30 Tails of Tia

A bit about Tia Rescue…

And then I saw her in my neighbours shed, not daring to come out, a black skinny thing all legs and worry. “A greyhound” he said “Too slow but she pees in the house”

The next time I saw her, (I was on a mission to close down a local stray kennel) she was dead in a bright blue plastic bag at said stray kennel. The owners son was kicking dogs to death, and they had put dogs that they had killed in with the ones that the vet had euthanised. I was there when the vet went in, I could have saved her if I’d known. Fortunately she had been lucky and had the injection. The kennel was closed down within days. I was in the Police at the time.

After an attack on my own life, I was stabbed by a psychiatric patient in Halifax whilst on routine duties and whilst recovering I came across a man with racing greyhounds behind the tip in Sowerby Bridge. And so it began. The skinny long legged dogs had me well and truly hooked. As did the cruelty and disregard.

The stables and sheds behind the tip had no water or electricity, but hundreds of dogs were taken in and rehomed…no one else would take greyhounds in back then.

We later upgraded to a sewage farm, owned by Yorkshire Water. They gave us a ten year lease but changed their minds a few years in, it cost them a tidy sum.
Fortunately we received a legacy and we moved to Moorside Farm at the top of Cragg Vale, but outgrew it some years later. The amount of greyhounds needing homes was and still is, eye watering.

Mill Race Farm looked to be a perfect solution, more land, more kennels, visitors centre and our own vet room. We also had ten Charity shops.

Covid put paid to that. Furlough destroyed a lot of people’s work ethic.

So in fear of going bust and losing everything we sold Mill Race, got rid of the huge mortgage and bought a farm outright in Scotland. It was the only one that we could afford and big enough to keep all the animals safe.

But now me and Bob are thirty years in…we need someone else to take the reins of the Charity….and it needs to be back in Yorkshire.

Tia has been a thorn in the side of the racing industry for 30 years now and long may it continue…I like to think we have had some hand in improving the welfare of greyhounds, whether racing or not.

Tia needs to continue, albeit in a different form. The days of housing over 100 dogs are gone, it is no longer viable, a smaller kennel for emergencies and those needing to decompress, definitely. But throughout all the turmoil we have found a new way and that is rehoming a lot of the dogs directly from trainers. Last year 2025 we rehomed around 100 dogs.

We have rehomed thousands over the years. We are very good at rehoming greyhounds.

Sadly we are needed as much now as we were back in 1996.

As I write this, Friday 16th January 2026, there are two older greyhound boys that have been dumped, are heading up from Cliffe kennels in Barnsley to the kennels in Scotland. We have good long standing relationships with the Dog Wardens and the stray kennels in Yorkshire.
There is an awful lot that goes on behind the scenes.

Thanks to everyone who has supported Tia over the past 30 years. Please continue to do so, I don’t want Tia to end when we can no longer carry on.

As the year begins we are looking at ways to get a base back down in yorkshire. It doesn’t need to be massive….a small farm with around 15 acres will suffice. A building for a handful of kennels and barns for the horses if anything goes wrong up here.

I have lots of ideas but at the end of the day Tia needs to be back in Yorkshire. I am also wanting more Trustees who can help keep the Charity going….Sadly we can’t go on forever.

Deb & Bob