The Beastly Beasts

Spring 2007 Greyhound Gap Show

posted by Kai at 20:57

Our regular readers will know that our last two events were rather wet - our Meet and Greet at Salcey, and the last White Lodge walk were both rained on; yesterday at the Greyhound Gap Show it was no different, except it was a bit windy from time to time too. Indeed one felt as though one would have been better off as an Irish Water Spaniel rather than a lurcher or greyhound.

We arrived to find everyone there rather wet already. Still, The Beastly Beasts are nothing if not resilient in the face of adversity, and we got mum and dad to put up the cloth kennel and get our beds in so we could run our quiz.

At the Gap Show

The Beastly Beasts

During the day people wandered past our kennel and quite a few came to say hello. I must say were rather surprised at how many people knew us already, and said they enjoyed reading our blog - thank you to all of you that came along to see us and said nice things (no-one said anything horrible). Some people knew Lucy and Hooch from last time they were in rescue, and we met a man and lady who gave Shaggy - who stayed with us for a bit over Christmas, a lift from Rochdale - they asked after him and were pleased to hear he was doing OK (Shaggy, if you are reading this, they send their regards).

Once the kennel was up went for a wander round the show, and met up with Jackie (Fenja's mum) who she made a fuss of me like she always does - a lady of exceedingly good taste I have to say. And of course we entered some classes in the dog show.

You might have thought that what with greyhounds usually preferring to be anywhere but in the rain that the numbers would be down. Not a bit of it - there were loads of people taking part, and what's more looking like they were enjoying it.

And that kind of let Monty down when he went in the Black Beast class; he did look like he wanted to be anywhere but there.

Still, yours truely did better in the I'm Not a Gap Dog class; coming third. Lisa (boss of Gap) was judging it and she said I deserved a medal for putting up with all the greyhounds; well, she said for starting off the rescue of the others, but I knew what she meant. So thanks to a very astute, and may I say, totally accurate observation, I got third place.

And we all, including Lucy and Hooch, got new Anna's collars; we love them as they look great and help other hounds. Here's me with mine and my rosette.

Kai

Me

So what about the quiz? A fair few took part, and I think most people - even though they obviously had greyhounds - found it (how shall I say this?) challenging. Still, it's mostly for fun and to make some money to help other hounds. We raised £34.

And we know already that the show raised over £3,000, which is pretty amazing as usually on a day like that most of us hounds would have quite happily stayed in bed. So I think all that hounds that got their humans out of the house and up to Wallsal deserve an extra special treat for raising so much - bet you do too.

Report of APGAW Inquiry into Greyhound Welfare

Reference

posted by Chris at 21:58

This nearly passed us by.

The Associate Parliamentary Group for Animal Welfare (APGAW) issued it's Report of APGAW Inquiry into Greyhound Welfare on Sunday - 20th May.

The report is available as a pdf document from the the reports page on the AGPAW website, or you can download it from here.

Report of APGAW Inquiry into Greyhound Welfare PDF

(349KB )

We haven't read it yet, but will do so ASAP, and will put our thoughts and comments on BeastBlog.

Surf's Up

posted by Lucy at 19:46

G'day mates, Lucy here. The guys have shown me how t'blog, so there'll be no shuttin' me up now - ha ha.

So yeah - surf's up, well, as much as it can be in the middle of the country!!

What I mean is, we all went out t'day and had a ripper of a walkabout. You've seen the other guys go on about Salcey Forest; that's were we went.

The perceived wisdom is that you shouldn't let go of a new human for about three months, but you know, the other guys here trust the fella, so me an' Hooch decided to give it a burl - an' he did OK.

So here's a few pics of me an' Hooch and the other guys havin' a bush bash.

Lucy

Yours T - just after letting go of the human

At one point Hooch thought he knew better an' wandered off by himself. Then when he realised we'd all gone the other way he came runnin' back!!

Hooch

Hooch

But o'course it wouldn't do to be seen flustered, so he tries to look dead calm once he's goin' the right way.

Hooch

Hooch

Me? I don't care; far as I'm concerned if you're out on a rage you rage on! This is me an' Monty, we'd just run all the way back up the track (you can just make out Kai and Troy in the background) an' to be 'onest I was fair pooped after that.

Me an' Monty

Then Kai an' Troy caught us up; but look at the Brindle Boys havin' a fossick. If I didn't know bedda I'd say there was something goin' on there!

Kai an' Troy

Then we came across one of the ultimate unisex fragrances for hounds - yep - Fp One (Kr One is bedda, but you poms don't have many roos in the middle of the country). And this wasn't your week old rubbish, the fox had only been there early that morning. I rubbed it on all over and it smelt fair dinkum. 'course, the old boy didn't rate it, but then these humans just don't have the nose for this sort of thing. Kai does though, an' he went an' got some.

Kai applying Fp One

It was pretty warm over there, an' we all needed to cool off for a bit. Jack found a pool and got straight in.

Jack cooling off

That one was a bit mucky for his nibs, so he waited until we found a clearer pool.

Hooch cooling off

And yes, I went for a dip too. Here's me do my Ursula Andress impression.

Me climbing out the pool

Followed by my catalogue model impression.

Me Posin'

And we got our human back - in fact he never went too far away. So all in all an absolute bonzer of a day. Now wer're back an' it's time for some tukker, to be followed by veggin' in front of the box.

So 'til next next time, hooroo.

Raised ALT

posted by Monty at 17:26

Hiya,

As I'm sure you all know, all of us here have donated blood recently. One of the things that happens is PBBuk do a blood test; to find out what blood group you are, and to make sure there's nothing untoward.

My blood group is DEA 1.1 Negative (so' Jack by the way) - that's good as it means our blood can be used by anyone, and being greyhound blood it's as good as you can get 'coz we have lots of red blood cells - much more than other dogs. Kai and Troy are DEA 1.1 positive, so their blood can only be used by another positive.

Thing is though, my test showed a raised ALT enzyme level. This is potentially not a good thing - raised ALT (or alanine aminotransferase to give it it's full name) is an indicator of potential liver damage, though not always, and it might stop me being able to give blood. Anyway, PBBuk suggested to dad and me that I get checked out to see if their test was the figure on the day, or if the level was continually raised. So the other day I had to miss out on breakfast - not good - before going to the doctor for a checkup and blood test. Today we went back for the results.

I have a high ALT level; Mr. Edwards said his tests were in line with the PBBuk test. But the thing is, I don't feel ill at all, and like Mr. Edwards said, is he going to treat the test results or me? He asked a few things about me and my health like:

Do I drink a lot - no

Do I eat my food - yes, and anyone elses if they leave any

Does my wee smell - to other dogs it does 'coz that's part of how we do social networking, but not to humans

Am I listless - I'm a greyhound, so listless is in the job description, but not when we are over a Salcey or there's a squirrel at the top of the garden

Then I got the once over again and was pronounced unjaundiced, bright eyed, alert, and generally healthy. In other words, not a dog with liver problems.

'Course, like Mr. Edwards said, maybe my ALT number is me; maybe I'm just that way.

Anyway, what we agreed on is that I take some tablets for a few weeks that should help my liver out, wait another week to let them clear out of my system, then go back and have another blood test.

So I'm taking Zentonil, which is "a nutritional supplement that serves as an aid in all cases where the liver is under stress". 'Coz it's to help me get back as a blood donor, Mr. Edwards was very nice and let dad pay only what it cost him to buy, but it was still over 200 Knuckle Bones (Note from dad: the exchange rate is 2KB to the Pound); if he hadn't have done that it would have been over 400 Knuckle Bones!! (Another note from dad: the same product at Vet UK costs 222 Knuckle Bones - sorry £111.)

So now it's a case of wait and see what happens. I'm back at the doctor in a few weeks; I'll let you know what happens.

Keep your paws crossed for me.

Wet is the Word

posted by Troy at 20:20

An' let me tell you, WET is THE word to describe the White Lodge Walk we've just done; 'ow different from last munf.

We'd 'ad a nice Sunday lie in, then mum an' dad start gettin' the gear ready, so of course we're all up for it ain't we. OK, the weather ain't best as we pile into the BeastBus, but like they say, fings can only get betta - 'ow wrong can they be.

'Coz fings didn't get betta. Kind of sussed it was a bit iffy when dad put on our billy goats inside the 'addock an' bloater. When we got out it was wet, an' I really do mean wet.

Sarah

You can see the enthusiasm!!

One 'as to question the sanity of 'umans wot is prepared to drive an 'our up the frog an' toad in the pourin' Cynthia Paine, only to get out of a dry van to go for a ball o' chalk in the stuff.

Fing was, we weren't the only ones!! There's more nutta's out there than you can shake a stick at - well, out of our lot anyway, weren't no else out an' about 'ardly.

Crowds

Spot the crowds

We was at Melton Country Park, wot is a great place, but it always seems to be naff weather.

'Course, it was nice to see our china plates, and there was a couple of new boat races, but the natter was some what muted - fink everyone wanted to get back in the dry, except Sol and Kai; both the Gingas was well up for it (they're pals again) an' were 'arein' about after a ball most of the time.

Smiling

Sol being good

Fing is though, though it was sopping wet, would we go an' do it again? 'Course we would.

Monday at Salcey

posted by Monty at 20:04

It was raining; it was raining cats and humans; good day for ducks - bad day for hounds (we don't do rain).

We turned up at Salcey Forest on Monday morning in the BeastBus with the sound of large raindrops on the roof. We were all for going back home to bed when suddenly it stopped and dad said that was it, we were staying.

Because there were not so many people yesterday we chose a different spot - near the toilets, which is a place humans have to go into to wee and stuff. Seems rather strange to me, but then they can be wierd breed sometimes.

Weather is strange stuff. By the time we had got everything ready the sun was shining. And apart from one time it didn't rain again all day, though I thought it might.

Some friends of dad's turned up with their hound called Harvey. Harvey is a Cliff Richdog of the hound world - apparently 14 he looked about 4.

Then some new hounds arrived, Mikey and Patch with their humans Sally and Ewen. They had come all the way from Cambridge to help us out, which is just fantastic - so big thanks to them.

The day seemed busier than Sunday, with more people coming to see us. That meant Troy was spoilt for choice who to lean against, and often had to move fairly quickly from one person to another. Strange thing is, everyone he leant against thought it was brilliant - like they were the only person he'd ever leant against. He has a knack for that. Loads of people asked if he needed a home, but dad said he was stopping with us.

Troy

Troy having a lean

Then Jayne arrived with her mum and dad and puppies, with the rather beautiful Fleur - who we had heard lots about, but never met.

Fleur

Fleur

Me and Jack went for a walk with Fleur, and you remeber I said it only rained once more in the day? Guess when it did it - right - while we were on the walk. We got soaked, but luckily the sun did come out afterwards.

Now, call me a whimp if you want, but although I know and like Jayne, and I know and like Salcey Forest, I really didn't like being away from my mum and dad. Jack didn't care though - I think he was trying to impress Fleur.

When we got back there was a lady hugging Hooch; in fact she hugged Hooch for a very long time. Turned out she thought has was lovely and wanted to offer him a home.

Hooch and Sharon

Her puppy liked Hooch too.

Hooch and Sharon's Puppy

We hope that dad will get a call to see if Hooch can go round and see them soon; not that we want to get rid of Hooch you understand, but it would be nice if he had a forever home.

As we were there all day dad took our beds over. We don't mind who uses them, but most hounds pick one that they can fit in to. Patch decided to do otherwise, and chose one that just wasn't big enough.

Patch

Patch

All during Monday we had to pose for photo's. First of there were loads of "exchange students" who were fascinated by so many hounds in one place. This is Mikey posing with some of them and his dad.

Mikey

Mikey and Students

Then there were the human puppies - they wanted their photos with us too.

Human Puppies with Troy and Lucy

And then there were the two young ladies called Lucy that wanted to have their photos with our Lucy.

Lucy and Lucy<

Lucy with Lucy and Hooch

Lucy and Lucy<

Lucy and Lucy

As you can see, some of the small humans brought us ice creams. Aunty Jayne had earlier too, and it was really nice of everyone to buy us more - we all love ice cream. Thank you.

Then after packing away we all went for a walk with Mickey and Patch and showed them part of our favourite walking place. I think they liked it.

It was two very long days, but I think it was worth it.

We managed to raise £109.59 for Greyhound Gap. We were hoping for a bit more, but the weather meant not so many people came to the forest.

What I really do think we did was showed people what nice beasts we are. In fact some people came up to us while dad was packing up and said how good we all were.

And I'm sure we made some more people aware of what happens to so many of us, and how few actually find homes.

We would like to thank everyone that came to help - Aunty Claire with Greg, Alison with Sol, Chris with Millie and Bess, and Sally and Ewen with Mikey and Patch, and everyone that came specially to us, and everyone that put some dog food tokens in the tins. Thank you.

Ohh. Nearly forgot - Josie's mum Ann won our quiz. She got 17 out of 25, and won six bottles of wine. We took them there this evening, and she is going to use them at another greyhound event to raise even more money - how fab is that?

Sunday at Salcey

posted by Monty at 18:51

Yesterday and the day before we spent at Slacey Forest doing a Meet and Greet to raise some money for Greyhound Gap, and to let people know what nice hounds we - that's greyhounds, not just The Beastly Beasts - really are.

On Sunday we arrived nice and early and mum and dad got everything set up, and waited and hoped - the weather had chosen this weekend to stop being nice and sunny.

Josie, one of our friends, turned up with her humans, and they decided to have a go at Dad's greyhound quiz; Troy gave them a helping hound - not sure if that really did help or not.

Doing the Quiz

A bit later a very handsome hound - who looked vaguely familar - turned up with three humans (how do they look after that many??). Turns out we had met before; on last months White Lodge Walk, and while we didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves then we did this time; so thanks to Sky for bringing his humans all the way from Leicestershire.

Then Aunty Claire turned up with Greg (we met Greg at White Lodge the other day - a very handsome black chap - but then again, all black beasts are handsome), along with Sol and his mum Alison, followed a bit later by Millie and Bess with their mum Chris.

Greg with a human puppy

Now, don't get me wrong, we all love Sol, but for some reason today he had words to say to nearly everyone - including Kai, his doppelGinga!! Still, must admit, he was good with the human puppies, and think even he saw the funny side when Kiera showed the humans how to sign "Bad dog!".

Sol with Kiera

When we've been to Salcey on a sunny day, the lawn where we were has loads of humans on it. Today, probably because it was cloudy in the morning, there were not so many people. Shame really, as it turned out really nice in the afternoon. Still, we get to see some, and we collected some money for hounds less fortunate than ourselves, and I know Aunty Claire and dad told a few people about what happens to lots of hounds that either don't make it to racing or retire from it.

That said, we were hoping for better things on Monday ......

Oi've Given me Pint

posted by Jack at 20:37

You moight rememeber dat de other lads did de blood donin' a little whoile back. Oi couldn't be doin' it den as I was takin' the antibiotics. An' we had our photo taken for de papers, and Oi was in dat, despoit not havin' given me blood. Let me tell you, dat caused a few comments loike. 'Course, as well it not bein' fair dat Oi got me picture taken whitout givin' me blood, de others kept on about how difficult it was an' how brave dey were. Well let me tell you know, det were talkin' total rubbish.

How do I know dis? Today Oi gave me pinta, an' it's a doddle, an' you get a treat afterwards. You get your check up loike goin' to de doctor, get your neck shaved and washed whit some cold stuff - dat's de worst bit, den you loie down for a few minutes whit a ting in your neck, followed by a noice treat, an' dat's it. If de others really tink dat's bein' brave dey are bigger whimps dan Oi taught - moind you, I tink dey were just woindin' me up loike.

Now de other ting dey said is dat dey felt chuffed havin' done it; and dat Oi'll be goin' along whit - knowin' dat your blood is goin' to be helpin' someone else does make feel loike you've been doin' somethin' worthwhoile.

So if you want to be feelin' good about yourself for loiying down for five minutes den havin' a treat - get along to one of dese blood donin' sessions.

An' de pic was published in de papers today so it was, in de Melton Times, along whit some blurb about de Pet Blood Bank. Here's de article - click on it to see a bigger version:

Now, I have to be agreein' whit Kai about de names. Much as we loike Aunty Claire, Uncle Gary, and our dad, it wasn't dem what did the business. So de names of de important people are - from left to roight: Lucy, Hooch, Jack, Troy, Kai, and Monty.