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The stories and images have been provided by people who have kindly found
homes for our retired greyhounds.

Sparky - Re-homed My husband passed away suddenly in April 2007. I was absolutely devastated and couldn’t see a future for me. I went back to work full time after about three months, but it was really lonely coming home from work in the evenings and at weekends. When I’d been back at work for a few weeks, I suddenly thought I have to get myself a pet. My cat had died two years ago at the age of 20, so I thought do I get another cat or do I get a dog. I thought about it for about two months and made up my mind that I wanted to get a dog. I had always said if ever I got myself a dog it would be a greyhound as I had heard that they make lovely pets and also to give one a home and some comforts. So I went to the open day at Joy’s kennels found Sparky and here we are two months later and it feels as though she’s always been here. She is such a lovely, friendly girl and has settled in to home life really well. Everyone loves her. I had never owned a dog before so it was all new to me, so Sparky and I have been learning together and what fun it’s been. I sometimes forget she’s an adult dog of 7 years old as sometimes she acts like a puppy running up and down my lounge with her teddy in her mouth and throwing him in the air. She does like to play with whoever is willing. My daughter has a tiny Pomeranian and I was a bit concerned about whether Sparky would be okay with him or not. I needn’t have worried. The first time my daughter came to my house with Freddie, Sparky wanted to play, but he wasn’t interested (although at 2 years old he is the one who ought to be playful!). At least they got on okay. Then I took her to Paula’s flat where she has a communal garden which is quite enclosed and quite large. After about 10 minutes the two dogs were having a great time chasing each other. It was fantastic to see. Sparky is also good with children. My sister brought two of her grandsons to see her the other week. They are 11 and 7 and, again, Sparky wanted to play. So there were the two boys running around the floor on their hands and knees with Sparky! I am trying to get her interested in chasing a ball, but at the moment she is only interested in her teddies. At least she is now going up the stairs. When I first brought her home she wouldn’t go upstairs, but after a few weeks I was just going up and all of a sudden she shot past me and ran up the stairs! She hasn’t looked back since and comes up with me every night when I go to bed and lays on the bed all night. I absolutely love it, she is such a comfort. Sometimes though she will go up to bed early in the evening and will bark for me to come and join her (cheeky girl!). I just tell her to stop barking and she does! She is very well behaved. Although I work full time I only work 2 minutes from home so I come home at lunchtimes and we go out for a walk and I can normally spend the best part of an hour with her. She seems to have settled in to the routine and gives me a lovely greeting when I get home! I can truthfully say that Sparky has been my saviour, I don’t know what I would have been like without her. Bringing her into my home and my life is the best thing that I have done since I lost my husband. People say to me that when I talk about her (which is quite a lot of the time!) my voice and face brighten up. I think that speaks for itself. Go back