RESCUE SUPER STAR
Greyhounds are often only thought of as racing dogs – they ’ re hardly ever considered as a family pet or that they can survive outside the kennel environment . This common misconception is something that Greyhounds as Pets ( GAP ) is trying to break by rehoming retired racing Greyhounds . A Greyhound does not generally have a long racing career , so the Gap trust was set up by Greyhound Racing New Zealand in 2002 to give these wonderful dogs another chance at life . Pet Life writer Morgan Healey talks to John Telfer , the national co-ordinator of GAP , and Daniel Bohan , GAP ’ s lower North Island co-ordinator , about their experiences with Greyhounds and the work that Greyhounds as Pets does .
What interested you in Greyhounds ? John : The fact that Greyhounds make such great pets . Once you take a little time to help them adapt to family life you will be rewarded with a great pet that is intelligent , affectionate , and lazy . The fact that they also do not need a huge amount of exercise appealed to me . You can just take them for a 30 minute walk and some play time , and from there they are happy just to cuddle up for the rest of the day . Daniel : I wasn ’ t really looking for a dog , but then I met a Greyhound during an adoption drive and fell in love . He was big but completely gentle , sweet , goofy and regal all at the same time . We couldn ’ t get him out of our minds so we did some more research on Greyhounds and discovered that one would fit perfectly into our home life . Next thing you know we had applied for a retired Greyhound , passed the home check and Syrus came bounding into our lives .
How many Greyhounds have been rehomed ? John : Over the past 10 years almost 2000 Greyhounds have been rehomed into loving homes . We are steadily increasing the numbers over time , and this year we are looking to rehome a dog every single day .
What is your biggest achievement so far ? John : I am new to GAP but have found that the biggest achievement is the sense of camaraderie within the GAP community of Greyhound owners . A small number of staff and service providers work for GAP , but they are supported by all these incredible , passionate people who volunteer their time and money to help out . GAP has stands at many shows , and the volunteers come in droves to help increase awareness of the Greyhound .
They spend hours talking with potential owners , informing them of the many benefits of owning a Greyhound . There also is a bunch of Greyhounds that come down to do the meet-and-greets , and allow hundreds of people to pat them during the events .
Where do you see the charity in the next five years ? John : Our goal is to get up to about 500 adoptions a year . This is achievable and we will strive to get better and better at assessing the hounds and matching them to the correct adoptive families . It is also about getting the word out about how great Greyhounds settle into family life , and spreading more awareness for retired Greyhounds in general .
Do you have a favourite hound that you have worked with ? John : One memorable foster hound was a wonderful boy aptly named Goofy , whose love of life was infectious ( think of the Tigger character from Winnie the Pooh ). His wagging tail was a lethal weapon – he had no concept of his size and he wanted to kiss every single person he met . A spell in foster care helped him learn how to be polite without losing his adorable zest for life , of course ! Daniel : I am very lucky in my position that I get to spend time with so many amazing hounds and humans . I ’ m like a big kid now when I get to see all the dogs that I have worked with visit me at events with their new families . Recently , I took a hilariously playful girl named Molly from our Levin kennels to an event in Palmerston North . By the end of the day it was very , very hard for me to not dog-nap her – just drive right past the kennels . I didn ’ t , and it was a very happy moment a couple of weeks later when we found the perfect home for her .
What is the most challenging part of doing this kind of work ? John : Definitely communication . Both keeping engaged with our many donors and owners , as well as getting the message of Greyhound adoption across to potential owners . Fundraising is always a challenge as well . We need to kennel every dog that we take in , and feed them Petware Nutrience while we assess them and match them to families . This can sometimes take a little while so the costs really do mount up . Also , every dog needs to be registered , vaccinated , desexed and have a full health check completed . We need to fundraise all of the funds to keep the day-to-day running of these kennels going . Daniel : Every once in awhile there may be a particular dog that seems to be waiting far too long to find a new home . This always makes my heart ache thinking of them there , week after week , waiting , while other hounds seem to come and go . It ’ s hard because in my role I can only work to get people interested in adoption in general , I don ’ t have control over who adopts which dogs . On the flip side , though , the day does come when that dog will finally find the right family and it turns from the most challenging part of my work to the most rewarding .
What is something that you wish the general public knew about Greyhounds ? John : Greyhounds are incredibly lazy and will sleep for up to 20 hours a day if given the chance . That ’ s not to say they don ’ t love doing things , they do very much , but when there is nothing else going on they are happy to fall straight to sleep . This makes them very easy dogs to manage despite their size . Much easier , in fact , than many smaller breeds of dogs . Greyhounds are also