Audience by request at Animates

My family got an e-mail from the GAP people this week. The Animates store on Mount Eden Road was having a pet expo weekend and wanted as many pets as possible to be in the store. GAP thought it would be good for us ex-racers to be there to promote the cause.

So after I lazed about and watched the family do their chores, (it is amazing how irritating you can be by continually shifting your sleeping position to be just in the wrong place at the right time as they sweep the floor, load the dish washer or sort the laundry. They hate that!) Chores done, the family bundled me into the car. We went for a quick stroll in St Heliers to pick up another member of the family who had completed work and we were off.

When I got there is was a riot of animals. I was in my element! Lots of small furry things to sniff at and of course I managed to get in the way a lot. I have found that it is a great way to get extra hugs, especially in a pet shop. Just stand entirely across an aisle, blocking it, and they all have to pat you to get passed. I was the only Greyhound there, we got there at 1:00 and stayed for an hour. I loved the chooks, the rats and the piglets, oh and the cats, but they were safe behind glass. Now that is not what I call a sporting chance!

I got lots of interest from children and adults alike. I was easily the biggest animal there, that is until I met the goats! It was a bit of a Mexican stand off with them, no loss of face. Then I met a fellow dog, not sure what it was, I wandered up to him in a 'I'm the biggest dog in here' kind of way. I then realised that he was much bigger than me and at that moment I had a sudden urge to find something else to look at, outside the shop. In fact at that moment, the car, home and bed were suddenly very appealing.

On the way out we met a fellow ex-racer on the way in. She had a GAP bib to wear and everything, she looked very smart. We had our photos taken together, but unfortunately I have forgotten her name. Anyway the photos of the trip are below.

Been out with my mates...

My family have been winding me up again. Several times this week they have been making excuses for the couple of times that we have not been out for a walk twice a day. They have been saying things like, "You will get a big run on Sunday." and "...we're saving your energy for the weekend." So at 9:45 today I was packed into the car with the rest of the family and we went here:


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I met up with all my new mates again and made some new friends too. There were loads of dogs of different sizes on this beach, most were very playful, some were just plain rude. Some of the owners of other dogs were not very happy with us Greyhounds running together, even though we were muzzled, it is that whole muzzle thing again. We were just out having fun. I am still not sure about this water that moves stuff, although the others seemed to like it.

I got the staff to take some images of us at play, the are below hope that you like them. I would love to hear your comments.

Kong update

In my last post I intimated that something was up. This Kong toy is so engrossing that I focus on it and nothing else. Well, in this last week my family has been out a lot in the day, although one of the family is still here, she is always in her room doing stuff with the door closed, so I might as well be by myself. But I have my toys and my Kong to keep me occupied. The puzzle of having to solve how to extract the tidbits wedged into the Kong keeps me focused for hours.

The other day I was on my bed worrying away with my teeth and tongue on a particularly trickily wedged biscuit in my Kong, when members of the family came home. Normally the sight of the car reversing into the garage, sends me into a frenzy of excitement. I race between the garage door, where the family disappear and emerge from and the window where I can see the car reversing; I have even been heard to bark during this exercise, something that I do not do very often.

On this particular day, I was assaulted with a two pronged familial return to base sensory overload. As one member of the family reversed into the garage, another member walked down the drive and entered through the front door. Did I have a heart attack? Did I have a mad 5 minutes running from door to door to window to door to door to window to family members and back again? No! I had my Kong, I barely moved. Sure I went to the window, I saw what was going on and went back to my bed with my Kong. I showed them who and what was more important, I showed them!

The family seemed delighted at being ignored, strange!