Good old Glasgow Herald for me.

Actually, I was looking for a Westie, believe it or not but then I got sucked into a story about a dog that was running continuously for a week.

In the end I decided to give a home to a hound because I reckoned a Westie pup would get a home easily.  Now I have three.

I WILL have a Westie some day though.  Eilidh loves em too.

the good old internet worked its magic for me.

neil and i had decided we were going to adopt two retired greyhounds and off i went. I'm like a dog with a bone(!) when i get an idea so began my usual indepth research.  naturally, i found the RGT website but they were less than forthcoming in their enthusiasm to re-home.  it was a case of "the dogs are here if you wanna see 'em".

anyway, we got our two from the trainer via a contact we met at a local horse-rescue open day.

after that, i started trawling the internet and just tripped over the GAL site - i was so impressed with the whole site and the information and help available, i just had to apply to join !!  it's just a pity we are so far away from you all.

voila !!

My brother has 2 lurchers (both Hancock dogs, like Vegas, Christine!) and I always thought I would go one better than him and have a "pure breed"! I did some research on the internet and this GAL organisation kept showing up!

I managed to persuade Chas to attend an open day and the rest is history .............

We had lost our border colli/lab cross and I vowed no more dogs. However,a week later I decided we had to get another dog! We had always fancied a greyhound so contacted RGT at Shawfield. They were pleasant enough but despite knowing we were interested in meeting a specific dog they reserved it for another family. Jim then started checking out sites on the internet and came across GAL. He saw a photo of Gambol and fell in love. I filled in the online application form and also phoned Denise (in case the application form didn't get sent or took too long!!!). Within a very short time Denise brought Gambol to meet us(she was fostering him) and to do our home check. One week later Gambol came to live with us. Keera followed a month later and then Jamie came as a foster a month after that! Three pooches in 3 months!

We are so grateful that we found GAL as we wouldn't be without our beloved 3 amigos for anything!

Shirley      

Hi Sharon - just as a matter of interest, do you have any photos of your brother's Hancock Lurchers? I'd be really interested to see them. Do they look anything like Vegas at all?

Christine

I have had grey's for 17 years now I can hardly believe it myself, but I have only just stumbled on GAL while on the internet mourning the loss of poor Charlie. I wanted anything and everything on greyhounds and couldn't believe my luck when I found you all!

I used to joke about my other half being married to the computer I was just his bit on the side(now I am nearly as bad as him!) lol

I LOVE GAL - as if you couldn't tell!

Em, Tig and Chad x

I came upon GAL About three and a half years ago, not long after we had taken in our golden oldie Andie. We were having such problems getting his arthritis under control and were looking for alternative remedies to use alongside his prescribed medication. I trawled the internet for info and was delighted when I found GAL.

There was no message board but I posted a question on the guestbook re magnetic collars. I think it was Dave who contacted me with a reply.

Since then I've been hooked. I love to follow the progress of all the dogs you have taken in. Its fantastic to see how the lucky ones turn out with a little love and understanding. The posts about the Christmas show is proof of that.

I had a few problems with Andie and his prey drive initially. I had no such difficulties  with Zelda who we took in four years earlier and so was pretty ignorant. Luckily I had information and support from yourselves. I couldn't have done it without you. You are a marvellous bunch.

evelyn  

I stumbled upon GAL on the internet had just lost my last lurcher and wanted to know about Scottish Greyhound/Lurcher charities and that was over 3 years ago.(jings time fair flies). Now i would be lost without gal in my life.

Nicki and little janie.x

Christine,

here, as promised, is a pic of my brother's lurchers.  Kendal (on the left) is now 9 years old and Leah is 11!  Both forget that they are not youngsters anymore!  Especially Kendal when he sees a tennis ball.  He constantly has an attitude of "throw the ball, throw the ball, throw the ball"!

Leah was used as a working dog - my brother used to take her "lamping" reguarly.  Once she "retired" she became a much loved family pet.  Kendal has never worked, and is the biggest wuss on the planet!

Sharon

Dave wrote:

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quite a boring story really, Glenda found the old GAL website after hours of surfing and off we went to an Awareness Day the following weekend, (prior to this it had taken her about 7 years to persuade me to get a dog but thats an even longer more boring story) the rest as they say is history...

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Hi Sharon

Wonderful photo of Kendal and Leah! Thank you so much for posting it. Yes, Kendal is more like Vegas to look at but not just because he's short-haired. His face is much the same - even down to the eyeliner. They're beautiful dogs - Leah too is so cute. Hancock Lurchers are bred as much for their looks as they're bred for working according to the websites I've looked at. Kendal and Leah certainly fit the bill!

Christine

Suzanne wrote:

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hmmm - not a satisfactory answer Mr Melville ! How on earth did you go, from just one awareness day visit years ago, from not wanting a dog to now having 10???? Denise must have been selling her wee heart out that day! LOL

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Yeah Denise certainly did her stuff!...

Basically we had 4 cats but Glenda kept chipping away about a dog so I finally caved after years of torment, I was pretty shocked when she showed me the GAL website she'd found, I did the whole 'how can a greyhound live with 4 cats' speech...Anyways off we went to Bothwell and we met Denise and lots of nice hounds and I guess we both got bitten by the bug, they had no catsafe then but after a call from Denise we went back the next week to look at 'Joker' who we were reliably informed by Denise 'might' be a Greyhound pup. Joker came home with us that day and was renamed Archie, that was March 2001. Archie was only 4 months old at the time, he didn't really grow that much bigger and turned into a whippet/collie cross!

4 weeks later another call from Denise telling us they were cat testing 3 hounds at Bothwell that weekend and would we like to go see them, well off we went again and came back with Ruby, she was the only dog of the 3 that passed her cat test, 20 months old at the time..

Another month went by and lo and behold another call from Denise!! GAL had a 1 year old Lurcher girl urgently needing a foster home, she'd had a miserable start to life and had been passed round a large number of homes, that was Maisie, she came on a foster and just kinda stayed..

Another month went by and we attended a GAL open day with our 3 mutts, it was a good day for GAL, they got 7 dogs homed that day out of the 8 homeless ones that had attended. The only poor we soul that was left was a wee staffie/whippet cross called Del Boy who was about to be taken back to the dog pound at Bandeath in Stirling, we kinda felt sorry for him so offered to foster. By the time we drove back from Glasgow Del Boy had sneaked from the back of the car onto my lap in the passenger seat, it was probably the best thing the wee guy ever did cos there was no way I was goany be parted with him after that. So Del Boy became George and also stayed.

It was another 4 months till we got our next dog, we did foster a number of dogs in that time for GAL but they all managed to 'escape' to permanent homes! Then along came foster dog Wizard, you need to see him to beleive him, he's just such a funny guy, a big brindle Greyhound/Saluki cross, we fell in love and he stayed put.

We fostered loads more dogs for GAL after that, none of them got their feet to far under the table then in March 2002 along came Eddie, a 15yr old Greyhound found as a stray, he was with the SPCA in Bothwell and they wanted him moved quickly, they didn't think he'd survive very long, he came to stay with us for good then.

Well thats was 6 dogs in a flat in Edinburgh so we decided it was time to move to the country but just before we moved along came Lucy in April 2002, we'd previously fostered her for a few days before she'd went to her new home in Perth, sadly her owner took ill and couldn't look after Lucy anymore, she was 11 and a half when she came back to us on 'foster' again.

With our new house all bought and suitcases packed our move was delayed when Lucy took ill, we'd only had her back for 3 months, sadly she was PTS on the the 3rd of July 2002. We moved to our new country pad a few days later.

We continued fostering for GAL in our new home and actually had 2 foster dogs visiting within the first week, it was a pretty busy house all round and in September 2002 we had the pleasure of fostering a pregnant Greyhound called Star who gave birth in our kitchen to 12 cute Greyhound pups, 10 of them survived and were all rehomed by GAL. With Star's pups still only a couple of weeks old we took on another pregnant bitch called Juno and at the end of October she gave birth to 8 Greyhound pups, again in our kitchen (this was George & Maia's litter).

Permie number 7 was Brandy, another old 'foster' we took, he was 10 and a half when we adopted him in early December 2002.

Next to be added to our permanent list was Gerry who we decided to keep just before Christmas 2002, an unwanted pet he was 10 and a half when he arrived, Gerry was probably the best dog we ever had, we had not one bit of bother from him the entire time he stayed with us. 

Christmas 2002 was certainly not one to forget, 18 pups, the 2 mums, our own 8 dogs and a 'couple' of fosters thrown in for good measure took our tally to over 30 during the festive period, thank god for a large house and even bigger garden.

Ivor was our next 'keeper', we'd had him on a foster for a good few months but he became a permanent fixture in March 2003, I just couldn't part with my big daft laddie. That took our permie count to 9.

We lost 'Elegant' Brandy on the 18th of March 2003, the old boys legs just gave out after a very hard racing life.

Sadly we then lost Maisie on the 23rd of April 2003, I still can't bear to talk about her even now, she's very sadly missed and I still talk to her everynight before bedtime.

We stuck it out with only 7 permies in the house but still took in up to 2 or 3 foster dogs at any time, we lost Eddie on the 12th of August 2003, old age finally taking it's toll on my soulmate.

Our next permie was Rebel, our big eared mutt, he'd been handed into GAL as a 'lurcher' but he's not really, we fostered him for over a year and finally decided he was a keeper in Jan 2004 he was aged about 2 at that time.

Our next permies didn't take long to arrive. In early Feb 2004, Mark and Suzie came to stay, they had spent the last 7 years of their lives in a cold dark kennel Mark was 12 and a half and Suzie 12 when they arrived, that took us back up to 9.

We lost poor old Gerry to bone cancer on Feb 23rd 2004 and Mark's old legs finally gave out on the 26th of August 2004.

That takes us right up to date with our current pack of 7 (and not forgetting our remaining 3 cats!), we still take fosters from time to time when required but don't have any at the mo.

I guess I should have said during all that time we got more and more involved in GAL, doing transport, homes checks etc, Glenda did the homing job for a couple of years and is now the GAL web mistress and now I've taken over the homing job following stints doing the GAL shop and a very brief 1 month doing follow up calls (don't ask - lets just say I'm not that chatty on the phone!).....