Going grey together
Rebecca Burns, 13/11/2011
So you've retired, and decided it's time to kick-up your heels and have a good time. You’ve spent years running around at top speed, trying to please everyone and, as the years have gone by, you've got more than a little peeved at being made to do things you would rather not...
And now, just when you can finally look forward to a bit of time on your hands, people will start asking how you are planning to keep occupied.
GRWE, the UK’s biggest independent charity for the re-homing of greyhounds and lurchers, is hoping to encourage those of a certain age of the wisdom of joining forces with a pet who has experienced a similarly hectic schedule in its early life.
The common image of a greyhound is of a dog rushing around a race track and, like many retired people, by the time they come to hang up their working jacket they have had more than enough of being ferried around the country in vans and made to run for their dinner.
The reality is that outside of racing, greyhounds are quite lazy and make great pets for people of all ages, especially older people, as they are taught to walk on the lead without pulling.
Authoress Carol Baby is 64 and her still active husband 10-years-older, so they choose dogs with his age in mind too.
“Walking the dogs in beautiful countryside helps us to keep well both physically and mentally,” said Carol, who has written a book entitled 'Retired Greyhounds - A Guide to Care and Understanding'. Carol says there are two great points about having a dog from GRWE as an older person.
“The main thing is that the dogs are calm and big enough that older people don't trip over them as they might a smaller dog,” she said.
“Then there is the reassurance that if anything happens to you the dogs will be taken back into the excellent care of GRWE and found exactly the right homes so that they can continue enjoying a good life.”
Read the full press release.
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Dogs being dumped like never before
Rebecca Burns, 03/01/2012
Animal rescue charities are being overwhelmed by unwanted dogs, according to a recent news story from Guardian.co.uk, and 20 dogs are being put down in the UK every day - representing one dog an hour. In the past year alone, 7,121 dogs were put to sleep. And with more people dumping their dogs than ever before, many rescue charities are simply running out of space to take in new dogs. Meanwhile, on classified ad website Gumtree, there are many people selling their unwanted dogs to complete strangers, without any home check, making these animals very vulnerable to falling into the wrong hands. Some dogs are even being given away for free. A campaign has been launched to highlight this problem, and you can find out more at 'Get Gumtree Animal Free Campaign'. You can also read the full Guardian news story about abandoned dogs.
Review of 2011
Jan Lake - Chair of Trustees, 01/01/2012
Please let me start off with a huge thank you to each and every one of you who have supported the work of GRWE over the last twelve months. As a charity run solely by volunteers your support is invaluable, and without it we would not survive. 2011 has not been without its challenges, and of course the current economic climate has meant that we have had our resources stretched to the limit. I know that everyone involved in the re-homing side of our work will agree that re-homing has at times seemed very hard work over the past 12 months! Homing has best been described as slow, and at times we have been worried both about the lack of home offers, and also about the increased demands being made upon us to take in some of the neediest of dogs. Yes it’s been challenging, but our wonderful homing teams across our regions, have risen to the occasion as always, and have been magnificent! During the past year we have found homes for 761 dogs. Although this is a lower number than the previous year, taking into account the recession, this is a fabulous result and a far better outcome than we anticipated! We should be very very proud of what we have achieved. We calculate the number of returned dogs we have too and this currently stands at 6.4% for the year, a reduction from 8.2% in the previous year. This is less than many of the larger charities, and is a clear indication that the preparatory work put in by the homing teams prior to the re-homing taking place, and the sterling work carried out by the Post Homing Support Teams is working. I am hugely proud of the efforts the GRWE homing teams have made to keep within their kennel budgets/numbers and yet still manage to respond to the demands made upon them to help dogs in need – amazing work! I am so proud of what GRWE has achieved this year, and hope you will be too. We are very grateful to you, our wonderful supporters , for your continued assistance and encouragement which has meant we have been able to help 761 lucky dogs this year. Best wishes to you all, and hoping that you and your hounds have a peaceful and happy 2012.
Thank you to dogbeds.co.uk
Eastern Region, 20/12/2011
The Eastern Region currently have five dogs over the age of nine years old in their region, who are sadly homeless this Christmas. It is especially sad to see the older dogs in kennels, when it is wintery, cold and dark outside. We keep our dogs as cosy, wrapped up and warm as can be but one of our oldies (and it will have to be Jill our eldest at 12 years old), will be extra comfortable this Christmas, on a brand new cosy dog bed that has been kindly donated for an oldie but goodie! Our thanks go to dogbeds.co.uk for their very kind gift of a wonderful new bed, that will keep Jill and many more after her, extra comfy this winter. Please do take a look at their range of fantastic dog bedding and accessories for dogs of all shapes and sizes > at www.dogbeds.co.uk we will get pics of Jill in her new bed asap. * Jill is the fawn girl in the photo on the left. If you can offer a home to an oldie NOW is the time to get in touch... call 07000 785092 or send an enquiry via the hounds looking for homes page. Thank You.
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