Happy Birthday Lottie!!!!

Amazingly a whole year has passed since we adopted Lottie, AKA the brindle rocket. She's now also 5 years old (we adopted her on her birthday).

Looking back at my first blog entries, I can see how nervous we were about getting a greyhound and the changes that it'd entail for our relatively care-free lifestyle.

In the end it turned out that our fears were unfounded.

A Nervous Start

Lottie was initially very nervy (she trembled all the way home when we picked her up), but she quickly adjusted and slotted right in. I remember writing in one of my first blog entries "In just 6 weeks she's settled in and started to come out of her shell"

It now seems really funny to think that she struggled with alien concepts such as stairs and believe it or not sofas. Nowadays of course she owns our sofas. Stairs are not a problem in the least - they provide access to the upstairs bed for canine sprawling purposes.

Instead of waiting downstairs as we go up the stairs, whining pitifully, Lottie is usually first up or down, bolting past us and waiting at the top or bottom of the stairs, just in case there's a walk or treat up for grabs.

Another unexpected bonus of adopting a retired greyhound has been the amazing community of greyhound owners we've met.

There's a real Greyhound mafia - Most greyhound owners tend to stay in touch. Best of all, Lottie has a lot of regular playmates that she likes to zoom around the dog park with at improbable speeds. Many greyhound owners have since become firm friends.

Ninja Food Thievery

In the early stages of Lotties adoption, counter surfing was a common occurrence. (I had even considered calling her insinkerator given her penchant for ninja-like food thievery). Having only ever owned small dogs before, we were completely unprepared for the giraffe like necks of greyhounds, not to mention their uncanny ability to reach food on benchtops.

One particularly epic counter-surf saw Lottie stealing some fillet steak,packaging and all. We caught her chomping into it and realised to our horror that she'd eaten the clingfilm wrapped around the steak.

We rushed her off to the after-hours emergency vet, who promptly gave her meds to induce vomiting.

Lottie duly complied.

Even though partially digested and chewed steak materialised, there was no sign of the clingfilm.

Stressed out, tired and several hundred dollars poorer, we headed home - only to find the clingfilm had been bundled into the trash with the mangled and chewed steak packaging.

Perhaps the biggest milestone with Lottie was obedience. No matter what any greyhound expert tells you, remember this: The way to a greyhounds brain is through their stomachs.

Like most greyhounds, our girl is food obsessed and will do anything for a treat. Once we learnt this there was no looking back and Lottie passed obedience with flying colors. The fact both Shelly and Sonya, the instructors are also amazing with dogs and people also made a huge difference.

Bomber: Best Friends Fur-Ever

In what must be the ultimate endorsement of Greyhounds, we decided we liked life with Lottie so much that we'd adopt another greyhound. Not so long afterwards Bomber, a big black ex racer boy originally from Australia arrived. Lottie and him bonded really quickly and are now inseparable best friends fur-ever. It isn't unusual to see then curled up on a sofa together or snuggled up in the back of our car.


What really amazes is just how fast all this seems to have happened. the year with Lottie has literally flown past.

This scares me more than a little because each and every minute I spend with Lottie and Bomber is so unbelievably precious. If only there was a way to slow time!!

If there's things I've learnt from Lottie over the past year, its these:

Live life in the moment. Love what you do and who you are with. Food on the counter is fair game.


Happy Birthday Lottie! We both love you heaps you mad dog!

Getting a Greyhound

2002 Losing a dog 

Monty, part whirlwind, mostly miniature dachshund had been with us for 11 and a half years. Although he was tiny, he was larger than life and an even bigger part of our lives. 

We still have our favorite Monty stories and were utterly devastated when in 2002, his heart finally gave out and he passed away. 

It is kind of funny, but after 10 years without a dog we were finally beginning to toy with the idea of getting another dog.  

Life without a dog 

Thinking about it, our need for another dog wasn't all that surprising. Our much loved elderly cat had just died, leaving us without any animals and our home was feeling pretty empty. 

No dog also meant coming home just wasn't the same. 

Not being mugged by a furry tornado hysterically wagging its tail to tell you it really REALLY missed you had taken quite a lot of getting used to. 

A big part of our lives had been gone and we felt it keenly. 

Let the debate begin

The trouble was we couldn't agree on what sort of dog to get.

My only experience of owning a dog was Monty, our dachshund. I was keen to stick with a smaller, more manageable breed, but my wife didn't want another dachshund clouding her memories of Monty. 

Although I understood her sentiments, we simply couldn't agree on what sort of dog we wanted until a chance encounter along Oriental Bay.

A meeting at Oriental Bay

One evening we were wandering to a bus stop and bumped into a lady walking a greyhound. I can’t remember its name, but its gentle manner and silky short fur was amazing. We were both smitten. 

Looking back now, I'm pretty sure that was when we were both caught the greyhound bug. We never looked back.

Hanging with the hounds

Not long afterwards we began to sneak looks at the Greyhounds As Pets website. Soon MySky was being left on the TAB channel so we could watch greyhounds racing. 

Things finally came to a head at Christmas. Stuck for a Christmas present for my wife, I printed out the Greyhounds As Pets adoption form, and bought her a dog bowl. 

It was about as different as a Christmas present could be, and I got more than a few odd looks from workmates when I told them I'd bought my wife a dog bowl for Christmas. 

Regardless, we’d finally made that first critical step towards getting our next dog and it was going to be a greyhound.

The adoption process

Having downloaded, filled out and returned the adoption form, Leigh, a volunteer with Greyhounds As Pets, and Mr Darcy (her rather dashing black greyhound) came to inspect our property, making sure it was suitably greyhound-proof. 

On the plus side, we’d just finished fencing and hit it off instantly with Mr Darcy. Leigh (Mr Darcy's pet human) asked us a series of questions to help match us up with the greyhound of our dreams, also giving us some great tips on life with greyhounds. 

Much to our relief it looked like we’d made the grade as potential greyhound owners.

We also learned that there was a big waiting list for cat friendly greyhounds (cat friendliness was a priority - even if it did mean a wait of up to four months). 

We’d already waited 10 years for another dog, and decided that a a few more months wouldn't hurt.

A pleasant surprise

Several days later our phone rang. It was Danielle from Greyhounds As Pets and she’d found a greyhound that might be a good match. 

Her racing name was Lotto Profit and she was a brindle greyhound of a slightly nervous disposition who needed to be around quiet owners without kids who could spend as much time as possible with her. 

About the only real gotcha was that she was what GAP called a cat question mark, which meant Greyhounds As Pets weren't sure if she was cat friendly (turns out that cats make her anxious so the neighborhood cats were safe).

With no kids, a fenced section and my wife working from home, it turned out that we were the perfect potential Lotto Profit owners. 

Danielle wanted to know if we’d drive up to Shannon to check Lotto Profit out while we were in turn checked out. We jumped at the chance.

Arriving in Shannon, we were introduced to Lotto Profit who walked straight up to where I was sitting, rested her head in my lap and gazed straight up at me with her big soft brown eyes. I was instantly hooked. 

Thankfully so was Lotto Profit. We agreed to pick her up next week, once we’d ordered some essentials (such as a soft dog bed, a warm coat and food).

On the way home we agreed that Lotto Profit was not a great pet name and that we'd call her Lottie (it'd also be easier for her to learn).

2 weeks in

Lottie has been with us for 2 weeks and turned 4 the day we picked her up. She’s settled in amazingly well and it feels like she’s been with us forever. 

We’re still at the stage of everything being a first. 

Watching Lottie run at the dog park is nothing short of incredible. She goes from 0 to 45MPH almost instantly. In fact, she's so fast, we've nicknamed her the “brindle rocket”. 

The house feels full again. Coming home is a real occasion, and most important of all, Lottie is a happy girl. As for us, we're both over the moon.

Getting a new dog

Deciding to get a new dog is a big step for anyone. Thanks to a carefully thought out adoption process things went swimmingly. How did your pet adoption go? What led to your decision to bringing a new pet into your house?