My Greyhound!

We are taking our girl away at the weekend. Just a short break in a holiday cottage on a farm in Derbyshire…can’t wait!

But today I am writing lists, packing lists and I have discovered it is just like having a small child again, only this baby is huge!!!

I don’t think there will be room for our stuff….

Hippies list so far:-

1 Double duvet plus spare cover in case she rolls in a cow pat

3 bath towels – ours are provided but just in case she rolls in a cow pat

Doggie shampoo – just in case

Raised feeding bowl set – because she needs it

Dinner for Friday night and Saturday night

Breakfast for Saturday morning and Sunday morning

3 and only 3 of her favourite teddies

Coat in case it rains

Tee shirt in case its chilly

Treats for good behaviour – not to be given if she rolls in a cow pat

Can’t think of anything else but if there’s anything I’ve forgotten perhaps someone could let me know???

We will be travelling in my daughter’s fiesta – Hippie usually takes up all of the hatchback with the rear seats down. Well, greyhounds can’t really curl up small can they?
I don’t think there will be room for me and our clothes, food etc do you?

Maybe I’ll be running behind………

Maybe with hindsight it was not such a good idea BUT I had found a tin of gloss paint and decided to paint the back of the cupboard door in my very small hallway.

As I held the door open by the handle and started to paint, Hippie sat motionless by my side observing but, not for long…

She decided it would be such a fun game to go and fetch her cuddly toys one by one and squeeze past me and the open door to put them neatly to bed in her crate which is in the lounge. Then……

When they were all in there and I had been doing a crazy dance to let her past…… she fetched them back one by one and put them on my daughter’s bed!

I finished the door and then examined the mad greyhound’s coat …… yes she now has a new white stripe – a truly glossy coat!!!

Okay – I know I got the words wrong but this whole event reminded me so much of that old song – What a crazy world we’re living in indeed!

Whilst staying with my son and daughter-in-law in Swindon this week I was invited to join them in a visit to Swindon Stadium to see the greyhound racing.

I was in two minds about this as living with Hippie has taught me so much about how some of these beautiful animals are treated when they fail to make money for their owners, and I do remain very concerned about the high numbers of ex-racers that remain unaccounted for.

But – I do love to watch greyhounds run, they are built for speed and nothing pleases me more than the look of joy on Hippie’s face now that we are able to let her off for a run.

The stadium was not busy, well it was a Wednesday evening but the dogs were being paraded for a race as we arrived. They looked gorgeous and very happy, the handlers were fussing them as they walked around and then they put them in the traps to wait for the hare…

Oh it was brilliant to see them go….. once round the track and cross the finish line – trouble is they don’t know the race has finished and keep on going until they reach half way round from the finish line where the handlers are waiting to catch them as they slow down.

We stayed for several races, my son was studying the form but I have to admit it was meaningless to me, I just looked at the dogs (and the names of course) for inspiration.

The last race we watched was wonderful. I had lashed out and put a pound to win on one dog in every race and this was to be no exception.

When they paraded the hounds, number six caught my eye. His tail was spinning round like a helicopter blade, I looked at the form guide Pointone Playboy was my choice for sure, his happy attitude reassured me that my one pound bet would be worthwhile.

And sure enough from the off he was way out in front and romped home in first place. I won £3.25 – riches indeed!

This being off work with stress get to you after a time and having cleaned the bungalow several times I started to look outside….

The area of my slabbed rear garden where Hippie chooses to empty her bowels does get cleaned up and disinfected regularly but, as my partner had bought me a pressure washer some time ago (nice present!!!) I decided to make it a project to clean all the slabs – there are around 100 of them – starting with Hippies area.

Well, what a laugh! The moment I switched the machine on both Hippie and Max ran to take cover and well they might!

The first slab I directed the jet of water at showed a marked difference in colour as the pressure cleared off all the moss, filth and you know what….. and…… threw it all over me!

I couldn’t give up then – just had to keep going for it but after every one and a half slabs the pressure washer switched off and had to be left to cool down – some good this was for clearing my frustrations!

My daughter came out to help – and soon she was covered in glory too! It is also all up the windows and walls so I have another little project after this one.

We gave up and headed for the shower after cleaning 20 slabs and much later as I served up the chicken madras I had made, I looked out of the window to see that as they had dried the slabs were a lovely colour, and that square of 20 slabs really shows up the rest of them – so it was obviously a project worth tackling.

I looked again, and couldn’t believe my eyes – there bang in the middle of this clean area was a steaming pile of greyhound manure – she had obviously contained herself until it was dry!!!

Hippie strikes again!!!!!

Yesterday we took Hippie out for the day. The Newark Branch of the RGT (Retired Greyhound Trust) had a stand at the Barlow Show at Bakewell Showground.

We hadn’t intended entering Hippie for any classes, it was more to let her see some other greyhounds as she does enjoy being with her own breed.

It was a really hot day and it took over an hour to get there but she was very good in the car.

We paid our £2 admission fee and headed for the RGT stand where our girl was immediately welcomed and we were directed to choose a class for her to enter.

There were 21 classes in all so we entered her for three of them: ‘Shiniest Coat’, ‘Greyhound with the Most unusual Markings’ and ‘Cleanest Teeth’. We hesitated about entering her for ‘The Waggiest Tail’ considering it had had to be removed because she wagged it too much but we decided she could win on her own merits – no sympathy votes for us.

First up was the shiniest coat class, Hippie did us proud and her coat glistened in the sunlight.

But it was not to be, the competition was stiff and we think there was maybe a bit of bias going on – there certainly was on our part!!

The next class was the most unusual markings and Hippie came second!

We had to wait quite a while for her last entry – the cleanest teeth! The day had warmed up to boiling point by then and I was so glad of the tip I received from Chris at the Beastly Beasts website I had taken a big bottle of water with ice cubes mixed in and left it in the freezer for a couple of hours before we had started out. by the time Hippie needed it – it was just ice cold water and she loved it. Not to mention the fact that it kept our lunch cool too. During this wait I bought her a nice pink collar with leather flowers on – very suitable for our HippieChick.

Then it was time and she entered the ring to be judged on her teeth…. and…. she won!!!! Fanfare time!!! There were a lot of Greys in the ring and Hippies teeth were the whitest!!! A red rosette to go with her blue one.

It was a lovely day all round albeit a long drive – and the end result? One greyhound out for the count enjoying a fuss!!!

What a star!!! Can’t wait for the next one!!

Well I never thought she would achieve this complicated manoeuvre but my daughter has the patience of a saint with this dog.

Greyhounds, particularly ones with a stump for a tail do not find sitting easy – they kind of achieve some kind of balance with the tail as an anchor and it is fascinating to watch that balance as our girl lifts a front paw to shake…..

BUT, she does it and she does it well!!!

Just look!

Yes – you guessed correctly. Our girl could not contain her happiness every time we came home and after further discussion with the vet we booked her in for surgery – not to have the end of the tail removed but the whole thing!!!

It was not an easy decision but at least the vet was honest and said that just removing the end of the tail would not stop her from wagging it and splitting the new healed up end.

She went for surgery in the morning and by 4p.m. my daughter had picked her up, a little groggy still but otherwise okay. Her tail, once very long was now little more than two inches long. She had tablets for the pain and to fight any infection and, to be fair, considering she’s a bit of a cry baby, she hardly moaned at all!

The dressing fell off that night and whilst the stump looked horrific it did heal remarkably quickly…. and today – we have a tail free greyhound who just wags her whole rear end in greeting.

Before After

Technorati Tags: happy tail,tail,wagging,greeting,blood,injury,end of tail,removed

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There’s nothing quite like the welcome home you receive from our girl… as we try valiantly to get through the front door Hippie comes rushing to say hello – her back end is practically off the floor because her long tail is wagging so hard its is going round like a propeller. She jumps up and it is very hard to stand our ground, but when someone is that pleased to see us it is an amazing feeling.

The other day though after the big greeting I noticed blood on the kitchen cupboards and on inspecting the dog I discovered the end of that long lashing tail looked like a paint brush that had been dipped in red paint.

I dipped her tail end in warm salt water and checked it out – there was a scab, probably from an earlier injury, and she must have banged it on something whilst giving a rapturous welcome.

It soon stopped bleeding so I cleaned the cupboard doors and we got back to normal.

Another panic over!!!

But not for long – within two days the problem had got worse to the point where the house looked like a crime scene – obviously the more she wagged as it bled – the more it was sprayed over walls doors cupboards and radiators.

Another vets trip was in order:-

She came back with her tail bandaged – the instruction was to keep it on as long as possible and come back in a week. She was also sporting a big collar to stop her pulling the bandage off – that was on the Friday. On Sunday the bandage fell off – and mindful of the vet’s warning that Hippie might have to have the end of her tail removed we were very careful of letting her wag her tail to greet anybody. What a nightmare that was – eventually my daughter took her back to be rebandaged – another bill but this time the bandage was there to stay – for the week ……

Another trip to the vets saw it removed – seemingly healed but because the skin is thin and damaged – the slightest knock would start it off again, further discussion with the vet and we knew that if any of her tail was to be removed it would be more than just the end. The mere thought of her having to have many operations and just make it a little shorter every time was just unthinkable.

We had a holiday coming up and it was always going to be difficult finding somewhere to kennel Hippie but then a friend suggested that she could have her for the week and take holiday from her job to do just that.

When my boiler broke down and had to be replaced it seemed the ideal time to give this idea a try. We arranged to take Hippie on day release for the two days it would take the plumbers to carry out the work.

It was all going so well – my daughter got text messages in the day telling her how well Hippie was doing. But when she got home she would not eat her dinner – we had had this problem before and had resolved it by taking the food away after 20 minutes and then leaving it until the next mealtime. That did not work this time however – so the next day my daughter took a day off and took her to the vets – she was asked if the dog had had different food but her friend said she hadn’t fed her.

The next day she was no better and the vet gave her an injection as her temperature had started to rise. In an attempt to make her eat I tried her with pilchards, that only worked once and then she left it. Last ditch attempt was Baker’s Complete – she liked that when we first got her but it affected her tum (just a bit rich for her I think) – anyway the first meal she had all Baker’s with water and she ate it. Every meal since has been mixed with her ‘sensitive’ dry food, Baker’s and water. But each meal has had less Baker’s as we try to sort out her reluctance to go back to her normal diet.

I think for the holiday we will have to weigh out, pack and label each meal to make sure she eats normally. The friend will have her own greyhound by then so I imagine Hippie will be worn out from racing round the garden and will eat and sleep like a baby.

Another breakthrough was a small park my daughter found just around the corner from our house, it is completely enclosed, has a high gate and hardly anybody goes there. Hippie goes there now and when she’s there she is let off the lead and wins her imaginary races as she runs in joyful circles until she cannot run anymore. What a beautiful sight that is. It makes it all worthwhile!!! It is not without hazard, however, only last Saturday whilst racing around the park Hippie suddenly became lame – she managed to walk home but there was obviously a problem, her rear left paw was bleeding from between the pads. We cleaned it up but it was deep and started to bleed every time it was touched. A quick telephone call to the vet got us some advice (free, I might add) just dip the whole foot into salted warm water occasionally. It seemed to work and our girl, who cries and whines at everything, didn’t even yelp. Next morning though, she was off her food and completely unable to put weight on the foot. Also she was very listless so we decided to call the vet again. He said she should be seen but as it was a Sunday and there was an extra charge we might like to leave it until Monday. My daughter has to pay the bills remember, but she didn’t mind – she wanted Hippie seen and we both had to work on the Monday anyway.

The vet could see the wound but was unsure if whatever had punctured the skin had broken off inside causing more pain. He said he could either try anti-biotics and painkillers for a couple of days but if things worsened or didn’t improve he would need to investigate further under anaesthetic. He gave us the choice – no question really – we would try the pills first.

It worked – within a couple of days she was walking again although we only took her on road walks until it healed properly.