Some pictures of me at play

Here are some images that have been taken of me...

Week 1 as a pet

Well I have been a domestic pet for a week now. After some time in a foster home, I am not sure now long I was there, but thanks Glyns, you were great especially after the cow pat incident! I travelled with some of my other mates up from the Manawatu to Auckland. After a swap of vehicles and the transfer of some cash in a McDonald's car park, reminiscent of a shady deal, I made it to my new home.

The video below shows some of the things that I have been up to in my new home. I am learning new things with my new owners and am also having a lot of fun. I am finding life in Auckland a bit hot, so am grateful for the cool concrete floors to lie on, I do have a big soft bed of my own and toys and I have also discovered the delights of pigs ears... I am taken out for walks every day and have learnt to sleep in my bed all night, although I have also spent a night in every member of the family's bedroom too. I have been introduced to different sized dogs on my walks and even went to the beach in St Heliers, but was not to keen on the sea, it moves a lot! Something strange happens when I go out, if I wear my muzzle people think that I am dangerous and aviod me when I do not have it on, I get lots of hugs and kisses, strange.

I am off to Waiatarua Reserve this afternoon, to meet more dogs. I know that my owners are keen to let me off the leash and see how fast I can run, but I am still learning their commands for stay, walk and come. I have mastered stay and walk on the lead, but when I am off the lead I still want to walk around! Ah well practice makes perfect and while I am practicing, I am getting treats to encourage me to learn... Who exactly is training who here?

From Big Dapto to Stanley

My name is Stanley, but I raced under the name of Big Dapto. I am a racing greyhound, well I used to be. I was born in Australia on October 25 2005 and have raced in New Zealand as Big Dapto. You can view my racing history here, when you get to the site you have to put in my racing name: Big Dapto. In brief I won 3 races from 38 starts. I hope that I made my trainer proud and proved to be worth the investment! However as I am now not racing I have to conclude that perhaps my racing career was not as good as it could have been. My report card might read, "Could do better."

My trainer obviously decided that it was time for me to part company with him and put me up for adoption. The good people at GAP (Greyhounds as Pets) help dogs like me transfer from the life of a racing hound to that of a pampered pooch. I have spent some time in Sanson going through all sorts of procedures to transfer from the track. I have been waiting in some kind of beauty pageant with my fellow ex-racers waiting for some loving family to take me and my friends into their homes. And so we wait...