The Beastly Beasts

Is Troy Becoming Normal?

posted by Chris at 14:55

11½ months down the line, and it could be that Troy is turning into a normal dog.

For those of who that know or have met Troy, however briefly, you will undoubtedly have been leaned against; it what Troy does. But that kind of thing has always been one of his character traits; as much as he is a totally loveable lad (and he is), he has never given anything back - it is always you that has to give affection to Troy.

In the garden Troy is quite happy to run up and down, but on his own. Even if there is a mad going on among the others, Troy either won't join in, or will only do so on the periphery for a couple of moments (cousin Maple by contrast is invariably in the thick of it - and more often that not is the one that started it). In the house, Troy will rarely play with Toys, and then only a bit of mouthing - not chucking them round the room like Monty,

The only time Troy really gets animated is when it's time for a walk.

But all that has been changing in the last couple of weeks. He has been handing out little licks to Gill and me, and last week we were treated to a big lick each. And last night when I got in and went into the garden with them, Troy played with me for the very first time ever; real interaction, and doing it without any nervousness or hang ups.

The only problem is that we might now have a 7 year old, 34kg puppy on our hands. I do hope so.

Greyhound Rememberance Day

posted by Troy at 09:36

Wotcha.

Last weekend was a busy one for us Beastly Beasts wot wiv Bowood on Saturday (Monty's dun some stuff on that - here), and the Greyhound Rememberance Day on Sunday at Eastville Park in Bristol.

Some of the stalls

When we first got there there was no-one around, so we went for a bit of a wander. When we got back there was a few people there, and a nice lady told us 'ow to get to the lakes for a walk. So off we went.

Down at the lakes we met a lady 'oo seemed to know 'oo we were. Turns out it was Wendy, wiv two of 'er 13 dogs, Rosie and Jess, and she knows us from the internet. Mum and dad fink they 'ave enough grief wiv five of us, wot about thirteen?? Anyway, Maple did somefink wiv Wendy she 'as never dun before wiv anyone; she went straight up to 'er for aa stroke. To me that means one or two of two fings: One. Maple is gettin' more confident wiv people, and Two. Wendy is a very nice lady.

Wendy with Rosie and Jess

The lake was good, and as we walked round it we met some more people wiv 'ounds that 'ad turned up for the day, and of course we stopped an' 'ad a chat wiv everyone. When we got back up the 'ill there was a fair few bods around, and a bloke takin' shed loads of pictures. Turns out it was the press photographer. 'Ee seemed a nice bloke, and 'ee took some snaps of us lot, and got dad to take us for a pose.

Then it got to the serious businees of the day; a minutes silence for all the 'ounds wot have died 'coz of racin'. There's 'undreds and thousands killed just 'coz they ain't wanted no more. And why ain't they wanted? 'Coz they can't run as fast as they used to. Well 'ang on mate, we've done our bit; 'ow about something in return, like a life?

Me, I'm one of the lucky ones, like all us Beastly Beasts and the others there on Sunday. Monty's probably the luckiest of us all - 'ee was a day away from bein' killed, an' 'ee 'adn't even raced yet!!

Everyone together for a minutes silence

So, a minutes silence was 'eld for all the 'ounds. 'Course the ones wot died up norf were in everyone's mind in particular. You could see lots of the 'umans trying not to cry, some weren't too successful and there was the odd tear 'ere and there.

At the end of the minute we 'ad a bit of a chin wag wiv a few uvver 'ounds. Our dad, 'ee's a larf, or at least 'ee thinks so. Does your 'uman always do the same old joke? Dad does. As soon as I go to say 'ello to anyone 'ee 'olds out me lead and tells 'em they can 'ave me. Tough for 'im though; I keep comin' back.

Spike

Spike

Then we 'ad a picnic. We settled down next to a couple of fabulous hounds, Lily and Frodo. They was Galgos, and came from Spain. 'Ave to say I was a bit taken wiv Lily - she's a stunna; don't know if it was that dusky suvvern european look or what, but the old 'eart did a bit of a flutter. Trouble was she was 'avin' none of it.

Lily and Frodo

Lily's mum and dad said she needed to get used to other dogs, so after lunch me and Kai took 'er for a walk with our dads. Fantastic, an 'hole walk wiv a beautiful lady. And she was as nice as pie; she let me walk right next to 'er, and when we got back she let me stand next to 'er. That's my dreams sorted for the next little while.

Now 'eres a thing though; Lily's mum knew 'hoo we was. I didn't fink anyone would know us bein' a fair way from 'ome like. But she did, and Wendy, and a couple of uvvers said they'd 'eard of us. Good job we was on our best be'aviour.

Then we 'ad a wander and met a dead spit for Maple - Sybil she's called. You would 'ave thought they was twins, except Sybil's only six and Maple's seven; kind of puts the mockers on the twins thing.

Sybil and Maple, with Sybil's mum - Sue

Now, must tell you about Bridgit. You might 'ave read about Donna (here) 'hoo went to the Bridge a couple of weeks ago. Well Bridgit is like Donna was. She's 14, lives in 'er own world, barks at the world 'coz she can, an' wouldn't 'arm a soul. She wandered round all afternoon quite 'appy, and a fair few times she came and 'ad a kip wiv us. Nice to meet you Bridgit.

Bridgit

Bridgit

We 'ad a great day in Bristol, and all the Beastly Beasts would like to thank the people that put it all togevver and 'elped, and say "Hi" to everyone that turned up wevver or not we got a 'ave a chat on the day; it was really great to meet some new 'ounds and their 'umans. Of course the reasons for the day was really serious like, but maybe one day those reasons will be 'istry, and we can all get together just for the 'ell of it. I really 'ope so.

'Til next time then.

Take care,
Troy

Bowood Show

Reference

posted by Monty at 19:52

On Saturday we went to the Bowood dog show in Wiltshire. We set of nice and early (so we thought - this was a Saturday after all) so that we'd get there in plenty of time. We knew Wendy and her beasts, Bumpy and Poppy would be there, and the Squirrels with an "ohh ess tea eee arrr with a captial eff" (apparently that means that she just uses their home like a posh sort of kennel for a bit) called Alice. Mum and dad said their was going to be other Fugees (some internet thingy) there and someone else very special.

Mark & Alice

But I get ahead of myself. Normally dad's car goes quite quick - very quick actually, but today near an Ox ford - whatever that is - we spent ages just sitting around. Usually when dad stops for more than a few minutes we're all allowed out, but we had to stay in the car - dead boring, not even any sheep to look at.

Then after ages we went quick, but then it started getting all grey and we could see flashes in the sky and the wind blew enough to shake the car a bit and it started raining so hard we couldn't see out the windows. We could hear mum and dad saying that this was going to be fun, but they didn't sound like they meant it. We didn't know where we were, but we did see a sign saying New Zealand was only ½ a mile away. Now, us greyhounds don't do much geography, the other side of the field is about as good as it gets, but even I know that we had not been in the car long enough to get there.

Not too long afterwards we finally to got Bowood; we knew we'd arrived 'coz there was lots of other dogs around. Mum and dad said that this was the first time a dog show was being held here. So they had lots and lots of nice sunny days, and chose one when it rained lots. Why? Don't they know that hounds don't do rain?

Bowood

Bowood

We met up with Sam and Mark and their daughter Aisling, Wendy, Mindy, Helen and Sandra - the Fugees. They had been outside in the rain, and had got very wet, as had their beasts; but they were still smiling. Then it started to rain again and we all went and hid under a tent; and then it thundered, which meant that Kai had to go and hide under a table, but he left his bum sticking out in the rain!!

Kai being a whimp and Keira

And Maple didn't like it either, but she's a girl, so that's OK. With Kai being a whimp, Jack making sure he wasn't missing out on food and Troy leaning against people, that left me to look after her.

Me looking after Maple

And you could tell it was raining!! Look at this pic of Helen!!

Helen and Rain

Then another man and lady turned up, and dad said the lady was the very special someone else, Ange. He explained that after I'd been rescued in Ireland, all the treatment and food and cars and everything needed to be paid for, and that Ange and Sam had given some money so that I could be helped. And both of them had done it without knowing me and, in Ange's case, expecting ever to see me again (Sam had promised the ladies in Ireland that she would visit me at Aunty Claire's, but she never did 'coz I went to live with Kai and mum and dad before she could), and ever wanting anything back. So I had two people that helped me in the same place as me; how special is that? I think they are both very beautiful ladies, and perhaps if the human world had more like them it would be a much nicer place. Of course, I gave Ange one of my soulful looks when she came to say hello, which is my way of saying thank you. I hope we see her again - she is a lovely lady.

Aisling and Alice

Back to the dog show. The rain eased off to a downpour, and the judging started. Aisling took Mindy's dogs into one competition, and managed to scoop the first prize of the day for the Fugees. And then the rain stopped, and it turned into a lovely day.

A Pround Parent Moment for Mindy as Aisling returns with her beasts and a prize

Dad took us boys into the Handsomest Dog class. There were lots in there, and none of us won anything; Dad said we were all fired. Then he took Jack and Maple into the Oldies class. It's worth pointing out that the lady judge was a proper Kennel Club judge and was using Kennel Club rules. This meant that Maple had to be groped by her, and to be fair to Maple, you could tell she didn't like it, but she let her. Jack loved it of course. And guess what? They came third. And even better, Wendy had taken Bumpy and Poppy in as well, and they came second. WhooHooo!! - Fugees in 2nd and 3rd place. Then dad took Troy into the best six legs competition, but let's face it, Troy didn't stand much of a chance with dad's legs as the other two.

Fugees and Prizes

Wendy with Bumpy and Poppy, and dad with Jack and Maple

Jack

Jack

Maple

Unbelievably, that was pretty much the end of the show, but not the end of the day. We all went back to Bumpy and Poppy's house 'coz they live dead close. So how many dogs can you get in a house? Today it was eleven. Some houses just feel nice and friendly, and thiers was like that. Their garden smells great so of course we added our smells too.

Mindy in a sea of dogs

While the humans had drinks of tea or sangria, we had a wander round or a stroke from them, depending on how we felt.

Mum and Alice

Bumpy and Poopy were really nice and let us use their beds for a bit, and Aisling and Alice kipped in a chair.

Alice looking after Aisling

And so the day came to and end. We didn't have to stop and wait anywhere going home, which was good 'coz we were all dog tired. All we wanted was our tea and beds; and that's just what we got.

See you soon,
Monty

The Long Arm of the Oar

posted by Jack at 18:49

We've just got back from supporting Lucie's team in de Dragon Boat race. Lucie (mum's daughter) is Police Officer, and de team was all Police Officers (must have been a field day for criminals in Northampton dis afternoon). So we were de official supporters club - canine division.

The Long Arm of the Oar Official Supporters Club - Canine Division

We arrived while de heats were happnin' to decide who was in de semi-final, and dere was a bit of hangin' around, though it made a noice change to be de spectator. Whoile dat was happnin' a few people stopped us and asked about greyhounds and dat Sunday Times article. Mum and dad didn't hold back on deir views of de racing industry, Oi'll tell ya. But everyone was agreein' whit dem, so who knows, maybe somethin'll happen to stop it at last.

And de great news was dat de team were in de semi final. And even better; dey won deir race and were in de final.

The Long Arm of the Oar (3) Winning the semis

I had two loverly ladies foightin' over me - Chloe and Anya. Dey took me for little walks around, which was really good, and looked after me. Dey were very nice - thank you ladies.

Chloe

Me an' Chloe

Anya

Me an' Anya

We also met a loverly lady, who's name I didn't get, who thought we were so nice and gentle. She is lookin' for another beast, and had never though of a greyhound 'til she met us. Let's hope she get's one.

Back to de racin' and de final. We all got ourselves ready for de support, and even got into de right dress - dis was important.

Troy

Officer Troy - "Wot's all this then?"
Me and Kai

Officers Jack and Kai - Good Cop / Bad Cop
Monty

Officer Monty - "Evenin' All!"

De tension was unbearable. We could hear dem from the beatin' on de drum - dat's what Luci did - and den dey came into view. De tree boats were neck and neck, dere was nuttin' in it. It went roight to de wire, but The Long Arm of the Oar were beaten into second place - just; not even one second seperated de first and de tird place.

Pipped at the Line

We had a noice time, and we tink dat de team did really well, and dey raised lots of money for charity, so dat was good.

See you soon,
Jack

Three Years as a Beastly Beast

posted by Kai at 12:01

Yup, been a Beastly Beast for three years now. When I joined there was just Phelan; now there's five of us.

I enjoy it here 'coz mum and dad take us to loads of nice places where we meet new people and humans. My favourite place is the beach. I've been to ones in Cornwall, Devon and Norfolk, and they are all great for running around then cooling off in the sea. And when your in the sea you don't have go back to mum or dad right away when they call you because they can't come and get you as they don't like getting their fur wet - haa haaa!

Me at the beach

My best friend of all the other Beastly Beasts is Monty. We hit it off straight away, and have been good friends ever since. When we are out and about we do most things together; dad calls us the Symbiant Beast.

Anyway, better go now as we have got to go out and bark for Lucie in the local Dragon Boat race.

Three Months with Maple

posted by Troy at 11:51

It's come round dead quick, but today is three months since Maple arrived. As regular readers will know, it weren't all plain sailin' to start wiv, but fings 'ave settled down nicely, and Maple is definitely a Beastly Beast.

Where as to start wiv she was really shy and never went to anyone, now she's all sorted wiv Dad - well, she was from the start wiv 'im - and Mum (you might remember the ruckas we 'ad there - I wrote about it in TW3), Aunty Claire, Jayne, and Jaynes puppies. And even new people she's getting the 'ang of, so long as the rest of us are around; then she can be brave. At 'ome she's a right little madam; always 'as to be right in the thick of it, and more often than not she's the one wantin' to do stuff even if the lads are 'avin' a bit of kip.

She's got a better lookin' an' all. Gone, well, nearly like, is the 'orrible brown fluffy fur. Now she's got a nice sleek coat, and fair shines in the sun.

Tell ya one thing she does do though, that none of the lads do - snores, somethin' rotten sometimes. Most times it's quiet and you can ignore it. But other times she really goes for it, and then she usually shouts in her sleep too - keeping the lads awake!!

But she's alright really, being my cousin and that; so by way of a little celebration, 'ere's a Maple Montage.

Cheers,
Troy

When We Met Maple

On the way home - snuggled up to me

Her new collar

First time off the lead

At Melton Show

On a mission at Salcey

In bed

In bed

This morning

This morning (2)

White Lodge Walk

posted by Kai at 21:28

2nd Sunday of the month and it's the WL Walk.

We were late, about 20 minutes late, which is late, even by our standards. But we were in good company as Buddy and his humans turned up at the same time we did. So together we made up the Fashionably Late White Lodge Walk.

Buddy arrived with four humans all to himself, which I have to say is rather impressive; I don't know how he manages to look after so many. So to help him out on the walk Troy and Jack went with some of his humans.

Buddy, Troy and Jack

I don't know that the humans quite had the hang of them to start with; Troy as always wanted to get where he was going, and Jack spent most of the first ten minutes on three legs weeing on things. Still, they managed.

We caught up with the Unfashionable On Time White Lodge Walk at the top of the hill. They had already been all the way round, and were lazing about in the sunshine and wind. And there was lots of wind - not greyhound gas type wind, but weather wind.

Aunty Claire had bought Guiness out with her. Although not a true pointy dog, she has been living with them long enough to get the hang of what humans are really for, even if some of them are a bit small.

Guiness Chilling

After a chat with the Unfashionable On Time White Lodge Walk we went for a wander around the top of the hill. And I have to say, although Unfashionable, they were very nice and waited for us to get back before we all wandered back to the cars.

The Crowd

All around the fort on the top of the hill there was lamb on the hoof, and on the way back there was beef on the hoof. Add to that all the rabbits that must be there, and this is hound heaven with all that poo to roll in and stuff to sniff - I found some nice fresh sheep poo to nibble on; well, Dad gave away loads of the liver cake and a hound's go to eat.

Baby Beef

Horned Beef

Back at the cars, it looked like Troy was off with Buddy's humans. They seemed to like him, and he liked them. But I guess the certainty of Dad's lap swayed him, and he came home with us.

After a late night last night, and a nice walk today, we are all ready for a good sleep. See you soon.

An Evening at White Lodge

posted by Monty at 09:55

We spent yesterday evening at White Lodge, not in the high security Cell Block H (it's more of an I really), but in THE White Lodge. It had been a horrible week at White Lodge, with two beasts put to sleep, and as anyone that knows, Claire does not do put to sleep. And one of the beasts was Claire's Donna who went away on Friday. If you didn't know Donna's story, here's a quick resumé:

Donna been kept by an old lady and never went out. When the lady died Donna was left in the house and visited every three days or so to have food put on the floor. When the time came to sell the house it looked grim from her, but eventually found her way to WL via Houndsavers, where she was to spend the next 18 months.

After the vet had done what needed to be done, Donna only had two teeth left, but that didn't stop nicking biscuits and stuff. She was battier than a cricket stick, and barked at things 'coz she could. And all she wanted was a love (don't we all?) - which of course she got. Everyone who met her fell in love with her 'coz she was that kind of lady - wonderfully eccentric.

Donna

Donna

So sleep tight Donna.

The other beast was Swirly Merly, who we'd met on a walk not long ago. Despite so many people trying, Merlin had so many issues. He was so young; it makes you wonder what had happened to him in his short life, and realise how lucky we all are. Anyway, Merlin, no more worries mate.

Sooooo, as you can imagine, it was not a good week at White Lodge, so the Beastly Beasts descended to try and cheer things up.

This was our first time in THE White Lodge, so we were introduced to Claire's beasts one by one after we had had our tea. Guiness came first, then Shadow (now offical mad dog) and Jack, then Sky and Mackenzie. The humans thought that Maple and Guiness would have a set to, both being right madams, but not a word was spoken. After the intros it was into the garden where we all had a good charge around. Aunty Claire stopped Shadow running round too much 'coz he's 13, but he was well up for it. And you wouldn't know Jack has a leg missing from the way he was charging about either. And our Jack managed to loose the bandage off his foot, so Aunty Claire had do a new one for him.

Kai and Sky had a bit of a stand off to see who played the hardest; Sky won. So we've been teasing Kai about giving into a girl. Actually, I think he might fancy her, dominant woman and all that.

When we went indoors to have a lie down it was a bit hound carpet, there were ten of us after all. I think if you look at this pick there's six of us in it; not sure where the others are.

Hound Carpet

As I said earlier, Donna was madder than a hatter, and Shadow is eccentric in his own way to. One of his things is that no one is allowed to kip on his rug. Donna was, perhaps mad knows mad, and so was I; what does that say for my future sanity?

Me and My Shadow

You probably know this already, but out of all The Beastly Beasts, Troy is Aunty Claire's favourite, and in typical Troy stylee, he glued himself to her from time time during the evening. But when it comes to a proper cuddle, there is only one place in the world that does for Troy, and that is Dad's lap.

Troy on Dad's Lap

So did we cheer things up? You'll have to ask Aunty Claire, but we hope so.

Emergency Ward 10

posted by Monty at 23:30

The Beastly Beasts household is like Emergency Ward 10; well, that's what dad says. Maple went to the vets on Friday to "be done". Not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds not nice, and when she came back she was all red and blue and purple underneath, and had loads of stitches in her tummy. And while she was being done she had five teeth out. Apparently she's also got a touch of Ginger's Vitals - whatever they may be, but she's got tablets for it.

And Jack's been limping the last few days, and very unusually for him, been a bit quiet. So he went with Maple to the vets. Turns out he had a corn in one of his pads, and on Monday he had that cut out - that also sounds painful. So now he's got a big green club foot what with all the bandages and stuff. But already he's starting to perk up and go a bit mad again. Which means he's taking toys into the garden that I have to go and get and bring in again when he's finished, 'coz he's useless at clearing up.

Jack