September Edition 2007

Hi Everyone! Yep it’s that time again…for The GAP E-news! And this edition is full of interesting things…so grab your cuppa and the E-news, and check out what’s happening in GAP!

*Fostering is Fun!*

Foster parents/families

Thank you to those who have stepped up and offered their hearts and homes to our awesome friends. Without foster parents GAP wouldn’t be able to do the job that they do so well.

We are always still looking for new and old foster homes to help foster our beautiful greys. Wether you used to be one of our foster families and would like to foster again, a trainer/owner that is interested in helping your greyhound get to their adopted parent, or you just want to help an animal in need , then come aboard! We welcome everyone that is willing to give their hearts to these beautiful creatures, and to assist them in making it to their forever home.

The more foster families we have the more greyhounds find a loving home!

So, if you would like to be able to give a greyhound another chance at a new life then jump on the phone and give us a call! Contact GAP at 8243 7124 and ask to speak with Tom.

*Greyt Big Thank You!*

Thank you to all who sent in their greyhounds pictures for the GAP Calendar.

We have received quite a few entries this year! Poor Tom, his desk is just full of envelopes and disks with pictures of the beautiful greys to be placed into our yearly calendar. We as a committee can’t wait to be able to jump right in and start looking at all the photos! It’s going to be a very awesome calendar! I personally can’t wait to see the finished product. A BIG Thank you goes to Neil and Jacquie Todd for putting the GAP calendar together every year. You guys are just GREYT! J

Our warmest Thank you goes out to Petwares Pet Accessories Mega Store in Mt.Barker!

They helped GAP raise $761 with the sausage sizzle. And with their donation tins that they have put up in the store to also help GAP raise money. Thank you Petwares!!!

Pet Expo

The Pet expo at Mt. Barker went exceptionally well. The weather was beautiful and the greys and their families were enjoying the day out. There were quite a few dogs there and a lot of people interested in GAP and its cause. I spoke to many families that had either adopted a greyhound or who foster for GAP. It was good to see all those greyhounds socializing with everyone. Showing people that greyhounds really do make a greyt pet!

GAP Christmas Break-up

Well before you know it Christmas will be upon us. Gosh how the year has just raced by!

And with that, our end of year get-2gether has been booked and the date is set to Sunday November 25^th at Bonython Park. More details and a map to the site will follow in October, so be on the lookout!

Whippet and Greyhound Club Fun Day!

There will be a heap of fun things to do on Saturday October 6^th with the Whippet and Greyhound Club of South Australia. Fun Day will be held at 11:30am at S.A.C.A Park- Cromwell Road- Kilburn after the open show which is held at 10:30am. All Greyhounds and Whippets are welcome! Need more information? Visit http://www.whippetgreyhoundclubsa.com/fun.htm or phone 8395 5325. There will be lots of fun things to do like: “best looking hound” – “fastest eater”- “best legs”- and many more events to join in. There’s even a sausage sizzle from 11:30am-12noon…yummy! so jump in the car and get moving! It will be a GRRRREYT day! Hope to see ya there!

*Greyhound Health*

Have you ever wondered wether your greyhounds sight is 100%? If so, visit the Golden Retriever Club of South Australia’s “ALL BREEDS EYE CLINIC”. From 12 noon Saturday 3^rd of November. Marsula Room, at S.A.C.A Park, Cromwell Road, Kilburn. Dr. Tony Read, Veterinary Eye Specialist will be there to conduct low cost eye exam for any breed. Cost is $62.50 per dog includes AVA admin. fee and GST. All results are confidential and only known to the dog’s owner and Dr. Read.

If you would like to attend or have any questions please call 8296 7334 or to make a booking. (See also attached form for booking and payment arrangements)

*PPD – Princess Pretzel Diaries*

Woohoo! The PPD segment of our newsletter…Can’t wait to see what those Royal Hounds have been up to this time! J

Well hello again my friends. It has been another eventful month up here and really with our social diary filling so fast it won’t be long before it is Christmas. We really are rushed off our Royal paws but we would not have it any other way.

We were invited to the Expo at Mount Barker but it was the same weekend as Dad's nieces wedding, so things were really busy. Of course we could not say no to the Expo, Mum and Dad just had to do a bit more planning than usual. It went something like this:-

Saturday morning we went for our usual walk at 6.00am with Dad and Mum was at the hairdressers at 8.15. Mum got home and we all jumped into the Hound mobile to get to Mount Barker on time. It was wonderful. The weather was warm and we were able to wear lovely silk jackets with GAP written on them. There were so many people who were delighted to meet me in pawson and told Mum that they enjoyed my diaries. Tom Hales, Paul Marks and Paul’s son, were there cooking sausages, which we of course had to taste test to ensure quality… We met so many friends there, Eemia and Cairo, Nicky, Kofi, Klim, Maggie, and Snowy just to name a few. There were in all about 25 hounds there as well as other breeds, not as regal of course, like St Bernard’s and small little King Charles Cavaliers. There were hounds coming and going all day and the lovely people of Mount Barker just loved us all. Dad was talking to Tom later in the week and we raised the awareness of GAP and also $700.00, so that more people can have their own Hound. How wonderful that will be. Unfortunately we had to leave at about 1.00pm so that Dad could get home and do some of the fine tuning for the wedding but we are reliably informed that the day continued on until 4.00pm.

Sunday morning we were up again at 6.00am for our walk and then we were whisked down to the straight track for a wonderful off lead run. We had a ball, as it was early morning and the best time for us to have fun. Lord Jaydyn was particularly spirited and raced up and down the track at full speed. It is just wonderful to see our big wonderful boy galloping just for the fun of it. He is certainly still a very powerful lad and can still set our girlish hearts aflutter… Then it was back home for Mum and Dad to get ready and for us to have a sleep. They went off to the wedding and Aunty Judy came to give us our dinner and then the Hound sitters arrived. Well, you didn’t think we would be left outside all night did you?? Mum and Dad got home around midnight and Lady Vixen snuggled down on Mums chest and did not move for the rest of the night. She was not at all impressed with being left home. All in all it was a very busy but fabulous weekend. We have taken this weekend off from our Royal duties as we did need just a little bit more relaxation time. We went up to the park for a photo shoot for the calendar but that was as much as we can possibly do at this stage, we have some serious sleep to catch up on.

Well I must go, the couch is calling. Look after your families and don’t forget how greyt it is to be retired.

Lots of love,

Princess Pretzel, Lady Vixen and Lord Jaydyn

*Jokes and Gigglez!*

These next few gigglez were sent in by Philip: Thanks Philip!

Enjoy!

PET RULES
To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,

The dishes with the paw prints are yours and contain your food. The
other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in
the middle of my plate and food does not stake a claim for it becoming your
food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.

The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating
me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn't help because I fall
faster than you can run.
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry
about this.

Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your
comfort.

Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not
necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the
fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having
tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.

For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by
some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not
necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door entered.

Also, I have been using the bathroom for years -- canine or feline attendance is not required.

The proper order is kiss me, and then go smell the other dog or cat's
butt. I cannot stress this enough!

To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our
front
door:

To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:

1. They live here. You don't.

2. If you don't want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture.
That's why they call it 'fur'niture.

3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.

4. To you, it's an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who
is short, hairy, walks on all fours, and doesn't speak clearly.

Remember: Dogs and cats are better than kids because they:

1. Eat less

2. Don't ask for money all the time

3. Are easier to train

4. Normally come when called

5. Never ask to drive the car

6. Don't hang out with drug-using friends

7. Don't smoke or drink

8. Don't have to buy the latest fashions

9. Don't want to wear your clothes

10. Don't need a gazillion dollars for college, and...

11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.

And so that concludes our monthly newsletter for September. Hope you enjoyed it and if you have any suggestions or ideas, pictures, jokes, events etc. Please feel free to contact us! All information is below.

Need to Contact GAP?

Greyhound Adoption Program - SA
P.O Box 2352
Regency Park SA 5942
Phone: 08 8243 7124
Fax: 08 82682870

Website: www.gapsa.org.au

Newsletter Email: greyhnd-news4gap@dodo.com.au

GAP Coordinator & Newsletter Editor - Angela 8285 4885

GRSA Animal Welfare Officer/GAP Representative – Tom 8243 7124

Hello everyone,

With the recent events of GAPSA and the resigning of the committee, i do have some good news! GAP will be continuing as normal but under the management of GRSA until there is a new GAP committee established. At the moment its all still under development, but hopefully soon there will be a new GAP committee and things will be back up and running smoothly once again.

I will keep you posted with the progress...till then...have a greyt day!

July Edition 2007

Hello everyone! Welcome once again to the Greyhound Adoption Program E-news letter. Shall we dig right in and see what’s here? Sure! Ok. Here we go……

First, we will start with a very important message from Philip, our GAP coordinator:

A victory of sorts

We have finally heard from the CDMB re the assessing of our dogs. It is a victory of sorts but comes with conditions. They have agreed to allow Trish Bennett, one of our fosterers who is doing the Delta course, to assess our dogs for a period of 12 months under the following conditions:

1. that she completes the Delta course within the 12 months of her contract,

2. She attends the Dangerous Dog course run by the RSPCA &

3. She is not a member of our committee.

They have also agreed to pay the costs involved for the 12 month period.

We also have to supply the CDMB with a list of all the dogs and owners details that we have put through the program in the past 10years up to the 1^st June this year. The board will then issue a card exempting these dogs from being muzzled in public. Dogs assessed by us after 1^st June this year will be required to wear a muzzle in public until we can get them assessed by Trish under the board’s new guidelines. Once this assessment is completed they will then be issued with an exemption card.

I say it is a victory of sorts because, as has happened in the past, if the board changes at anytime we could face the whole issue again and be back at square one. At the end of the 12 months they could impose a new list of conditions and demands. I believe that while we take what wins we can we now need to focus on changing the legislation that controls Greyhounds as pets. Is this possible, how do we go about it? I don’t know, but we believe it is something worth looking into. Australia is one of only a handful of countries in the world that still muzzle greyhounds! I would like to organise a group of interested people to look into this issue.

I would like to thank everyone, on behalf of the committee, for their support and calls over the past few weeks. It has been a frustrating period for us all.

Philip

GAP Adoption Coordinator

Well our Afternoon Tea was a success! We had a lot of happy, hopping, waggly-tailed greys all together ready to socialize with each other and of course they let the 2 legged humans have a good ole time too! There were approximately 35-40 dogs and their families that attended. That’s GREYT! The Raffle was very successful! We raised $185 from the sale of the tickets. GAP would like to say many Thank You’s to Don and Joan for the wonderful basket that they donated. To Wendy for organizing such an awesome Birthday Cake for GAP. And to the committee and friends for helping set up and organizing that day.

All around Thanks go to everyone for all that they have done, and to those who attended.

The day was excellent even though it was just that little bit dark. Apologies from GAP for having no lights. At least that didn’t stop everyone from having a greyt day!J

Doggy Dental

Lately we have received a few emails asking about bad breath with their greys and how to reduce it.

It is not uncommon for ex-racers to have bad teeth, partly due to the soft diet they are fed when racing. Any deep cleaning and/or removal of bad teeth are done before adoption. However after you adopt your grey it is up to you to continue with good doggy hygiene. Brushing their teeth every day is a very helpful way to combat the bad breath. You can use a soft bristle toothbrush, finger brush or a special doggy toothbrush and some doggy toothpaste, which comes in either chicken or beef flavour, and they seem to like it!

Dog chews, raw bones and dry food help maintain good dental hygiene. Bad dental health is indicated by bad breath, rotting and/or tartar covered teeth. If your dog has a considerable build-up of tartar, this needs to be removed by your veterinarian.

The Princess Pretzel Diaries

Hello to all of our friends and your families.

Hasn’t it been cold?

Lady Vixen and I had always shared a Chalet (kennel) when we were on our own, but when Lord Jaydyn arrived Dad bought a new one. He had this silly idea that we would continue to share one and Jaydyn would have the other. We soon put an end to that and we lay in the doorway of each Chalet and he was not allowed in. He is the one who really feels the cold and so we now have a third Chalet. Mum calls our backyard the Swiss village and it really does look like one.

Welcome to the Shangri-La Village for Sophisticated Hounds.

Now I don’t know about you, but getting up to go for a walk at 5.30am has got to be the craziest idea I have ever heard of. It is dark, cold and just generally not pleasant. In actual fact, I have to say that it is not entirely Dad’s fault. Lord Jaydyn and I would quite happily sleep in and arise around 8.00am if left alone, however Lady Vixen has quite different ideas and starts bouncing around the lounge room at 5.30am and will not settle back to sleep even after Mum has gotten up, let her out for a wee and then tucked her back into bed again. We have all tried to ignore her, but it is quite impossible. Oh the trials and tribulations we older and more refined hounds have to put up with.

We have been very busy with our social engagements just lately, really, a royal hound just gets run off her paws but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Wasn’t the Million Paws Walk fun? We had never done it before and we got just a little lost, we ended up coming out at the Hackney Hotel!! Dad estimates we walked around 8 km. No wonder we were pooped. We walked with our friends of course so that made it even more fun but we were very tired that night.

Dad and Mum took us down to Glenelg on a gorgeous sunny afternoon and met two lovely families who thought we were all quite wonderful. It is amazing the people who have never met a Greyhound before and how they are so amazed at how quiet and well behaved we are. Lord Jaydyn is now quite determined not to miss out on any cuddles that are being given out.

Our next outing was to Hahndorf and we were able to help Mum eat her pie and bun. I know we have to watch our figures but Mum needs all the help we can give her.

The next outing was to Semaphore to have a walk along the beach and up and down the main street. Stopping to talk to people of course and having a coffee at a lovely café.

Then we had our 10^th birthday for GAP. We had cake and sang Happy Birthday and then got to talk to all of our friends and make new friends as well. It was a lovely day, quite cold of course but we had our ‘jama’s on and we were fine.

All in all it has been a busy time but a Royal Hounds work is never done. The more we go out and promote just how fantastic we hounds are the more people will want to know about our breed and the programme and that is good for every one. Especially those poor unfortunate people who have never met a Greyt Greyhound before. We can only hope that GAP will continue its wonderful work for another 10 years.

Take care all of you and remember that it is Greyt to be retired.

Lots of love,

Princess Pretzel, Lady Vixen and Lord Jaydyn xxx xxx xxx

Oops, and of course Mum and Dad xxx

PS from Princess Pretzel,

We have just heard Mum talking on the phone to Phillip. It seems that Gap will indeed have another birthday.

We just wanted to thank Phillip, Bradley and the wonderful committee we have for all of their hard work, drive, dedication and passion. It takes an enormous amount of effort to go up against a Government Department. The hours of work that they have put into this wonderful result is immeasurable.

The new hounds will have to go out with a muzzle for a little while, but that won’t be for long. Believe it or not, I too, wore a muzzle when I first came up to my new home here. It is certainly not the most regal of accessories but it did allow me to become part of a loving home where my poise and royal nature could develop properly.

Once again Phillip, Bradley and all of the committee, thank you for your drive and compassion, we would not be where we are without you.

Much love,

The Royal Hounds

Princess Pretzel, Lady Vixen and Lord Jaydyn

xxx xxx xxx

Thank You.

This segment of the newsletter is always a sad one, but one that must be written. For here we are remembering our friends, our loyal and loving pets that have passed over to Rainbows Bridge where they will await their human companions.

Today we would like to send our condolences to David who lost his beloved Bluey at age 14. Bluey aka Woodburn Bluey will be greatly missed by his companions and GAP. May the Angels be with you.

______________________________________________________________

Need to Contact GAP?

Greyhound Adoption Program - SA
P.O Box 2352
Regency Park SA 5942
Phone: 08 8243 7124
Fax: 08 82682870

Website: www.gapsa.org.au

Newsletter Email: greyhnd-news4gap@dodo.com.au