Why everyone should own a greyhound!

Meet and Greet

11-2pm Saturday 3 October

Outside Somerfields supermarket High Street New Malden.

Car parking in Blagdon Road, 5 minutes walk away. There is a park behind the Malden centre in Blagdon Road if needed to exercise the dogs.

If you can bring your greyhound or one from the kennels please contact Denise or Tania on 07746655040

MANY THANKS!

Video of Nonsuch park social walk, September 2009

Its all a bit sureal sometimes- the little book is coming out very soon and there will be a whole launch party thing at the kennels and book signing.......yep I'm freaking out a little. I'm looking at it as extra night at the kennels and not thinking about the rest to much- it just to weird. Anyway homing has been going well at the kennels, including a few dogs from a certain kennels we helped out in the summer . There seem to be fewer bitches around at the moment, this is not due to us homing more of them but a lack of them coming in from trainers- think they are being sent off for breeding?Missy almost went home, she was being considerd by someone and it would have been a wonderful home but nothing came of it. How do I feel about it? Well the selfish part of me is happy she will still be around in the kennels but the more bigger logical part of me is so sad she missed out on a home and will spend another christmas in the kennels? I was helping with the feeding today, I put a bit extra in her bowl, a couple of tripe sticks and bits which I made into a smily face on top of her food. Yeah..... she needs to find a home soon or one of us will need some serious therapy.Been taking other hounds out to "socialise" them with other breeds, I had a little blue girl and she liked to "socialise" in the same style of a football hooligan- charge straight at the other canine in a "comeonethen!" style. Hmm going to need a little more work on this one. Actually she's not that bad and I think we can work on that but we've got one hound that screams when he see's a different breed of dog.How are we going to home that one?I suppose encouraging him to chase everything that was not a greyhound may have been the name of the game for those who trained him but guess they couldn't give a stuff about what would happen to him after racing.He's a blue dog so people will like him for his colour then ask us awkward questions like "Is he good with cats?" and "Will he get on with my Jack Russel?" and we will have to say "Neither will ever trouble you again if you take him home..." Loves people although people made him the way he is, its a messed up world isn't it?

Richmond Park Walk

SUNDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2009

Meet 11.00am at Kingston Gate and walk to Pembroke Lodge for coffee.

Bring your hound or ask Denise if you can bring one of the kennel hounds.

Jane, Poppy, Bob and Nelly

Next Greyhound Social Walk: 10.30 am Sunday 6 September 2009 Nonsuch Park

Come and take your retired greyhound, or a homeless hound from Hersham, for a stroll through Nonsuch Park


We will walk along the mown paths through the meadows to the Mansion House which has a cafe, picnic area and WCs. We'll stay a while for a chat and of course to admire our lovely hounds.

John Gooch the park keeper and owner of retired greyhound Brandy and Ash the lurcher will be joining us (as they did the last time we had a social walk in Nonsuch Park)

Go to the car park located on the big bend on London Road, near Ewell. The car park is marked with a red circle on this map

You will see this monument at the car park entrance:


Please contact the welfare kennels at Hersham if you are able to take a homeless hound out with us.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Strange how life works out, one day you think "I wonder what a greyhound even looks like close up" and a few years down the line you end up on Utube doing this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38r2COGpY5kIf you can't guess which one I am....I'm not telling you!I've been playing in the paddocks with the greyhounds, well no if any of the staff are reading this I've been wood staining the fence diligently. Its hard, I mean you are trying to paint away and there is a naughty greyhound play bowing at you, it would be rude of me not to chase him just a little bit wouldn't it? Rufus showed a total lack of appreciation of my efforts to make his environment a bit smarter by peeing in my paint. So all the fences have are now Culprano "Forest Oak brown"- with hint of wee colour.Madaboutgreys is an amazing photographer, she took a load of pics of my fav' greyhound, Missy with her new collar which I won on an auction for her.http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=madaboutgreys&s=recThe last pic is my favourite, she is smiling, I swear it.Homing has been up and down some going home but some coming back. I don't get so worked up about them coming back now because its much better to have them safe with us. One came back after just a few days and seemed so miserable. A few days later she was back to her normal self, greyhounds are so sensitive aren't they? Makes me laugh when I go home at the end of the day and they thank me for doing a bit of work for them. I'm like, no thank you for giving me purpose and joy in my mundane life.

Brave Sam

One of Sanctuary dogs is the bravest hound I know. Last year he had a terrible infection in his anal glands. He was very uncomfortable and we didn't help because we had to keep him muzzled to stop him worrying it. As soon as it clears up, it comes back again so he was put on a course of steroids which makes his coat thick so he suffers in summer. What makes him amazing to me is that he takes it all so well. He does not struggle if you have to muzzle him for example, he is always pleased to see you and has such a waggly tail bless him.

Yesterday he was having a good poke around in a bush......and got bittern by a snake!!! His nose has swollen up and he has a big welt on the side of his muzzle. He looks like a bull terrier and is in a lot of discomfort and pain. He's on medication now and pain killers but is very sensitive on his muzzle. To reduce the swelling we have been pressing cold packets of pees on him- it must hurt and yet his tail is wagging away when we do it to him.

Get better soon my brave, brave black hound you are an inspiration and much loved part of our kennels.

Richmond Park Walks

Everybody seems to be really busy during the weekends over the summer so we have decided to postpone our next Richmond Park walk until the autumn. However, if you get any time off during the week, come and join us on Tuesday mornings at 9.15am during term-time - meeting at Kingston Gate.

Have I gone nuts........or should that be barking crazy?I have pictures of hounds on my walls and my locker at work.No longer have any clean clothes that don't have kennel paint or little rips or holes from over eager hounds.Spend most of my free time at the kennels and forget to do things like buy human stuff.Talk about greyhounds at work to much eg. "Staff meeting today at 9am and no Alex for the hundrenth time we will not be converting part of the building into a greyhound creshe anytime soon."Thinking of trading in the cool sporty saloon for... one of those boxy estate things even though I don't own a hound yet but usually have one in the back at least once a fortnight for special walkies or events. Oh well at least it had better be a very cool estate- is that a contradiction in terms?Forgetting all about social life, which is a good thing my last chat up line was something like "Hi, do you like greyhounds?" Doesn't really cut much ice. Besides all that dating stuff gets in the way of more important things like greyhound walking and grooming.Neglected current friends, they are all at the "come over and meet our new baby!" stage. Why the heck would I want to that? If it was "Come over and meet our new greyhound" then hey now we are talking!Fighting a sudden urge to sniff strangers bottoms. Okay I made that last bit up but its only a matter of time at this rate.Help me!!!!

Daisy-Annie’s Morning of Modelling

Me and Jenny

Hi, I just thought I’d tell you about the morning I spent as a model.
Last Thursday morning (very early, Tiger and I had only just woken up!) Carol came into our kennel and got me ready for what I thought was going to be an early morning stroll. Little did I know where I was going!

A lady called Emma put me in her car and off we set on a long drive, well it was long to me. I was a bit worried as Tiger wasn’t with me and that usually means a trip to the vets. I didn’t like all the traffic much either but Emma kept telling me that we were nearly there so I eventually settled down.

When we finally stopped we went for a walk around a big car park. I could smell lots of other dogs but couldn’t see any of them…it was all very strange. After I decided that I didn’t want my breakfast we went into this big building where the first person I saw was Eve, so I rushed up to her for a big reassuring cuddle. As I looked around I noticed some other greys. Eve was showing Emma a dress, which she didn’t seem to like very much, and pointing to lots of other ladies wearing posh dresses and hats….What was going on???

Over the next hour I munched on lovely hot sausages and lots of my old friends from the kennel started to turn up. It was great to see them all again and of course their mums and dads. I was just starting to think that I was at a kennel reunion when I was lead outside with some of the other dogs and ladies in posh dresses, onto a track. Then I knew where I was…Wimbledon Stadium, I just hoped that they didn’t want me to race these ladies! I really wasn’t expecting what happened next. I was handed over to one of the ladies and then a strange lady came up to me and put a hat on my head, not just me, all the greys, we looked very smart ( I don’t think that Charlie would carry off the black feather number they gave him down the park though!). They then made us walk up and down in a line whilst this funny man gave us orders and took photographs of us. We greys were amazing and really well behaved; I don’t think they ladies in posh dresses did so well.

My Best Side??

After a break for cuddles and more sausages, we were trotted back outside for what I think was the funniest bit of the morning.
They wanted to take a group shot of all 25 greys and ladies in a line; really don’t they know how disobedient these humans are?? The director man started to get a little stressed with us then as some of us greys, not me I was totally professional, wanted to show off their best side, which happened to be their bums!!! Well there were 25 of us and even some of you humans have better looking bums than faces, and we all want our best side in a photo!!!

Total Chaos!

It turned out to be a fun morning which I later learned was for the 25 anniversary of the Derby being held at Wimbledon Stadium. They’d offered a donation for our services so I really didn’t mind going.

Tiger didn’t believe me when I got home and sleepily told him all about it.

I hope you like the pictures. I think the one of me and Jenny has to be the best!

The Kennel Girls

Greyhound Dog Day Sun 24 May 10am-4pm

Stoneleigh Broadway KT17 2HU

Organizer contact number 0208 393 5610

Greyhound Dog Day is a Fun Day to help raise money for Hersham Hounds (WGW)

Parade of Hersham greyhounds at 2pm and walk off to Nonsuch Park at 3pm

Stalls to interest all dog owners!
Greyhound Megastore
Cinnamon Trust for Dogs
4Paws Therapy
Dogs to aid the Blind/Disabled
Bugsie dog wash and groom
Lots more....

Lots of dog demonstrations in the Stonleleigh Inn rear car park.

Prizes for dogs with the waggiest tail, longest tongue and best dressed dog.

The Chequers bar open with patio seating for owners and dogs. BBQ

The Stoneligh Inn jazz and BBQ in the evening

Richmond Park Walk - Good Friday

Many thanks to everyone who braved the rain for a great walk!  It really took my mind off having to let Sam go back to kennels.  Poppy and Nelly are much happier now and Bob has been re-establishing himself as head of his harem by licking the girls!  Thanks as always to Denise and Janey at the kennels and Karen and Richard for taking Sam back for me.  

Watch this space for our next social event - perhaps a walk and picnic in the early summer.....

Richmond Park Walk - Good Friday

Come and join us for a walk in Richmond Park at 11.00am on Good Friday.  Meeting at Kingston Gate we will walk to Pembroke Lodge for a short break and return to Kingston Gate.  Hope to see you there! Jane (and Poppy, Bob, Nelly and Sam)

Its just amazing how many different characters we have in the kennels at the moment. There is this white and fawn male, he is very thin and tall and has this suprised expression- all the time! He gets extra for his dinner but he still looks so thin! Then there is Eva, people who see Eva love her because she is a beautiful white and grey bitch. These people have never had to get her in from a paddock when she believes playtime should be longer! She just play bows, barks and shoots off to the end of the paddock (usually muddy as heck) hoping you are chasing her (okay I admit it, I've done this )She thinks this is the best game ever! Then there is Joe, a sensitive black boy who has been returned from a home. He looks lost, when I first put his food out for him he ignored it at first and comes up to me for cuddles. Harry who is white and black, he has half a tail, no idea where the rest went but he is such a sweetie. He will jump up, put his paws on your shoulders and hug you- his little tail wagging like crazy bless him Then there is my special girlie, looks like we will be going to Reach the Beach together....again! Why is she still looking for a home? Can you imagine her being alive in a typical pound for that lenght of time? How many just like her have been less lucky is just to horrible to think about. I can be having the worst day at work and I just have to think about her to feel better.

My fav' hound in the kennel is this strong white and brindle bitch called Missy.
We have known each other for around 9 months and have become good friends. I had no idea how good until today. Her kennel mate is a black and white boy who tends to nip when he gets excited. Well we were playing in the paddock when due to my own fault the boy was getting a bit to exicted and jumping up at me and nipping away. My friend somehow knew I wasn't enjoying this much and had a real go at her own kennel mate, growling away at him and chasing him off. After putting him in his place she stood inbetween us and wouldn't let him near me.

How many cuddles and kisses did she get from me!
Damn, she's been waiting in the kennels since last May for a home! She needs a greyhound savy owner and not someone who wants "a small pretty bitch who's good with cats" etc..... I mean what do those kind of people who ask us that want? This girl is strong on the lead and needs more dog socialisation. She is not good with cats, what with being a lure trained 40 per hour dog......This is true of most of the hounds. So big deal she needs effort on the part of the person who takes her home. But what a lucky, lucky person that will be. I mean once you get to know your hound and they you..... you gain a best friend.

In some parallel universe she just would not be up for homing at all because she'd be home with me, but meanwhile in this cruddy universe.....

Next Greyhound Social Walk: Sunday 8 March, Richmond Park

The next Greyhound social walk will be held on Sunday 8 March 2009.

Meet Kingston Gate car park, Richmond Park at 11am

We will walk up towards Ladderstile gate, and then on to Isabella Plantation Woodland Garden. After a walk through the garden we will return to Kingston Gate.

Here is a link to a map of Richmond Park, from the excellent Friends of Richmond Park website: http://www.frp.org.uk/maps

Look forward to seeing you there!

James

Photos from greyhound social walk on West End Common

Greyhounds, from left to right: Minty, Buddy, Cassy, Becks, Alexa and Dawn.

This grey and windy Sunday morning six intrepid grehounds warmly wrapped up in cosy coats braved the arctic cold to walk across West End common, Esher.

Buddy ( a large friendly black and white 'credit crunch' male) and Dawn ( a smaller brindled female, back in the kennels as her folks could not keep her) are living in the WGW kennels at Hersham, waiting yet again for their 'forever sofas'.

We stomped across the frozen puddles, into the shelter of the woods, up the sandy ledges, down the slope to the river Mole, then along the bank, up the ledges again and back down for a good hour and a half.


A very friendly brown Hungarian Viszla decided it would be a greyhound for the morning and followed us for a while. It took us twenty minutes to find its unconcerned owner, apparently it often goes awol.

Back to our meeting point and the snow started to fall and the wind to freeze hound ears and noses. Buddy decided he would give all a cheery wag of the tail and we all hoped we would see both him and Dawn on our next social walk with their new families. Good luck lovely hounds!

Just couldn't post for a while after Brian so this is whats been happening.
Cold, coldcoldcoldcold!!! Some of the pipes froze up, picking the paddock can be hazardous, chunks of frozen hound poop hurtling all over the place due to over enthusiastic hacking....The hounds will have their nightclothes on and a partner to snuggle up to, the beds are extra thick and they bury themselves in them. Usually you see the odd snout poking out or disembodied legs pointing to the ceiling. They seem to argue about the beds more with the girls usually winning. Its so funny to see how the boys try to get on the bed. Here are the methods used:
1. The Barker. Self explanatory, I'm going to bark my self sick until I make her deaf or she lets me on out of desperation for a quiet life. This technique requires a persistent male- barkbarkbarkbark into an impassive females face. She's like, will you look at him, why do you make me live with this?
2. The Creeper. This requires some dexterity and subtly from the male. Slowly, ever so slowly press yourself against the wall, far far away from your girlfriends snarling sharp teeth...easy one paw on the bed gggggghhhrrhiisssss! from her. Just ignore her, don't look at her, hey both front paws are on the bed, just edge a little bit around the side, look at me I'm so small you won't notice me at all..... By the time the male has his bottom on the bed the girl usually is resigned to him and gives up the whole "bitch" routine.
3. Banzai! Just go for it, jump up she doesn't mean it. Oh no shes got up and now she's in my face snarling at me...umm if I lie down maybe she will shut up. Sometimes the girl gets off when the boy jumps up other times they snarl bit then give up, sleep is far more important!
4. I love you. Happily the hounds get on just fine with each other 99% of the time. The staff know what they are about when they pair a couple of hounds up together. They often get on the bed together or the boy will get on and lick his girls ear and the like.
5. Plank. If I whine enough at the door some nice kennel person will come along and see me with my big eyes standing here while she hogs the bed. Oh good here comes one, they are coming in, haha she gets a talking to while I jump on the bed! Aahhh this is better, oh look they are going I must get off to say good bye and oh...
Been taking a certain girlie hound for walks on Esher Common. She gets to meet other dogs that way so we can work on "socialisation" as the experts call it. I call it "ohgodherecomessomethingsmallandfluffyofflead" She always has a muzzle on and I put her in a harness as she can pull and I don't want her to hurt her neck. She's getting better, quite likes dogs her size, confused by a puppy that didn't run away from her so she backed up to me for support! She's going to be a real gem for someone and she's begining to let little fluffy types come up for a sniff bless her.

Next Greyhound Social Walk: Sunday Feb 1, meet 11 am on West End cricket green by the duck pond

For our next Greyhound Social Walk we will return to West End Common, the site of our last walk in November (photo above).

We will meet on West End Cricket Green, by the duck pond at 11am.
The pond is on Winterdown Road, near its junction with West End Lane. Here is a map .

Bring your greyhound, or give a homeless hound a treat by picking one up from the Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare kennels in nearby Hersham.

We will walk up to the ledges and then down beside the river mole before returning to the cricket green.

(thank you to ciaran j for the photo of the pond on West End Cricket Green http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciaranj/116020653/)