my own greyhound Tillie.  He is the dog we have looked after the longest mainly because all the other times I have fostered have been for a different charity whose main priority is rehoming and not campaigning.  Secretly, I hope that no one wants to adopt him as I think he is gorgeous, a real halo dog and the only reason I haven’t openly said I would keep him forever is the fact that I wouldn’t be able to continue to foster other greyhounds.  So I am content to look after and love this special hound as long as it takes.

Rocky & Ruby

Not blogged for awhile but I am back again now.  Rocky our new foster greyhound lad is settling in nicely.  Cat training is going well and he is fine with Ali in the house but if he sees him outside he is still excitable.  Took him to the vets this morning to have his follow up booster jabs and he behaved impeccably.  He is still unsure and barky with strange dogs if approached on the lead but I think this is all talk as most of the time his tail is wagging.  He has put on a couple of kilos and is finishing all his dinner up now.  Yesterday we caught the narrow gauge railway at Wroxham and travelled the 3 miles to the next station at Coltishall and then walked back home to Wroxham along the footpath.  Rocky enjoyed all the new smells and was not fazed about the distance walked at all but I think he was glad to climb into bed once home.

I haven’t done much in the garden lately apart from clear one of the raised beds and dig it over.  I barrowed two loads of lovely crumbly leaf mould on to it yesterday.  I need to get some horse muck on as well then I can put the winter cover on and let the worms do the rest ready for spring.  I still have things growing in the other beds such as leeks, a few beans left, still got courgettes growing, carrots, chillies and spring onions. 

           

I have finished another crocheted greyhound – this time called Ruby.  I have already started the next one which will be a plain fawn one.  In between I have quickly crocheted some hats.

   

Last week I mailed a cheque off to Action for Greyhounds for £1008.08 which was the total of my fundraising from Sep 2008 to Sep 2009.  This was raised selling knitted toys and items, second-hand books, handmade cards and from the collection box at the boatyard.  A big thank you to my Mother and friend Barbara for the knitting help, everyone who donated books, to Wilma for the handmade cards and to everyone else who donated money or purchased something.  The money is going to a very worthwhile cause – campaigning to stop greyhound racing and to promote greyhounds as pets.