Judge me as you will, I was singing that to my dogs this evening as I drank a glass of wine and cooked dinner and they looked to see if chicken might throw itself out of the pan in their general direction .
And of course it had to be them. But the question I do get asked frequently out and about with two pretty distinctive dogs is “why a greyhound”. It’s a pretty good question to be fair, with thousands of dogs needing loving homes across the country, why these. The specifics of it being Sam, Bea and Maisy have been covered previously but I don’t think I’ve ever touched on why a greyhound,
Getting a dog was a long and serious conversation Joe and I had repeatedly over the period of a few years. We agreed we had some work to do to the house and garden to secure it all and once we were done, we went back to the conversation. It was important we were both on the same page about what we wanted as a new furry family member and had the same expectations.
Off the back of that, we had a list. Rescue dog was top of it. Although I believe you should make your own choice on the origin of your dog, to us, the abundance of dogs needing a loving home meant buying a puppy was absolutely a non starter for us. We wanted a dog that needed us, needed a home, that we could be a forever home for.
It wasn’t that we had an issue with toilet training, teaching house manners and introducing dogs to the wonders of home living. We just felt drawn to giving an adult dog the same opportunity so many people would give a puppy – they were puppies once and deserve the same chance of a happy home as a dog that’s only ever known home comforts.
We wanted something gentle with people – Joe didn’t grow up with dogs and although he did all of the research and I had grown up with terriers, a people reactive dog wasn’t something we felt we had the experience to help flourish.
Low(er) shedding and lower coat maintenance – now this is potentially up for debate but I grew up with west highland terriers. Long white hair everywhere and continual trips to the groomers and dogs being thrown into a bath. Fully accepting you can’t have a dog hair free house with any dog, we wanted a dog with short hair that was lower maintenance in terms of daily coat care. Ears and teeth we are happy to do regularly as with any dog – our dogs are less thrilled with that and behave like you might be murdering them.
Energy levels are a topic of debate. We didn’t want a dog that would need stimulation and focus 12 hours a day but we wanted something that could simultaneously be happy with a nice short walk and a lovely long weekend stroll. “Don’t they need lots of exercise” – if I had a pound for every time we have heard that… not really no. Sam and Maisy are happy with 20mins around the local park or two hours around a reservoir. Greyhounds are known for their speed but shouldn’t be defined by it, the same with the 40mph couch potato reputation. With a little time, if they don’t have any physical issues that may prevent it there is nothing stopping your greyhound joining you on that lovely long Sunday morning woodland stroll. Ours are particularly partial to the Salmon Leaps walk in Dinas Powys which is a lovely 3-4 mile stroll.
Another point that fascinated me was the concept we were too young for greyhounds. Don’t get me wrong, I’m at the high end of my thirties so if you want to call me young I’m going to buy you a drink or two. There just seemed to be a concept that older, middle class people were the ones who adopted greyhounds. The wonderful friend group of local greyhound adopters certainly tells another story – 20 or so hounds and humans across a wide age range from mid twenties upwards, some with families, some expecting new arrivals. Their hounds are wonderfully family friendly and adore the little humans – even mine that don’t have children in their household love to say hi to the local children at the school around the corner.
So we have people affectionate, low grooming maintenance, happy to walk or not (useful on an extra busy work day), friendly across all generations. I’m not going to deny mine have some issues, some that make me very angry at the racing industry but I also believe regardless of whether you buy or adopt whatever breed of dog, you will have some issues to overcome.
Were the issues worth the dogs? Absolutely. All things considered, Sam, Bea, Maisy – With all your faults, I love you still, It had to be you,
Wonderful you.
