Sheridan’s Blog

After watching a few minutes of Christmas greetings from men serving abroad in the Australian Navy/Army, you’d think they miss their ‘beautiful and gorgeous’ wives and kids more than those of us with normal jobs. Perhaps we all should spend a month or two on an oil platform in the Arabic sea to appreciate those around us. Are people, generally, more attractive when we’re not near them?

Just after returning from NZ, we went and got ourselves a retired racing greyhound. I found out about a program called GAP (greyhound adoption program) a few years ago at an industry event, and they seemed like such gentle animals. Not only do they adopt out these greyhounds, they also foster them out, 3-4 weeks at a time, to willing participants who can teach them about being a domestic dog. Not being a domestic dog myself, I had to be reminded of how dogs are supposed to act in and around the home.
Contrary to popular myth, these dogs all seem well-treated and looked-after, which makes sense. If your dog was pulling in a bit of cash running after a fluffy stick, you’d look after it too, I imagine. And there is quite a bit of cash in it.
The first dog we had, Stella, is a 3yo, and enjoyed running around randomly inside the house. It is an enlightening experience to meet these dogs, many of which have no experience with domestic situations. That doesn’t sound like a big deal, but when you have to coax the dog into the backseat (of a coupe), then watch as it cowers halfway up the steps, it becomes blindingly obvious that these racing giants need some help. They freak out if you wake them up suddenly or if there’s a loud noise. But they are very affectionate and a lot of fun. Due to the sheer length of their hind legs, they frequently trip over their own legs or other obstacles. They cannot sit like a regular dog, also due to the long legs issue. But the whole point of them being with us it to make them accustomed to being around people, traffic, other dogs and animals.
Over the weekend we picked up the second dog, Dream Scene, and brought her home. She’s 7 years old, and has been used as a breeding dog for a few years, given that she was a bit of an ace racer in her day. So far it has become clear that she is very much an indoors dog, possibly one who had free roam of the house and yard (if she ever found the need to be outside), and who took it upon herself to sit on every comfortable chair available. She has continued this trait with us. It’ll be interesting to see if we tire of pulling her off the couch before she gets sick of being bundled off there.
The good part about the fostering program is that you get to have a dog when it’s convenient to you. Most of the food is provided free of charge, as well as the lead, muzzle, etc. It’s an excellent way to be a part of the organisation, plus it (hopefully) gets these dogs into a good home where they can live out their lives in the lap of luxury. The option to keep the dog if you cannot part with it is also there. I suspect this happens quite a bit. After all, once you’ve done the legwork to train up the animal to be all cool and fun, you might eventually get sick of seeing the fruits of your labour go off to be a joy to someone else.