We took my dog down to the river yesterday, and a dainty little greyhound girl trotted up, along with a big, beautiful, shiny Rottweiler. It was amazing seeing the contrast between the dogs. The grey was older, and very calm and quiet, but friendly enough to give my dog a sniff. She waited patiently by her owner's side while the Rotty gallavanted around, showing off his big muscles and beautiful curly (not docked) tail.
I want to adopt an ex-track greyhound. I just love them. They are such beautiful, graceful, athletic animals. Wifey, well she's not so sure. She is concerned about the cats. After a somewhat surprising incident which caught us off guard in which our youngest cat decided to take on a friend's old Blue Heeler where a nasty fight ensued, I had to reassess youngest cat's temprament. We will of course have to be careful introducing her to *any* new dog. I don't think it matters so much what type of dog.
Wifey liked the greyhound at the river though. It's weird it's like they have some kind of power over me. The park can be full of other dogs, and it's the grey my eyes are drawn to. My current dog also likes greys because they can run fast. He likes any dog that can run fast. Even kelpies that will try to round him up while he is busy chasing his ball.
4 comments:
I had a cat who roamed my neighbour's backyard when she was bored with mine. My neighbour's had racing greyhounds which were normally kept out on a property, but they had them at home for a few days once and they killed my cat when she came into their yard. I don't think it's a good mix.
GAP have plenty of greys that can live with cats. Apparently about 50% are OK with them, and they are cat-tested through the fostering process (some greys even live with bunnies!)...they foster them out of the kennel so that they can be adopted out already adapted to household life... it's a good program... and they've nationally adopted out 5000 hounds so far. Sounds like their greys were the non-cat tolerant kind. It's a pretty horrible thing to happen though!
I really admire the people who run that type of program.. I love many of the sighthounds, they're so sleek & curious-natured & lovely.
[A word of warning though; just check with your local State/Territory/County/Whatever on what requirements there are for sighthounds (specifically racing dogs) as they can sometimes be required to wear those racing muzzles & be on a lead when they're out & about. (Just saying it so that no one gets busted! I don't believe that it should be a blanket rule, but hey... :) ]
Yeah currently they have to wear muzzles here when out and about, but GAP are campaigning to have that rule relaxed specifically for their greys because of the programs that they go through before they are adopted out. I don't think the rule is very well enforced in my neck of the woods cos the greys I see around are NEVER muzzled. I think I would be muzzling the dog til I trusted it though.
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