The Beastly Beasts

On Still Being a Beastly Beast

posted by Kai at 16:19

Me - Shaggy again.

Met my new mum and dad and mate Sam - he's great. Was going to home with them, but they're not quite ready for me, so I get to be a Beastly Beast for a few more days - brill.

Sam

Sam

While I was meeting Sam the others had to wait outside.

Beastly Beasts in the Compound

On the way home we went for a walk. I managed to escape and have a bit of a run before we all went off round the lake - great fun watching dad chase after me, then catch me up only when I'd gone back to the others - haaa haaa!!

Told you Maple was good fun - she went swimming - like right in swimming. No-one else did though - too cold.

Statue

Statue in King Lear Lake

Met Sally, a sighthound lady. Her mum stopped to chat with mum and dad. Sally's scared of people but she let us say "Hi".

Sally

Sally

Back home now; here for a few more days then I go and live with Sam. Heard dad say something about Dino coming to stay for a bit when I've moved out - great; Dino deserves some time in a proper home.

All the Beastly Beasts

On Being a Beastly Beast

posted by Kai at 23:11

Shaggy here - not Kai.

Been a Beastly Beast for the last month - enjoyed it. Walks - fab; Salcey - just great, Sywell - my fave, get to have a run around there. Food - yummy. The Beasts - great.

Off to see a new mum, dad and friend later this morning. If they like me I'll be going home with them.

I'll miss the Beasts - 'specially Maple, she's fun, but thanks to all of them for letting me share their home, and hope to see them on walks and stuff.

Shaggy and The Beastly Beasts

Me out with The Beastly Beasts

BeastBus

posted by Troy at 21:24

We've been on at Dad about this for a while. 'Is motor is dead good as far as goes, but when there's six of in there it gets a bit crowded, so we've been askin' 'im to get summink wiv a bit more room.

Today, mum and dad went off at lunch time, and came back this evenin' wiv our new motor; the BeastBus.

BeastBus

Dad's pleased 'coz it means we won't be gettin' 'is car all muddy an' stuff, an' we're well 'appy 'coz now we've got loads of room. We tested it out tonight an' went up Sywell for a wonder; dead good it is.

Inside BeastBus

The inside of BeastBus

So now we can travel in the style in which we deserve to be accustomed, and we'll be going everywhere in it; so watch out for the BeastBus.

Police Leave a Greyound to Die

Reference

posted by Chris at 08:05

Unbelievable, but true. The brindle greyhound had been picked up as a stray and taken to Dalkeith police station in Midlothian on January 2; it's remains were discovered ten days later when someone complained of the smell.

Just how can that be?!!!

The news article says there "may be disiplinary action"; "may" should be "will".

Read the full article >>

Newport Pagnell Homechecks

posted by Jack at 11:37

Yesterday was another busy day for us all. Dad got us up and active about midday, which, as you'll be knowin', is prime snoozing time. Still, 'twas worth it so it was.

Even though we'd bin dere only de day before, it was over to de Salcey Forest for a walk. A noice sunny day it was, whit loads o' people around. 'Course, we got a few comments. We didn't go as far as we sometoimes do; today we had to be goin' to de Newport Pagnell and lookin' in de houses to see if dey is OK for hounds to live dere.

Moind you, we was a bit delayed gettin' away from Salcey so we were. On de way back to de car dis lady calls out and asks if we're from de local kennels. Well, no we aren't, but dad asks her why and it turns out de family is lookin' for a greyhound to give a home to, and dey was wonderin', seein' as dere's de six of us, if we knew where dey could contact. 'Course, dad said he did and so we had a noice chat whit dem whoile we walked back to de car; dere young puppy reckons he wants a black one, which is foine if you're not appreciating de brindles I suppose. 'Course, Monty and Maple reckon dat he's a noice puppy for wantin' a black one seein' as dere are so many of dem lookin' for a home. Anyway, dad left dem wit some stuff, so let's hope dey do decide to go for it and give one of our mates a home.

So den we went off to de Newport Pagnell to go lookin' into de houses. Dad took me in whit him whoile de others had a kip in de car.

De first one we went to was home to Bramble. Bramble is a very hadsome Saluki fella who has got his mum and dad well trained; lives de loife Riley so he does. Dey are lookin' for someone to live whit Bramble. I don't tink dat should be difficult; he's a friendly fella and wanted to play; shame I was still tired from de walk. After dad had had a chat whit Bramble's mum and dad, dey came outside to meet de rest of de Beasts. Bramble's mum fell straight in love whit Kai, an' den Troy started his leanin' so she fell in love whit him too!!

Den it was de next stop, where we found Meg de whippet. When we went in Meg told me dat dis was her home; well I knew dat roight enough. Maples just de same though; has to tell everyone whether they'll be knowin' already or not; it's a girl ting. Meg's mum and dad weren't to sure if she'd be loikin' another dog in de house, but once she'd said her piece she was foine; she showed me round de garden where we had a bit of a chase, and let me have a snooze in her bed whoile dad had a chat. Turns out her mum and dad hadn't bin thinkin' of a greyhound 'coz dey thought we'd be a bit big; dey were tinkin' more loike another whippet or whippet sized lurcher, but I tink I moight just have persuaded dem that a greyhound would be just foine; so dat means dey have even more dey choose from. 'Course, dey had to come out and see de others too, and I'll not be givin' prizes for guessin' who Meg's mum loiked as he leaned against her.

We went for a little walk in a meadow dat is not even a minutes walk from Meg's house, just so everyone could stretch dere legs and do de biz, den it was back home where dad made us a noice tea. He said we had done greyhounds proud today; we loike to tink we did.

So hopefully we'll be hearin' dat another tree or four of our mates have homes over de next few weeks. When we do we'll be lettin' you know.

Labels: homecheck, walk

OK Vet UK

Reference

posted by Chris at 11:09

We've had our first sale in our Vet UK affiliate program - thank you, who ever you are ('coz we - rightly - don't get to see anything do to with who it was or what they bought).

To find out more about our affiliate program and how it helps raise money for homeless hounds, click here.

WGAS SOS

Reference

posted by Chris at 19:40

Wood Green Animal Shelters - WGAS - have sent out an SOS; the person doing the drawings for the new route of the A14 has forgotten to draw a line from the A14 to the A1198, which, as I'm sure you already know, is the road that WGAS is to situated on near Huntingdon.

Visitors to WGAS are key in raising funds for their work. A non-direct route to get to them could well reduce the number of visitors, and hence the amount of money they have available to care for the animals; and it could even deter some from handing in animals, leaving them to, well, who knows?

For all the details, including the name and address of the person to write to and ask if a line can be drawn from the A14 to the A1198 on the plans (shouldn't be too hard, should it?), click on "reference" at the top of this post.

Thanks for your support.

Happy Birthday Kai

posted by Monty at 19:27

It's been my mate Kai's Birthday today, and so it's Many Happy Returns from all of the other Beastly Beasts; he's five today.

Actually, like me, he doesn't really know when his birthday is, so me, him, and Jack have "official" birthdays - who cares what kind it is so long as we get the treats!!

Dad was working at home today, so we persuaded him to take us over to Salcey Forest for Kai's birthday treat.

Brilliant!! We had the whole place to ourselves, and had a really good run around. It had just been raining and so there were loads of smells, and we were there as it was getting dark, which is mine and Kai's favourite time to be out.

The cousins, Troy and Maple, both came back very very muddy - dad calls 'em "Mud Magnets". And Shaggy has just had what is probably his longest time running around off the lead in his life. To say he enjoyed it might be understating it a bit; I think he's a bit tired now.

Mind you, none of us are exaclty lively; a two hour run at Salcey, a rest, then a big tea (with liver, yummm) means it's time for a sleep.

Labels: birthday, Kai

Busy Day

posted by Jack at 17:50

Today has bin a busy day for me dad an' me. Dis mornin' we went an' did a homecheck an' den back home to get the de rest of de gang an' off to Beacon Hill for de first White Lodge Walk of 2007.

So I'd better be startin' wit dis mornin'. Dad hadn't said anyting about dis to me you understand, just at half ten, as we're all settlin' down noicely for our daytime kip, it's "Jack - your wanted." Well now, to be fair, when you're wanted it's usually for someting good; so I was dere straight away. 'Course the others 'tought dey ought to be goin' where ever it was too; but dey weren't.

Now, it wouldn't be roight be be givin' out de names so it wouldn't, so I'll just be callin' de people we to see J an' S - dey'll be knowin' who dey are roight enough.

And dead noice people dey were too. Lookin' for a greyhound 'coz dey loike us and dey borrow dogs to walk now but want one of dere own. S is a very astute young man so he is; tought I was very handsome. Both J and S tought I was a big fella; maybe just as well Troy didn't come along. Dey made me feel roight welcome and I tought I moight as well be settlin' down for me kip whoile dad did the chattin' loike.

Me - De Big Handsome Fella

Den back home to get de rest of de gang. 'Course I got de "Where have you been?", but once de leads came out dat was soon forgotten.

Beacon Hill it was today; it's one of our favorite places. We actually got dere early, and went for a little walk on our own before de others arrived. When we got back it was loike de world and his human was dere; dere was loads. Aunty Claire made a fuss of Shaggy and wanted to know if he had to go back to de Lodge; dad said "No" - loike he'd be sayin' anythin' else?

I went wit Caleb and his mum and dad, and Troy teamed up wit Jasper. I gotta say dat it was a fine pairin' up to make two matchin' pairs; Caleb bein' Brindle an' all, and Jasper being whoite loike Troy.

Troy wit Jasper's Mum

Shaggy is our foster so he is, and de other White Lodge Christmas foster was de Mortimer. We've decoided to be callin' him Wing Commander Mortimer after today on account of his flyin' jacket he was wearin'. And it seems loike he moight not be a foster much longer, and be endin' up stoppin' were he is. Dat's a foine result - worked for me!!

Wing Co. Mortimer

Now, I could be tellin' you who else was dere, but it would be a list as long as your front leg. Let's just be sayin' dat it seemed loike just about everyone we've ever mentioned on de BeastBlog was dere, plus a few hounds I hadn't seen before, which is always a good ting. But dere's one dat I must be pointin' out. And when I say pointin', the point is dat dey most definitley aren't a pointy dog. Here she is.

It's a Pointy Dog - Honest

Now you moight be wondrin' if we was all worried about a beast loike dat; from all de recent stuff you'd be tinkin' dat maybe we should be. Well, de truth of it is is dat dere is no such ting as a bad dog; dere's just dogs dat's not been bought up roight. It seems to me dat dere's a fair few humans dat dat could be said about too - just be askin' some of us greyhounds dat were dere today if dat's not roight. An' to be sayin' dat a dog or a human is bad just 'coz of what dey are rather dan who dey are, well dat's just plain nonsense.

And in case you were wondrin' she was a very pleasant and poloite lady all afternoon, and we look forward to be seein' her again, so we do.

Hounds on de Hill

At de top of de hill it was loike we had taken over de whole place. You could see people stoppin' and starin' at so many dogs in de one place. And here' a question for you to ponder - what it is about de Beacon Hill dat brings out de silly hats? You moight be rememberin' Mel from last year; well, she has de competition in de shape of Alison.

Alison

Alison

Back down to de bottom of de hill and time for de treats as always. It was terrific to be seein' so many of our friends today so it was, and to see some new ones too. Hope to be seein' you all again at de next walk.

Labels: walk

Farewell to Alfred

posted by Kai at 08:02

Once again, as the longest serving Beastly Beast, it falls to me to fulfill a duty; this time one which is rather sad - our eulogy for Dad's Dad - Alfred.

My earliest memory of Alfred was the day we all went to Wood Green. To say that I was rather alarmed would be an understatement; it hadn?t been that long since Mum and Dad had brought me home from there, so when I realised where we were, for one horrible moment I thought they were taking me back. Phelan however assured me that we were there to pick up two, (yes 2), elderly ladies that Dad?s Dad was taking home. This was back in the days when there was just Phelan and me in the household. Ahhhh - peaceful days. But I digress

Sammy and Cindy came as a pair; they were two senior ?bits of all sorts? dogs that Alfred had fallen for when he went searching for a replacement for Bella, his King Charles spaniel who had sadly died just recently. In the reception area, where the humans sorted out the paper work, some of the ladies remembered me; one tends not find this an uncommon occurence being so handsome. Once the formalities were complete we ensconced ourselves in the back of Dad?s car and headed for Dartford.

Dad's Dad

On our arrival at Alfred?s there was a very amusing moment: Dad opened the back of the car and of course Phelan and I, being well behaved dogs, waited until he said we could alight. However, Sammy and Cindy leapt straight out and ran off down the road - luckily a very quiet one! It was hilarious to see Mum and Dad giving hot pursuit whilst Alfred stood in bewilderment, thinking he may have lost his 2 new rescue dogs before they had even made it into the house. And one has to say that for two old ladies they were quite spritely. I am pleased to report that they were successfully rounded up, and once indoors they clearly felt at home and settled down straight away.

My next memory is when we went to see Alfred in Birchington, Kent. He had moved into a very nice bungalow to live nearer to Dad?s sister. By this time Phelan had gone to the kennel in the sky and Monty had arrived; but Monty was still a rather nervous chap and disgraced himself on the carpet in Alfred?s bedroom, and I don?t mean just a wee! Being used to dogs, Alfred was not cross and gave us both a treat to show he wasn't; we always had lots of treats from him. Where Alfred lived was quite close to the beach (I just love the beach) and that day we all went there for a nice run.

There was however one thing Alfred never did get quite right - my name; he always called me Kia. Mind you, not as bad as what he did to Monty; he called him a "her" - that did make me laugh - a lot.

Another time I remember was when we went to meet Scooby ? the young Jack Russell that Alfred rescued shortly after Sammy and Cindy had both died (they were very old, but I think they had a lovely couple of years being looked after by Alfred). A question for our readers - do Jack Russells ever sit still? In my experience - not. Good grief, it made me dizzy just watching him.

By this time Jack had joined The Beastly Beasts, making three of us. You may think that this represented safety in numbers. I can assure you that it was not the case, and Scooby insisted on trying to get us to play in what I can only describe as an incessant manner until Alfred put him on a lead for a bit and we could settle down for our afternoon nap.

Sadly not long after that Alfred became quite poorly and one day I heard Dad saying that he had had to let Scooby go to another family as he could no longer take proper care of him and walk him each day. Although his new home was by all accounts a great place with plenty of love, Alfred was very, very sad. I can understand that; I believe that humans need us as much as we need them ? someone to talk to and share things with, especially when they live on their own like Alfred did. His house must have seemed far too quiet after Scooby had gone.

Unfortunately Alfred's condition did not improve, and he needed to leave his bungalow as he could no longer look after himself. Things carried on getting worse until sadly, as Maple reported in her Christmas post, Alfred died the day after Dad went to see him in hospital; today is the day that Dad and Mum go to say their last goodbye. I remember all too well the times we have had to say goodbyes ? to Phelan, Izzy and Vincent - and it is not nice. I hope that he is sent on his way wearing his best bandana and with his favourite squeaky ? just like my friends were.

Rest easy Alfred.

Kai and the rest of The Beastly Beasts x

Labels: alfred, dad, eulogy

Happy New Year for 2007

posted by Kai at 12:17

Well, it is 2007, and on behalf of all of The Beastly Beasts, I would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year, and hope that 2007 is everything you want it to be.

We look forward to meeting all our friends, renewing acquaintances, and making new ones through out the year.

We hope, probably in vain, but hope never the less, that this year will be a better one for hounds in the racing industry. And through the year we will be raising money for those that work so hard to give hounds like us the homes they need. One of the ways we will be doing that is by or affiliation with Vet UK. For details of what it is and how it works please click here.

Labels: happy new year