Meet a Greyhound Day

Braved the strong, icy north wind and intermittent snowflakes today to meet up with my cousin Janet and go into the city centre. The Continental Market, which I always like to visit, was on, but my main reason for daring to venture into town on a Saturday afternoon during the (hopefully) last blast of Winter was to attend the Meet a Greyhound Day outside the Town Hall.

The Meet a Greyhound Days are held all over South West Scotland and Northern England is held by the Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue in order to educate the public on the plight of Greyhounds and maybe find forever homes for some of them. The dogs patiently stood as crowds of strangers came and patted them, a feeling of calm about them, they took it all in their stride.

These people do a wonderful job of rescuing Greyhounds usually after they have served their use as racing dogs, usually at the young age of three to five years. It's heartbreaking that these special dogs often end up cruelly abused, killed or abandoned. The organisation fosters dogs out to homes so they get house trained and also learn how how to live in a home - apparently Greyhounds adapt to the good life very quickly! The fostering also helps the organisation to get to know the dog in order to eventually place it in the right forever home.

I used to do dog walking for the RSPCA and many of those dogs were abandoned Greyhounds, that's when I first fell in love with that breed. They had never appealed to me looks-wise, but I soon learned to appreciate their nature. They are gentle, calm and loving dogs, that walk well on the lead - they put my boisterous mini Dachshund Max to shame!

When I retire later this year I intend getting a Greyhound from this organisation and I can hardly wait! I'll introduce him or her on my blog here. I know Dumfriesshire and Cumbria Greyhound Rescue are always looking for people to adopt, foster, raise funds and help out in any way they can. And it is not just for people in Southern Scotland and Northern England, anyone is welcome to help out in any way they can. Please visit their website for further information on their work and Greyhounds at: http://www.dgrescue.org.uk/index.html