Keely
BLOSSOM
This dear little Sighthound girl, mainly white with a few fawn markings, is between the size of a Whippet and a Greyhound estimated to be age 2.
She came into the care of AfG in December 2018.She had been left in a stray pound after being found abandoned in a badly neglected state in Romania.
Her physical and mental health has continued to improve steadily with the expert care and dedication of her very experienced foster family. Also having the company of a rescued Greyhound and a rescued Lurcher to share her home with has helped her greatly.
Blossom is a happy fun loving highly intelligent little hound. She loves to play and is very good at recall and retrieving a ball. She shows no prey drive, so non reactive to cats or even to the several Guinea Pigs she shares her home with.
She is good with all dog breeds large and small and just loves to interact and play with them. She still has 3 meals daily which will eventually be able to be reduced to two a day.
Blossom is used to a routine of exercise early morning, lunchtime walk and evening exercise and is used to being left at home for up to 3 hours. She is house trained walks well on a lead and travels well.
Blossom will need a home with the company of at least one other dog, of any breed and who will be happy to interact and play with her. She is good with all people and children and will prosper in an active home.
AfG with rescued hounds on Thats TV Norfolk promoting the AfG 2019 calendar ‘ Sighthound Survivors 2 ‘
SOLI – LURCHER
Came to the care of AfG June 2018.
He is estimated to be between age 3 to 4 years though possibly nearer age 3. He is a rough coated blue lurcher, ( 25kg ) believed to be a mix of Border Collie, Deerhound, Saluki and Greyhound (predominantly Collie/Deerhound).
He had been neglected and not properly socialized, probably not had a real puppyhood. It was obvious he was not used to being in a house or a car.
He is in foster care with the company of a medium size neutered male dog.
He is neutered and fully inoculated. He is now house trained.
He eats well, travels well and is now good walking on the lead, but if he sees a cat or squirrel etc he will get excited and bite through a slip lead so he is always walked on a martingale collar with a chain lead attached to it.
He is a very intelligent hound, very fit and agile. He is a very affectionate boy and loves being stroked and cuddled.
He was not good in heavy traffic at first and reared up a little to heavy good vehicles, joggers and cyclists and people in high viz work gear but we have been working on these issues for some time now and he is adjusting well now.
He is responding well to daily training and improving with all his original issues from when he came into our care.
Due to him not being well socialised or trained before he came to AfG, he is not yet good at recall, so cannot be let of lead unless in a 100% fully enclosed safe area. He is used to a spacious garden in his foster home and enjoys a good daily run and to fetch his rope toy in an enclosed park which he is fortunate to have access to.
He is good with other dog breeds, he enjoys the company of other sighthounds, though a little fearful of large exuberant dogs. He shows very keen interest in cats, especially when they are outdoors and on the move, and although we were first led to believe he is used to being around cats, in our opinion he is far too keen to chase them so he will not be suitable for a home with a cat/s.
He seems to be non reactive to livestock and chickens/geese so we believe he has been around them in the past.
Soli will need a home with at least one quiet gentle dog for company. He will need a home with people who have experience with looking after rescued sighthounds who can continue with his socialisation and further training.
He also needs a fully enclosed secure garden with at least 5ft fence throughout.
JESS
Dogs name: Jess
Date of birth: 2010
Breed: Saluki
Date Came to AfGs care: February 2018
How dog was acquired: From stray kennels
Date homed: June 22nd 2018
We were made aware of Jess when she was nearing her end of time at a stray kennels. She had been picked up with a young lurcher earlier.
We are not at all convinced from a story the person who claimed to have found them both, told the dog warden and we believe the person ‘owned’ the dogs and was using the story to offload the pair quickly and at no cost.
Both dogs were microchipped and the two separate previous ‘owners’ claimed they had re-homed the dogs but could not give any details of where they homed them. Unfortunately the microchip laws have too many loopholes and we believe is only effective for people who care about the welfare of their animals. So no action was taken against the persons registered as owners on the microchip data base.
Jess was in poor health when we visited her, she was timid, she had obviously been heavily bred from, her coat was matted, her eyes were sore and infected, her nails were overgrown and she was very run down. Once we had assessed her we were able to sort a suitable foster home for her.
She visited the vet and had her 1st vaccinations, then a visit to the groomers for a much needed bath and her matted hair was clipped out.
She settled in to her foster home and after a short time she went to our vets to be neutered.
The vet was faced with quite a dilemma as Jess’s reproductive organs were in a bad state, she bled heavily and her uterus fell apart in the vets hands. Our vet believes Jess was bred from for most of her life and had recently given birth.
Luckily after complicated surgery our vet managed to successfully complete the operation and Jess pulled through.
Over the weeks which followed Jess’s mental and physical health steadily improved, her beautiful coat gradually grew back and she blossomed into the beautiful hound she should have always been.
Our vet believes we acquired Jess just in time, as had she came into season, or worse had another litter, it would have certainly killed her.
Dear sweet Jess found her forever home with a loving family and the company of a rescued greyhounds and has never looked back.
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- Jess when we visited her at stray kennels
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- Jess when we visited her at stray kennels
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- Jess when we visited her at stray kennels
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- Jess after rescue and just a few hours of proper care
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- Jess after rescue and just a few hours of proper care
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- Jess post op recovery
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- Jess getting healthy and having fun
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- Jess July 2018.. happy, healthy and enjoying her freedom
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- Jess July 2018.. happy, healthy and enjoying her freedom
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- Jess July 2018.. happy, healthy and enjoying her freedom
ITZY
Colour/Sex: Black Female
Date of birth: 30.04.2015
Last reg trainer: Not found
Races contended: Not found
ITZY – (named for racing as) RIVA RIDGE
Came into the care of AfG in September 2016.
She had been left at the notorious Ennis dog pound in County Clare, then known to have a high ‘kill rate’ of greyhounds and lurchers (mostly after just 24 hours) as they are not recognized as family pets in certain parts of Ireland.
Her trainer left her there stating “it’s no good, it’s too small it won’t win races” she was only 17 months of age and he would have known her fate by leaving her there. Luckily, she was another lucky greyhound to be saved from this place by Clare Greyhound Project. Arrangements were made for her to come to the care of AfG.
Itzy acquired her name (Itzy bitsy teeny weeny) as she was so small for a greyhound weighing only 20kg. She was shut down when she arrived but soon improved once made welcome by other rescued hounds in her foster home.
She steadily improved physically and mentally and blossomed into a happy healthy hound. Her foster home soon became her forever home where she enjoys a life of love, respect, adventure and fun.
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- Itzy when she came to AfG September 2016
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- Itzy when she came to AfG September 2016
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- Itzy Itzy April 2017
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- Itzy May 2018
GRACE
Colour/Sex: Black Female
Last reg trainer: Not known
Races contended: None found
GRACE
Came into the care of AfG in February 2016 after being left at a boarding kennels with a £20 donation by the ‘owner’.
The kennels contacted several rescues to ensure she had a chance of finding a home.
Although micro chipped at age 2 the owners details had not been updated so no details could be obtained on her background etc. It is not unusual for greyhounds to not have identifying ear tattoos as not all are registered for licensed racing and many are bred on allotment sites or by ‘back street breeders’ and go on to race on unregulated (flapping) tracks and often for the barbaric pastime of illegal hunting and hare coursing.
Grace did not fare well in the noisy kennel environment and although eating she was losing weight. It was evident when Grace arrived she had an extremely high prey drive we believe this was instilled from her being encouraged and rewarded for chasing (possibly killing) wild animals.
So realizing the planned foster home for an 8 year old hound would not be suitable, Grace instead was placed into a more suitable one with the company of 2 other dogs.
The fosterers continued to work on her rehabilitation and even got her used to the family ferrets and chickens but after 9 months they were not able to commit to foster her for much longer so Grace was moved to a second foster home in November 2016, she quickly settled and her physical and mental health continued to improve.
After a short time, her foster home became her forever home where she continues to enjoy a happy life with the company of other rescued hounds including small dogs.
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- Grace when she arrived to AfG February 2016
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- Grace March 2016 more settled and getting used to little dogs
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- Grace (left) happy and settled with canine housemates
DAISY
Dogs name: Daisy
Date of birth: March 2004
Breed: predominantly Whippet (possibly crossed with Trailhound)
Date came to AfGs care: July 2017
How dog was acquired: unwanted by owner so signed to AfG.
Date Homed: November 2017
We were made aware of a man who no longer wanted a 13 year old lurcher which had been left to him after both parents (who had Daisy from a puppy) had passed away.
We later found instead of keeping her as a loved family pet, he instead banished her to a run down kennels where she was to spend the previous three of her senior years.
(The establishment.. an illegal puppy farm was to become the subject of a media exposure of animal cruelty in February 2018) http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/crime/rosemary-fabb-roughton-puppy-farm-north-norfolk-district-council-1-5409930
When we collected Daisy, (then named Maisy) from a car park in Cromer, Norfolk, she was in season, unsteady on her hind left leg and had a large amount of flea dirt in her coat. We were told she received the injury as a young pup after trapping her leg in a snare. There were only a small amount of veterinary records for Daisy and it seems the injured leg was left untreated.
After 2 weeks in foster care Daisy became suddenly very ill with a high temperature and was rushed to AfG vets who had to carry out emergency surgery after a diagnosis of Pyometra, a life threatening disease of the womb. There is no evidence that Daisy had been bred from and unusual for the disease to appear during a season. With the fast acting expert care from our vet, Daisy pulled through and made a rapid recovery.
Through no fault of her own in September 2018 her foster home failed and she was moved to her second foster home, which shortly after became her forever home. She continues to be happy and healthy, she wears a bio flow collar which continues to minimize any discomfort in her hind leg.
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- Daisy when she came to AfG
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- Daisy recovering after her emergency surgery
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- Daisy happy and healthy at age 14
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- Daisy happily settled November 2017
LACEY
Colour/Sex: White and blue Female
Date of birth: July 2013
Last reg trainer: D.J.Prentice
Races contended: 2
Last rec race: Mildenhall /A5 /19.06.2015
LACEY – (named for racing as) SOMERSHAM PIXIE
Came to the care of AfG September 2016 after we had been alerted she was being offered on an internet site.
As we were lucky enough to have a temporary foster home available, we managed to take her into our care to ensure her welfare and safety, as she could have quite easily fallen into the wrong hands and her future could have been uncertain, especially with her not being neutered which would have made her attractive for breeding.
The person who had her, told us she been given to a relative by the trainer and then passed on to this person who was also related to the trainer, but who was unable to keep her.
We were told she had broken her hock on the first bend in her last race.
When we checked her racing history we discovered she had 2 races at Mildenhall track 12th and 19th June 2015 finishing 1st on the last race. We were given information of a vets where Laceys medical records were on our change of ownership form, but when we checked there were no records at the vets at all. We were later informed by neighbors that poor Lacey was left shut in the house for long periods and was clearly distressed and barking a lot, they had also witnessed her escaping and running loose, so being at risk near a main road and surrounding fields. So it is no surprise that when Lacey went to her first foster home, she was unsettled for a while. She soon got used to a regular routine and became more contented.
She was underweight when she arrived and had hair loss on her chest and thighs. After a short settling in period where she gained some weight, she was neutered and received other necessary veterinary care. Our vets x rays of her broken hock revealed the hock had been pinned but seemed a bad fracture with fragments from the break re calcifying to the hock bone, which was why the outside of her hock had a ‘lumpy’ appearance. So we expect because she carried on running after the hock broke it caused a more severe fracture. She was, of course never to race again.
After her recoup/recovery period in temporary foster care, Lacey was moved to a more permanent foster home, this time with the company of other hounds, which furthered her socialization and settling.
Sometime later, Lacey found her forever home where she enjoys family life with the company of her other canine pals.
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- Lumpy appearance of broken hock ( right)
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- Lacey a few weeks after rescue
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- Lacey happily settled and chilling with canine pal
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- Lacey May 2108
