Noise Annoys - Part 3 (Quick close the curtains, he's gone!)

Well, the lovely pup JJ went to his new home today, GALAXY FORCE, his foster mum for the last month is so overcome with alcohol she's asked me to 'blog' his departure.

JJ was handed into a vet near Edinburgh in mid August with a broken hind leg, he wasn't going to ever race so his trainer took him to the vet to be put to sleep. Luckily for JJ the vet nurse at the surgery is a GAL volunteer and proud owner of a rescued GAL hound. A few days later JJ found himself being fostered in GALAXY FORCE'S secret hideout.

On the 8th of September JJ had his leg treated, the cast that had been put on by the trainers vet was removed and the leg x-rayed. The GAL vet decided to leave the cast off as the break was healing well however the cast had been restricting the growth of his leg muscles. At that stage he was told to have complete bed rest for 6 weeks.

Since then JJ has been restricted to his indoor kennel and been a very grumpy boy however his leg improved dramatically, mostly due to the constant exercise he got by clawing at the kennel door to be let out!

JJ visited the vet on Wednesday the 22nd for another check up and was given a clean bill of health, the break almost healed and his leg muscles growing correctly now.

Well that meant he was free to go to his new home and at 10:30am this morning off he went with his new family who had patiently waited for his leg to heal up. We wish him well in his new home and look forward to seeing him all grown up sometime next year!!

GALAXY FORCE has now put the ear plugs away and has promised that the next time the vet says ''this little pup needs confined in an indoor kennel for 6 weeks'' she'll reply with ''OK then I'll pick him up in 6 weeks time''...

100 Club Results for September

Here are the 100 Club Results for September:

1st Prize
36 - Steve Leyland £52.75

2nd Prize
123 - Freda Oliver £31.65

3rd Prize
89 - Freda Oliver £21.10

and £105.50 was raised for GAL.

Congratulations to the winners!

Some More New Homes

Well on the homing front our quiet spell has continued, we have had quite a few applications in recently all with one common theme, CATS! Yes we now have 7 families on our waiting list all waiting for Cat friendly greyhounds and I'm afraid Cat friendly hounds have been as scarce recently as Storm Troopers at a Jedi convention. Our search continues and we're busy cat testing every new hound handed into us...

Since the last blog update on the 22nd of August 13 dogs have went to their new homes - SWITCH, PICCHU, MOLLY, GEM, HAL 9000, PATCH, HARVEY, SCOOBY, TRINITY, SUZIE, OSCAR, HOPE and finally today JJ the 'devil' pup, leg much improved and given the all clear by our vet, left the foster home of GALAXY FORCE.

GALAXY FORCE was quite emotional after JJ's departure, we're still to find out if it was tears of sadness at him leaving or tears of joy due to the alcohol left for her by JJ's new owners..

At long last...

... the moment you've all been waiting for.....

***Drum roll please***

The GAL Shop is back online. There are lots of new items, some old
favourites still there, a few items on special offer and a couple on
sale to clear them out.

AND - there's still more to come.

We were in such a rush to get the shop back to you that we didn't
have time to add everything. Christmas items will be here soon and
we have some very special cards coming. So keep checking back to
see what's new.

Hope you like it - let us know. (And remember to tell us if you find
any 'teething problems'.)

Esther has warned the post office that she'll be borrowing
Santa's sack for the deliveries.

BOUNCE

Have you seen the lovely PIP on our homeless dogs page? What a stunner, he's 4yrs old going on 6 months! Today PIP took to the air (no really he did!)

PIP's foster home has a nice big trampoline in their garden and today as the kids were romping around PIP decided to get in on the act, there was nothing stopping the boy as he clambered onto the trampoline no doubt with a few back flips in mind!

His worried foster mum just couldn't decide whether to run for her camera or safely escort PIP off his new toy, safety won the day so we have no pictures of this momentous occasion, the first Greyhound to perform a triple back flip, the Guinness book of records have been contacted!

''Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy. Without precise calculations, we'd fly right through a star, or BOUNCE to close to a supernova, and that would end your trip real quick, wouldn't it.'' - Han Solo

Noise Annoys II - The Sequel

Sssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh. He's asleep. Walk on tippy toes and don't make a sound.

The wee boy's leg was awful sore today so the vet's given him a painkilling injection to tide him over. As a result, he's out cold in his crate. It won't last long though so make the most of it.

The silly little devil just wouldn't sit still. He cavorted around like a loony so he's exhausted his gammy leg to the point where he can't walk on it any more. It was just hanging there limp and he was crying with his head buried in his blanky. Awwww poor thing.

I felt so sorry for him that I picked him up to snuggle him but his idea of a cuddle was some needle sharp teeth in the face. Lucky for him he's cute!

Noise Annoys!

This is a noisy room at the best of times. The TV and PC (sometimes two) are permanently on; there's usually at least one dog barking or howling or whining or rooing in the background; and, at times like this, when the newsletter is (over)due and 300 copies are churning out of the printer at a rate of knots, one can barely hear oneself think!

But a new BIGGER sound has been added to the cacophony.

JJ is an eight week old greyhound puppy, taken into a vet last week to be put to sleep because he has a badly broken leg. His cast came off yesterday and he's been assigned a project for the next 6 weeks - complete bed rest. But, as many of you will know, rest and puppies do not mix and JJ is none too impressed at being confined to his crate and no amount of food, water or toys is going to convince him otherwise. His tiny face is sweet and innocent but the voicebox that lurks behind is just downright nasty. As I write, he is bellowing his disgust at the top of his lungs.

I'm off to buy some ear plugs online...

Vent my Spleen

GAL had the pleasure of once again attending the Scottish Kennel Club Championship Dog Show at Ingliston last weekend and it was an experience and a half.

Setup started on Friday with three of us attempting to build the double marquee in gale force winds. We were persistent but it was just never going to happen. We enrolled help from neighbouring stalls in the form of several large men to help hold it down while we pegged in the supports but - just at the point where we thought we had it cracked - the entire structure flew into the air with all of us attached. Of course, everyone around had a whale of a time recanting stories of similar disasters from previous shows and each had their own ideas on how to make the damn thing stay, all to no avail.

We eventually had to admit defeat and hire a 'framed structure' (i.e. a large tent) and you don't want to know what that costs when you book on the same day! Unfortunately, we still had to use the same muddy swamp to put it on! At least the 3-man team who successfully erected it cheered us up as we sat staring at them from the van, giggling hysterically. Strangely, we found the one wearing 2 hats a particularly hilarious target!

On Saturday morning tempers frayed while potential customers milled around searching for bargains amongst the stacks of boxes we had yet to unpack - but the tea and egg rolls cured that and we soon got right into the swing of things. By Saturday night all feet were aching, eyes were drooping, and were were silently apologising to and thanking the men we'd harrassed about the tent. Sorry 2-hat-man!

Sunday brought a feeling of endless doom because we knew we were stuck there until Best In Show had finished and the crowds had dissipated (probably 7pm). But, as we all know, the cure for endless doom is chips and sauce from the van and so came our second wind. We cuddled dogs of all shapes and sizes, puzzled as to why we had never before tapped into the market of selling greyhound coats to spaniels and rotties, and eagerly wondered how much was in the cashbox. And all that was in between shopping, stocking up for the new GAL Shop and collecting a unique dog portrait by a famous artist painted especially for GAL which reduced everyone to tears (but that's a story for later...).

The only real sour notes to these shows are the miserable faces on some of the dogs, especially those left benched while the owners walk around (for fear of messing up their coats). They look so bored; like they could do with a good run around in some puddles! Then there's the numerous metal choke chains still being employed (harshly) and the owners who insist on hauling their dogs around - even away from water bowls - while screaming at them. My particular pet peaves are the owners who chastise their dogs simply for trying to communicate with their canine neighbour, or who snap the lead across their dog's back like a whip. These supposedly pampered pooches are dragged around like fashion accessories and would benefit from more than a bit of obedience training - and so would the owners!

Anyhow, the punters at the SKC Shows have invested around £2000 in GAL this year so I'll stop there. We all made it home alive and in one piece, albeit exhausted, and were delighted to abandon the tent for those same three men to wrestle with. But we spared them the laughs this time.

Esther has left the building!

I could blame Esther's holiday this week to Eurodisney for the fact that we've had to close down the GAL Online Shop this week but the truth is - she's become a victim of her own success! The massive clearance sale we've been holding over the past couple of months really worked as there's barely a single thing left. As well as all the usual orders, Esther has also been working hard recently to find some great new greyhound and lurcher related merchandise - and she's done a great job.

The all new singing and dancing GAL Online Shop will be launched in a few days (once she's had breakfast with Mickey and Goofy). I can't give much away about what to expect, except to say that lots of the stuff has come from America and it's like nothing you've ever seen before!

You are going to LOVE it!

See you at http://shop.gal.org.uk/ soon...

News from the Revel Alliance

Good News from Planet Cadbury.

Sam one of GALs latest additions was delivered to his foster kennel in pain with a badly swollen wrist. After visiting the local vet he was diagnosed with a fractured wrist, sadly that wasn't the worst of it. This wasn't a new injury but one that had obviously happened some months previously and never been treated, to make matters worse his caring 'owner' had continued to race him.

How is this possible? Simple, by doping the greyhound with painkillers. Sams prognosis was not good, Judith the vet had three options to suggest:

Surgery by an orthopaedic specialist - expensive and not guaranteed to work.

Amputation - removing the leg at the shoulder.

Euthanasia - as a last resort to save him suffering from futher pain.

GAL decided Sam, as with any of our dogs deserved the best we could do for him. His x-rays were sent to Mr. Miller the orthopaedic consultant in Stirling.

Judith phoned yesterday to say that after giving the x-rays very careful consideration Mr. Miller advised that a surgical operation to insert a pin into the wrist would not improve Sams situation and could actually cause more damage by weakening the bone.

However he was extremely confident that given 5 - 6 weeks kennel rest Sam's wrist should heal itself enough to allow him good use of the leg and as long as his off lead exercise is carefully supervised Sam should make a perfectly healthy 30mph couch potato.

Reckon this calls for a celebration, I'm cracking open a magnum ............................the white chocolate ones are my favourite.