Canine Carnage

Sometimes it is almost too easy to forget just how finky and sneaky a greyhound can be. Take this for example - Exhibit A) the criminal mastermind, Lottie (AKA the brindle rocket).  The canine suspect  was found at the scene of the crime looking extremely innocent, almost blissfully unawares of the carnage that had been bought to bear.

The crime scene involved a paper towel roll that had been left unguarded on the kitchen bench for 15 minutes. The sheer level of destruction has left forensics baffled as to how that such ferocious destruction could have been carried out in near complete silence.


















The law enforcement community warn residents to guard all unsecured food and other items and to remain vigilant to the threat of greyhound thievery and general finkishness. 

When Disasters Strike

last Sunday a magnitude 6.5 quake hit my home town. No one was seriously hurt but buildings were damaged and the CBD was closed as engineers checked out buildings and other infrastructure.

The media went in a frenzy of speculation, covering all the damage and what the possibilities were of a bigger quake happening now that aftershocks were a repeating half hour occurrence.

Lottie, (AKA the brindle rocket) our resident Greyhound was less than impressed, crying after each big rumble and shake. Now a week on, she's thankfully become so used to the repeated shakes and rumbles that she's taking aftershocks in her stride.

With our Greyhound now more accepting of the odd quake our thoughts began to shift to planning for what would happen if the big one was to strike?

Conversation inevitably shifted to stockpiling water and food or where we'd go if we were not home when the quake hit.I compiled a brief story on what gadgets I'd pack into a quake survival kit and in the process of writing it I started to think about what would happen to Lottie if a large quake hit?

Thankfully we'd invested in a 25 kilo bag of dog biscuits but water was still going to be a challenge.  Food and water were one thing, but of more concern was what would happen if Lottie like so many other pets in a major quake freaked out and decided to run to the hills.

Thankfully being a re-homed ex racing Greyhound, Lottie was chipped which meant that if she was to bolt in an earthquake and was eventually found, she could be tracked back to us - thank goodness!

The Greeting

One of the joys of owning a dog is coming home. Being greeted by a furry tornado who is beyond estatic that you're home is a very pleasing thing indeed.

This weighed heavily on my mind as we headed off for a 3 week break in Hong Kong, Singapore and Bali to escape a particularly grotty winter and celebrate the fact that I'd completed my first exams in over 20 years.

We had the in-laws dog sitting sitting and they'd owned a German Shepard so were familiar with the foibles of a larger dog. Lottie, or brindle Greyhound was clearly going to be in good hands.

The first few days in Hong Kong were spent readjusting to their brutally hot and humid summer, but after that my thoughts kept turning back to my Greyhound, wondering if she was missing us as much as we were clearly missing her.

Conversations over dinner or on the way to tourist attractions inevitably turned to Lottie. I began to wonder what her reaction would be when we returned home.

The first week we were away our home town was hit by a once in a hundred year storm where winds reached over 200Mph and stormy seas tore up roads and destroyed sea-walls. Thankfully our house, dog and dog-sitters escaped unscathed. Now I wasn't simply missing my Greyhound, I was getting worried about her as well.

Would she go bonkers and be hyper excited we made it home, or would she be more cat-like and give us the stink-eye until she deigned to forgive us for daring to depart home, leaving her with strangers?

Finally the day came to leave the tropical tranquility (third world pollution and poverty) of Bali for the wonders of a Wellington winter. After an 11 hour flight we finally met Lottie.

In her typical Greyhound way, she greeted us. as we dumped our luggage in the hall. Furiously fast tail wags with a wet nose checking out our luggage, she clung to us for hours. It was great to be home.

Not a day goes by when I don't look at Lottie and think "What a cool dog!"