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Homefinders
Newsletter
Publisher: Michele Perry Issue Number: 37
Date: Autumn 2016
Kennels situated at 51 Cromer Road, Hainford, NR10 3AU (on A140) and are Open from 10am until 2pm every day. www.yarmouth-greyhound-homefinders.co.uk Telephone: 0845 458 3797
Notes from the Editor Welcome to the Autumn edition of the newsletter, I hope you and your hounds have had a very enjoyable summer. Have you had to find ingenious ways of keeping them cool this year? This issue I’d like to bring up insurance! We recently had to make a rather large claim for our newest dog Bella, who managed to eat a large bag of raisins. Raisins can be life threatening to dogs, so we rushed her straight to the vet. After 3 days as an in patient, we were given the all clear thank goodness. Many of us take out insurance as we don’t have a ready stash of cash to pay to the vet in case of emergency. So we paid on credit card, knowing that we would have 30 days to pay it back. However, even though we put the claim in to our insurer on June 8th, we only received payment on August 16th. By this time we were paying interest on the credit card too.
Coming soon, the 2017 Homefinders Calendar is in production. This year it will feature YOUR photos, as we ran a competition to send us your favourite photos. As you can see, the cover star is the handsome Rufus. The calenders will cost £4.99. All proceeds will go to the kennels. Order your copy today by phone 0845 458 3797.
So my plan is to carefully research different insurers this month, as Jack is due to renew. I’m looking at which insurers our vet will take direct payment from, as well as other vets, and who they will take payment from. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t have had to wait 2 months for the claim to be settled, and it does worry me. I’ve also decided to look at the excess amounts from all the insurers, and will take special notice of what the charges for older dogs would be. Jack will be 7 this September, so next year will be a crucial renewal, over 8’s tend to have special conditions attached to their policies.
If you have received the newsletter through the post there will be some draw tickets included. The prize draw will take place at our annual Christmas Fayre, and there will be CASH prizes of £250, £100, £50, £10×5. Please could you sell as many of the tickets as you can.
Please remember that grapes, therefore raisins too, can be very toxic to dogs. The advice is to try and get them to the vet as soon as possible after they eat them. Please keep sending me your photos, stories or articles for the next issue.Your contributions make the newsletter, so please do get in touch.
Michele Yarmouth Greyhound Homefinders, a branch of the Retired Greyhound Trust Registered Charity No: 269668
Editor: michele_storer@hotmail.com 25 Vanguard Chase, Costessey, Norwich NR5 0UG
CO-ORDINATOR’S BIT Well the evenings seem to be drawing in again, it seems to have been a very short summer this year with a great variation in temperatures. I hope your hounds coped with the very hot week we had earlier in June. Mine certainly struggled even with fans going 24 hours a day. Summer, as usual, has been a very busy one for us Thanks to the dedication of our volunteers we have attended events with the stall practically every weekend to promote greyhounds as pets. We’ve had varying success (and weather) but the reward is when people arrive, perhaps months later, and give one of our greyhounds a home. I rarely take the stall out alone but a local school asked me to take some dogs to their animal themed fete and BBQ one Friday evening. A beautiful sunny evening arrived I found the school and began to set up. Some very pleasant folks drew up next to me and began to unload their van. First one cage and then another, what was in the cages but rabbits!! Not a good idea as I had only had my new bitch, Tanya, for two days!! Needless to say we moved. The June Dog Show was very successful with the rain holding off until the last class. Allison Kelly-Pilgrim, one of our trainers, was the judge. The dogs all looked magnificent for the event and it was lovely to see so many of our rehomed dogs.
The weather for the August Open Day was ideal. It was well attended. If there was an ice-cream eating contest in the Olympics some of our hounds would have won gold medals! It was won by Mikey, one of the hounds from the kennels, with his soon to be slaves in 14.4 seconds!!! Our next Open Day is on October 16th from 11-3 with our Auction at 12 midday. If you have any items suitable to auction we would be very pleased to receive them. We had a very unusual event in July which got us very excited. One of the trainer’s bitches produced an unexpected litter of puppies. They are now in our care and Mum and all 8 puppies will be up for rehoming in the beginning of October.
Corinne Dogs homed since last Newsletter
Prince (Rathglass Lad), Simon (Mr Bojangles), Zina (Droopys Zino), Woody (Springwood Alert), Mary (Glenske Mary), Lady (Billis Lady), Blue (Boynepark Prince), Butchy (CorrinButch), Tommy (Magnum), Milly (Slaneyview Music), Rudi (Some Coat), Dexter (Ballyhill Extra), Tanya (Confident Tanya), Mary (Moors Mad Mary), Betty (Bettyshill Hi), Ellie (Swanley Girl), Jimmy (Just the Job), Erick (Ericks Messer), Rossie (Rosmult Bolt), Fred, Maisie (Stonepark May), Lopez (Musical lopez), Spencer (Head Sixpence).
Spotted! 1
1: In a French service station, somewhere near Rouen! - Michele Perry 2: Seen at Drottningholm Castle, Stockholm Corinne Douglas 3+4: Saga Sapphire must have known I was coming on either side of my cabin door were these pictures! - Corinne Douglas
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Open Day & Dog Show - June 2016 Kelan
Louis
Luther
Oldies
Spot
Tallulah
Toby
Puppies
Ros, Peppa, & Louis
Ellie & Kiki
Finny Girls
Greg
Alice Dapper Dog Best in Show - Ace
Dapper Dog Judging
Dexter
Dexter
Peppa
First Week Survival Guide by Kathy Berner ADipCbm Congratulations on adopting your Greyhound. Here are some tips for the first week to help settle your hound in. The first thing to do is take your hound through the house on the lead and show the garden, letting him or her do their business. Calmly praise with fuss and treats. Doing this every two hours through the day will help proof the behavior to go outside in the right place. Dogs can’t generalise so we need to do this by guiding them. The dog once house trained will see the whole house as a big kennel and refrain from messing. Use a pet remedy spray and diffuser it helps dogs to feel at ease. Have the house quiet for the first few days, keeping your eye on your dog to help set up for success to avoid mistakes.
On average it takes at least a month or so to get to know each other. Start walking in low distraction areas then gradually build up to higher distraction areas. Never use punishment as this will only make the relationship break down. To create good leadership you can use positive training methods. I often teach a method called “Learn to Earn.” This means nothing in life is free and the dog needs to work or display a good behaviour to earn a reward. Have their daily kibble in a pot or treat bag. When your dog is standing politely, feed them a kibble or two. The idea is your dog learns to get something by paying attention to you.You are the food source and training excels this way. For more information on learning to earn look up Dr Sophia Yin who has videos on this topic on you tube. Greyhounds are very capable of learning many training behaviors with the right motivator (usually food!) and a bit of patience.
If you can’t watch your dog for short periods then a stair gated area is a good option. Start at you mean to go on to avoid mixed messages for your dog. There is good music available for free on You Tube, called “relax my dog” that’s helps a dog feel settled when played in the background.
Sean my greyhound is learning too!
A Surprise For Homefinders When one of trainer Peter White’s racers came in season he thought he had isolated her from her kennel companion (male) in time. Increasingly over the following weeks it became obvious this was not the case and in early July `Kia` produced eight lovely puppies, four boys and four girls, perfect if they were to be reared as racers. As the dad isn’t registered as a stud dog nor mum as a brood bitch, there would have been considerable expense to register the pups for racing. The trainer would also need separate kennels for the pups, amongst other regulations. Homefinders were called in to assist with rearing the pups on to a suitable age for homing. Tempting as it was, Molly Paul decided that we weren’t equipped or experienced
enough to have mum and babies in the kennels at Hainford. Tony Jubb’s name was suggested as someone with vast experience of whelping and rearing racing greyhound puppies until they are weaned. Luckily he didn’t have a current litter and agreed to take on the mum and pups for Homefinders. Despite Tony rearing the pups at a special rate, Homefinders will face considerably more expenses than homing their more usual ex-racers. Tony was surprised how quickly `Kia` settled in at his, she is really lovely natural mum, a bit shy but really trusting, such a good, natural, mum and her puppies really engaging. The photos were taken in Tony and his partner Amanda’s `puppy paddock`, the pups were just two weeks old.
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1: One already opening his eyes... 2: and wandering off 3:Tony Amanda, mum and all 8 pups. 4: Amanda with Tonys Pick of the litter. 5: Sleeping Beauties. 6: Mum Kia having lunch. 7: Think one is missing.
Letters to the editor
Dear Michele,
Whoopie and I have been together for four years this July. It was the best day of my life when I had her with me. Hi Michele, This is Jasper in “Lord of the House mode”. Sue
She is the most gentle dog you could have and also very well behaved. She is always ready for her walks and hates me going out without her. This photo is of her and her best friend “Gordon Bennet” who resides with the lady who was her walker. Unfortunately she was taken ill earlier in the year, and can no longer walk her, but she does love Whoopie to visit every day, for an instant cheer up. Whoopie also looks forward to these visits, as she gets plenty of treats! Yours, Whoopie and Peter
This lovely poem was a school project by Finley Blunt. It shows us how much he loves greyhounds,
Travelling with your dogs As some of you may know, the newest member of our family has been having issues with separation anxiety since we homed her. We’ve not fully cracked it yet, so we decided to take the dogs on holiday with us this year. We decided on France, and chose to book the Euro Shuttle. We learned that dogs can travel on ferries, but must remain in the car on shorter journeys, or can go into kennels on the deck on longer ones. Knowing how loud she can howl when left alone, the Euro Shuttle sounded much easier, with a 35 minute journey, where we all stay together in the car together! We researched how to get a pet passports, for a healthy dog up to date on yearly vaccinations, this meant all we would need is a Rabies Jab. I called our own vet, who would charge £135 PER DOG to give the jab and issue the passport, so I rang around and found a vet nearby that would charge us £85 per dog, what a difference. The rabies jab needed to be given no later than 28 days before travel, so as soon as we confirmed the travel arrangements, we booked an appointment. It was a very simple process, the vet scanned each dog to check their chip, gave them the jab and a quick look over. We came back in an hour, and the passports were ready! Checking in for Euro Shuttle in the UK is easy, we just drove though the auto check in gates, it’s on the way back the dogs also need to check in. There is a dog park where you can get them out for a quick leg stretch whilst you wait too. The cost to take the dogs is £18 per animal each way, and must be pre-booked. Jack was a little bit wary of the train on the outward journey, the added bonus is you can get out of the car and stand next to it (which is a bit cooler). Our main destination was Limeuil in the Dordogne Valley, and we spent 3 days making our way there (via the Le mans Classic 24 hour race). We were lucky enough to rent a house set in the walls of the hillside village. It was perfect for dogs, with 3 levels of secure gardens, and an amazing view. Whilst in France the dogs came everywhere with us, with no fuss, in most restaurants they were greeted with a bowl of water. Probably not one for greyhounds, but we even took our two with us on an afternoon canoe trip down the Dordogne river! We stayed 6 nights in Limeuil, before making our way back up towards the Loire Valley. We planned to stop off at Oradour-sur-Glane, a village which was decimated during the 2nd World War, and has been left exactly the same way since. We didn’t research this too well, when we arrived we discovered that dogs weren’t allowed into the village itself. We stayed a very short time, taking turns to have a quick look around and pay our respects, whilst the other stayed in the shade with the dogs.
We found a beautiful dog friendly place to stay in the Loire valley, in the middle of a vineyard. We had one of 3 garden rooms, and enjoyed an amazing wine tasting dinner in the garden on the 2nd night. What a perfect way to try the local vintage without needing to drive! At this stage of the holiday we had to start making preparations to bring the dogs back into the UK. Rulings have changed recently, all we had to do was to visit a vet no longer than 5, but no less than 1 day before our return. The English owners of the property made an appointment for us in advance with their vet. The dogs were scanned again, to make sure their chip matched the number in the passport, and were given a worm treatment. The cost of this was €80 per dog, we didn’t compare prices, it just needed to be done! We broke the journey back to Calais with a final night, 10 minutes outside of the beach town of Le Touquet.We traveled this leg on the hottest day of the summer so far, and made a bandana for each dog with a wet tea towel to keep them cool, and enjoyed a lovely dip in the sea when we arrived. When returning to the UK on Euroshuttle with dogs you have to take them to the Pet Reception first before checking yourself in. We took them inside, and handed over their passports, we were handed a scanner, and asked to scan each one in turn, and that was it! A quick run in the dog park, and we continued on to the auto check in, and on our way. So if anyone else is thinking of taking their dogs with them to Europe, all I can say is that it’s really easy to do. I’d think about your dog, what you think he could cope with in both travel time, and heat, then go for it. Things to consider: • The time of year/weather. If your hound hates the heat, then 2 weeks in the summer holidays isn’t ideal, but spring or Autumn could be perfect. • Most hotels will accept dogs, for a small fee, but we asked for a ground floor room near the entrance with each booking. • Make sure your dog is up to date with worm/flea/tick repellent before you leave. It’s an idea to take a tick remover with you. • Insurance! We took out a separate policy with our own insurers to cover them abroad.
August Open Day
Blickling Walk
HETTY’S HELPERS
At a recent Hetty’s Helpers board meeting Hetty asked me to say a big thank you to everyone who has contacted her since she took over the Sponsorships. She is very pleased with all the support and grateful that there are so many generous people. Both the people who are sponsoring by standing order and those who send an annual donation are helping the dogs in our kennels so much. Just as valuable are those that send her a one off donation which is just as much appreciated. Hetty is so busy that her new office, as she does reply to everyone, the sofa, is a veritable clutter of sponsorship paraphernalia. All sponsor forms can be obtained at the kennels or by contacting Hetty by email at jones432@btinternet.com. All donations can be sent to her via the kennels. Thank you so much. David - on behalf of HETTY
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