This is an appeal to everybody and anybody considering adopting a greyhound or anybody who already has a greyhound should SERIOUSLY consider fostering. It’s not something we had really thought of initially although the loss of one of ours made us want to give something back to the greyhounds in kennels due to the amount of love that our Franklin gave us.
We initially started by volunteering/walking retired greyhounds from the racing kennels and it soon became apparent that these were not going to get homes due to people not wanting to take the risk of having a dog that’s never been in a home.
We made the decision to foster the oldest boy in the racing kennels who we have now named Eric and we can quite honestly say it’s such a lovely experience to watch him develop and grow in a home environment and become more and more confident everyday.
It is one of the hardest things we have ever done having another greyhound in the home so quickly after losing the previous one but we felt we needed to give something back. It’s the little things that count with fostering like watching him throw a toy around like a nutter, watching him go upstairs for the first time and go on a bed for the first time. Each greyhound we have met has their own individual silly ways and they are all different but the same in a funny kind of way.
Eric was put up for rehoming whilst in racing kennels along with others for well over a month with no interest!!
The minute he got into a foster home environment numerous people came forward to show interest, which goes to show that fostering clearly works to help them get homes they all deserve.
This would have never have been achieved if we didn’t make the decision to foster him because as sad as it is people don’t want dogs from kennels they want to know they’re good in a home or in rehoming kennels where they have been assessed, so basically once all the hard work is done.
We would seriously recommend fostering to anybody due to the rewards it gives, even if you are working you can make it work even if you have busy lives like us! We both work shifts and long hours and it isn’t an issue. We appreciate that not every dog will settle in immediately and some do take time but you just have to persevere and remember it’s alien to them they have never been in a home before.
We had a conversation with Debs earlier and she has made us realise the importance of fostering and that we need more people to participate and foster, even if it cannot be a long term thing anything to get them into a home environment first before rehoming would help massively. We have proven this with the interest we have had in Eric.
Please come forward and let Debs know if you are willing to help and foster these lovely dogs.
Feel free to talk to ourselves if you have any queries or questions. Thanks.