Archives for 2020

Join us here each Monday as Regional Vice President Kathy Kreyling shares stories from the Adoption Center. Check out our Available Dogs to see who’s still waiting for their forever home.

Charm

There are some dogs that have so much charisma that it is extremely difficult to understand why they have not been adopted. The most recent adoption was a boy just like that. Luckily, a man came down from Canada with his Lurcher, Cody, to find a new family member and this dog was one of the ones in contention. Cody is a little fragile since he has been attacked by another dog before, so he needed a dog that wasn’t going to be too pushy and was also wanting to play, but understood when Cody was done. This dog met all those criteria and more … he started his introduction to his potential new family by walking through the doors to the adoption center, pausing to make sure he had everyone’s attention and then did the cutest Roo and little dance — no one could resist that, especially his father to be. The two dogs got along beautifully, and Charm is now going to be a Canadian!!!

Butch

A few of the new dogs are ready for adoption and they have already started marching out the door! The first lady needed a dog that could get along with her cat and believe it or not she actually had quite a few dogs to choose from. However, in this particular situation, she didn’t even make it past the second dog. He came out to the adoption center, walked right over and kissed her face, she lit up like a Christmas tree and that was all she wrote!! Butch, nka Abel, knew he had found his person and she knew she had found her new best friend!!!

Birdy

The next appointment was with two men who were looking for a dog that was moderately active and could go to work with one of them. We started by showing them a few of our girls and then one of the men mentioned that he really wanted a “big dog” so we switched gears and started showing our big boys. They narrowed the field to one big boy and one little girl and after playing in the yard they picked sweet little Birdy as their new addition. It was a really tough decision for them and we hope they come back to add the big boy to their family!!!!

More info

Available Dogs

GPI’s Adoption Guide

Join us here each Monday as Regional Vice President Kathy Kreyling shares stories from the Adoption Center. Check out our Available Dogs to see who’s still waiting for their forever home.

Queenie

Sometimes, for whatever reason, a new adopter has to wait a little time before they can take the dog home. I have always thought it would be very difficult to leave your new dog behind just after picking it out and this couple found that out first hand. Since they had work events that they didn’t think they could reschedule, they were planning to pick their dog up next weekend. They had a wonderful time making their selection, especially when they narrowed it down to the last two — interestingly, when they started playing with the dogs outside, we were almost positive they were going to select one dog and when all was said & done, they picked the other and then had to leave. But, guess what, meetings can be moved and I got a note last night saying they really wanted to come get Queenie today and, of course, I said absolutely!!!

Zinga

The dog that this couple selected is truly in Greyhound Heaven. The dog will rarely be left alone — the husband works one half of the week and the wife works the other half — and additionally the wife loves to jog and is so excited to have a jogging buddy. The husband had a soft spot in his heart for one dog when he came to the kennel, but he wisely spent time getting to know the other possibilities. In the end, they decided they only wanted to take one dog out to play and this dog was truly on his best behavior — he walked right next to them and he also came when was called. When they came in, the husband said the dog was kind of Goldilocks — Zinga felt “just right” for them!!! P. S. He just happened to be the dog the husband had an attraction to before he even got to the kennel!!

Ed

This boy has been with us for a while and it is really hard to explain why. He has no outstanding faults — he is just a sweet, lovable boy who could use a little more confidence. A little while ago, a family came in looking for a dog they could rescue from their hard life at the tracks and we immediately explained that the track dogs are well cared for and they are not rescues. (BTW, this is an education process that we go through with many of our adopters). As usual, we showed this family a variety of dogs and we were all very happy when they selected the dog I mentioned above. When the family came back to pick him up, they were so excited they were like little kids. The husband is going to be taking the dog to work with him and he had the fleece and raincoat he bought for the dog earlier embroidered with the logo for his company. I can’t tell you how handsome Ed, nka Ben, looked in his new attire — he is going to be one wonderful company mascot!!!

Nadia

We all know that once you have one Grey, you often feel the need for another.
This family got their first Grey, Jolene, almost a year ago and even though
they have Jolene and her brother, a lab mix named Rondo, they felt they had
room for another Greyhound. They?ve been watching our web-site and noticed a
sweet little black and white girl that they though would be a greyt addition
to their home. So, they braved the torrential rain and one of the most chaotic
kennel booths we have had in a long while just to meet this little lady.
Luckily, amidst all of that, our little Nadia made it clear she was meant to
be in their family!!

Wren

It is so hard to tell which of our dogs are going to have a problem with
separation anxiety. There really is no correlation between that and any other
characteristic. Thankfully, it doesn?t happen often, but sometimes a dog
just can?t live in a certain space, often an apartment, and the people need
to trade dogs. That is what happened to this couple and as sad as they were to
bring back their first dog, they were still open to trying another and this
time, they hit ?pay dirt?!! They found a darling little girl named Wren
who stole their hearts and, very thankfully, doesn?t have separation
anxiety!!

Dana

This last one is pretty special. A family came in to get their first Greyhound
and they were open to almost any of our dogs. We don?t get a family like
this very often, so we had the opportunity to show some of our that are
wonderful, but have a few idiosyncrasies. One of the ones we showed is a
little girl that starts out pretty shy and needs some time to get comfortable.
This family had the patience to let her figure things out and it wasn?t long
before she was even taking treats from a man she had just met (she?s usually
very nervous around men when she first meets them!)!!!! We were so excited
when the family unanimously decided that Dana was meant to be in their home!!!
P.S. We?re hoping Dana may have a brother soon!!!

Wonk

When you are looking for a purebred greyhound who is cat friendly, you don’t always have a lot of options and that is what happened in this case. That doesn’t mean that the dog that is left isn’t a greyt dog, it just means that the people in front of you “clicked” with another dog. This family actually got a young boy who is as sweet as he can be, but he is a little on the shy side and very nervous on slippery floors. Neither of those were a real deterrent to this family and he is already improving in both areas. In fact, when he first got home, he forgot about the floors being slippery and handled them like a pro. So, long story short, Wonk, nka Louie, has a new family and is fitting in even more quickly than we had hoped!! Greyt job Louie!!!

Autumn

You don’t often find a home that has a parrot that walks around on the floor, but this couple does and they were looking for a dog that would not devour the bird. They have already had several Greyhounds that were able to do this so they knew it was possible. They did their homework by coming to the Brightwater walks so that they could meet some of the dogs and get to know them a little. After two walks, they called me to say that they were in love with a particular dog and they wanted to see how she would do with the bird. The little girl they picked is very active, curious, bouncy — you get the idea. I’ll be honest, when they told me her name, I was a little afraid that the bird would not be with us for long. Well, I was wrong (thank heavens!!). Autumn has done so beautifully in all the different situations she has encountered and she is now an official member of the family.

Bud

The first man has been researching Greyhounds for a while was finally ready to take home his own Greyhound. He had a list of dogs that he wanted to see when he came to the kennel and we discussed his list as well as a few of our suggestions before we started showing the dogs. The truth is it didn’t take
very long before he met the dog he wanted (I think it was the second one he met). And, though he looked at a few more dogs, none of them really had a chance — Bud, nka Eddie, stole the show and won his new home.

Rico

Then a couple came to look at the dogs. They had both had dogs while they were growing up, but none of the dogs were anywhere near the size of a Greyhound so they went through a little bit of culture shock as they got to know the
Greyhounds and Saluki mixes. When they took everything into consideration, they narrowed their list to two dogs — 1 Greyhound and 1 Saluki. At that point, they were very torn between the dogs and had a difficult time deciding on which dog was going to go home with them (both dogs were doing a wonderful job of schmoozing!!). However, after some thought and discussion, they decided that Rico was going to be theirs!!

Davey

When you let your husband and your daughter go on our Brightwater without you, you have to be prepared to welcome a new dog into your home. That’s what happened with this family — the father and daughter fell head over heels in love with one of our boys and the mother couldn’t wait to meet him. Luckily, she fell for this cutie pie too (truth is, I think she was already in love with him before she met him!!). They could hardly wait until the whole family could come take him home together. The cutest part is that they ran into him outside the kennel and he gave them the most wonderful greeting — he knew they were his family and the family knew Davey was theirs!! –

Uzo

This next adoption actually started last week when Dana was adopted. The family really wanted to adopt Dana and another dog that day, but one of the family members was a little uncomfortable with adopting 2 dogs at one time. After some deliberation, they decided to adopt Dana and spend some more time with both dogs to see how they got along. Hooray, they got along greyt and the family officially made Uzo part of the family!!!

More info

Available Dogs

GPI’s Adoption Guide

Join us here each Monday as Regional Vice President Kathy Kreyling shares stories from the Adoption Center. Check out our Available Dogs to see who’s still waiting for their forever home.

Cassi’s adoption day

Today, it is with great joy that we share the wonderful news that our special girl Cassi has been adopted.

Thank you so much for all your generous donations for Cassi’s care as your support has made a tremendous difference. Her journey has been a difficult one but with your help she has come a long way!

Injured and abandoned

In August 2019, GPI received an emergency call to help a severely injured Greyhound. She was abandoned at the emergency vet, in pain with two broken legs and severe bruising. For the next five days she was heavily sedated while the vet tried to locate her owner, who relinquished Cassi. As soon as GPI took custody, we rushed to get her the surgery she needed.

On the road to recovery

Over the next months her wounds started healing and she was able to start swim therapy. Although the bones in her legs were still healing, we expected her to make a full recovery. We knew that in time, it was possible she would need additional surgery on her front leg.

When Cassi’s surgeon took more X-rays of both legs and examined her front leg wound closely, was pleased with how her bones were healing. The front leg wound was very slowly closing/healing. Meanwhile, we increased her walk times to stimulate bone growth and are treating her with additional therapy.

Cleared for adoption

January 2020, the surgeon reported that Cassi is off exercise restrictions, with the goal of building her stamina. There are no current signs of infections as she continues to heal well. He is very pleased with her progress and cleared her for being adopted! Thank you Dr. Crawford and the staff at Boundary Bay Veterinary Hospital for taking such good care of Cassi!

Cassi’s forever home adoption announcement

Please enjoy Cassi’s very own adoption announcement by our wonderful Kathy Kreyling.

This is the story of a dog that had some awful luck (we’ll call this before GPI) and then had some wonderful luck (from the time she came to GPI). Her whole story is well publicized on the internet so I will leave the details of her injury and her journey back to wonderful health for you to see online. I am going to tell you about the woman who learned about this dog around the time she came to GPI and has been following her progress and waiting an eternity (in her mind) for her chance to take this dog home. About 6 months ago the dog had made enough progress that the woman was able to start fostering her and today she was finally able to adopt her. Hopefully, she and Cassi, nka Bess, have a long healthy life together in their future.

More info

Available Dogs

GPI’s Adoption Guide