I'm off!!

It's the Dec & Dom Show!

Well, despite Mum being a bit stressed, she still found time to take me to tennis courts so I could have an off-lead run. When we got there we found another Greyhound having a good old gallop. His Dad told us he doesn't get on with other breeds of dog and hadn't met another Grey since he came out of kennels earlier this year. Mum and his Dad let us have a sniff and  we liked each other so they let us loose and boy did we go! My new friend is called Dom and is 5 years old. Mum said to look at us, we could have been brothers!

KC has already gone off on her holiday, to stay with Aunty Steph and Aunty Lisa. She'll like that as it means she won't have to go outside for over a week. KC hates going outside unless it's dark. I told you she is evil.... Aunty Steph calls her Princess. Pah! I never met anyone less princess - like in my life. Aunty Lisa doesn't call her anything as she is scared of KC. She knows she's evil too...

KC - looking evil......

Although I thought I'd win her round, Mum is still insisting I leave the laptop at home. I suppose other Mum might let me get my paws on her Android, but I don't hold much hope. As  I'll probably be incommunicado for a week or so, I just wanted to wish my friends a good end to the week and I'll look forward to hearing about your exploits when I'm home. Now, where is my bucket and spade.........

Wordless Wednesday

Life is good!!

Holiday planning..

Mum says I might not have time to blog much this week as we go on holiday on Friday and I've got to help out. I think she's starting to panic. She disappeared behind a 27ft high pile of ironing three hours ago and hasn't been seen since.

 I keep hearing mutterings too.... " For God's sake, we go every year; how difficult can it be...." and " Do you really need that much stuff, you never use half of it..."  Well I do think other Mum has a point. I'm only taking my mac, my fleece and my fleece lined mac.. oh and my food, 2 bowls and stand. My bed, blanket, Mr Fog Fog, dong and ball. My lead, training lead, tin of treats, 2 towels and medical kit. Hmmmm.... moving swiftly on... :-/

I wonder if Mum thinks we might suddenly be invited to circumnavigate the globe whilst in the pub one evening and be away for a little longer than originally planned? There must be some explanation for all this stuff! Still I'm more than happy to lie on my sofa and keep out of the way, or project manage as I like to call it...

Mum has also said I'm not allowed to take the laptop away with me as we all need a proper break. That means Mum and other Mum might have to talk to each other... Blimey!! Still, there's always the Nintendo DS and the Kindle; I'd like to see Mum stop other Mum taking those with her, hehe! Perhaps there'll be a cyber-cafe in Alnwick. Do you think they'll rent out a PC to a blogging Greyhound though?

Well, I suppose I'd better go and try and find Mum... Can't see her but there are a lot of expletives coming from behind that ironing.......

Late Developer

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Finally...FINALLY... I've worked out what the sofa is for! Mum was beginning to despair, but good boy that I am, I've come through for her. Wonder where Mummies will sit now....? Hehe!

Freedom Friday

Today I got to run free off my lead for the first time in ages! Mum has been trying to find a safe fenced in area and now we have one. It's all thanks to my new friend Alan.

Mum got in touch with Alan through the Grey Walks West Yorks website and he arranged for us to to use some old fenced off tennis courts near his house. So thanks very much Alan!

I was a bit wary at first but I soon got into my stride......

..... and had a seriously good gallop! Mum says she'll take me there a couple of times a week, but it can't all be play. I think she said something about it'll be good for recall training, but I wasn't really listening. And that's the whole point Declan - Mum

Anyway, I'm one dead tired Greyhound now, so I think I'll just have a little sleep before dinner...... Have a fun weekend everyone.

Declan helps with the shopping

Would you like me to help unpack the shopping Mum? No really, it's absolutely no trouble at all....

As I said, no trouble.... Oooooh I say!  Sausages and cheese. Drool  Drool, Dribble Dribble.....

Mum.........? Errrrrr..... Where shall I put these empty packets?  Mum.......?  Oh dear......

Caught in the act of bikkie nicking!

The lid just fell off; honest....!

This is me with my doggie treats tin. Seconds before sneaky old Mum crept up and took the photo, the lid just came off all by itself.....Nothing to do with my particularly powerful and bendy nose.  I'm wondering if I might be psychic or something. Uri Geller can bend forks and I can remove tin lids with the sheer power of my mind.

Anyway, it's Mum's fault. If she's going to make me my favourite homemade dog treats and then leave the tin on the sofa, frankly she's just asking for trouble.It was only a small batch, so she can't mind that much. "Declan you little git" is a term of endearment, surely? If you'd like your humans to make you some of my treats, so that you too can get into trouble for stealing, just click on the link.

Aren't toys just brill?

This is me with a selection of my favourite toys. From the left we have Bone Pillow, Mr Fog Fog, Dong and Mr F B Hippo.

I'm very very fickle about who is my favourite. Up until recently it was Gilly Gorilla but I accidently ate his insides so he was sent to the dust bin. Then Fog Fog got all my love and attention until yesterday when Mum came home with FB Hippo! She'd only popped out for some picture hooks but came back with a new toy, chew sticks, my favourite donut treats and a large can of expanding foam - don't ask! No picture hooks though. Still that's not as bad as the time she went out for a loaf of bread and came back with a new car; that's my Mum for you..

Oh the Indignity of It.......

Well, summer is pretty much coming to an end now and where most normal people's thoughts turn to log fires and cosy evenings, my Mum's thoughts turned to baths... "It's our last chance Deccy" she said, reaching for the Tea Tree shampoo. Fortunately (for her, not me) I didn't know what this meant as I've not had a bath at home before, so I stood and watched ever hopeful that a large knuckle bone or at least a rawhide chew would appear. But no! There I was admiring my tomato plants when a whole watering can of warm water gets tipped over me. Then there's a load of smelly shampoo (nothing pleasant like fox poo) gets rubbed in and my unmentionables are scrubbed with a sponge... not that I have any unmentionables anymore, but that's not the point.

The final indignity was being dried with some new towels Mum had bought just for me. Except they were red, and she hadn't washed them first. So I'm not blue and white anymore, I'm blue and pink. The only saving grace is that she couldn't find the camera. It's bad enough with the cat laughing at me. I just hope it wears off soon or I shall only be going out under the cover of darkness.

Great Greyhound Gathering National RGT Show

STOP PRESS!

The 2011 Great Greyhound Gathering will be held at Nottingham Racecourse, Colwick Park, Nottingham NG2 4BE on Saturday 17 September. For more information, visit http://www.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/Great-Greyhound-Gathering-2011/

A fun day out for all the family, and great way to find out all about owning a Greyhound! Remember, Greyhounds make wonderful pets; my humans couldn't live without one - especially me!

KC Won't Play!

Just sharpening my claws Declan!

KC and I are still kind of rubbing along, but you wouldn't exactly call us close, you know? It's really not my fault; I'd like to play with her but what can I do when she disappears in a puff of smoke when she sees me?

Mum says "play" is not pinning her to the floor with my rather fat nose, but hey Mum, we can iron out minor details like that later can't we...?

It's a shame that KC won't talk to me as I've had a few ideas about hiring her out for Halloween, what with her being jet black and everything. I'm just trying to ease the family finances but Mum keeps muttering something about it practically being akin to prostitution. Oh she does over-react. Perhaps I'll set up another site called "Pimp My Cat". Heh Heh Heh!!!!!

Anyway, Mum's latest idea is to put KC on a harness, put me on my lead, bribe her with tuna and me with gravy bones... and see if we can stay in the same room without KC having a hissy fit or me having uncharitable thoughts about cat club sandwiches. I'll let you know how we get on........

My New Winter Greyhound Coat

I'm thinking of getting some black boots and
a white beard and getting a job as Santa Claws!

Greyhounds need coats; lots and lots of coats...

Although we're big dogs we have very short fur and very little fat on us so we really feel the cold. General rule is, if you need a coat on to go out, then so do I. That's unless you come from Newcastle and you're really hard and go out in December in shorts and a T shirt. I'd want a coat.

As I said, lots of greyhound coats for every possible situation...

I have a mac in case it's wet but not cold. A fleece in case it's cold but not wet, A towel coat in case I'm wet and need drying and lastly my brand new bright red Blizzard Jacket! This is fleece lined and waterproof and is in case I fancy an Arctic expedition.... or a trip to Northumberland. 

Mum got my new greyhound coat from Jan's Greyhound Gifts. She's been getting Greyhound gear from the site for over 9 years now and reckons it one of the best value and most reliable places on the net. I'm just very keen to encourage Mum's liking for shopping. After all I've only got four leads and three collars, and I'm seriously wondering if I need a baseball cap..........

Declan's Favourire Things Part 2 - Ice Cream

Uncle Flynn liked ice cream too
but he was only allowed one of them

Now don't misunderstand; I'm not allowed much of this. But when I can have a little treat, boy do I love ice cream! I'd never had it before I went to live with my humans and at first I thought it was a bit weird, but it's great! My Mum loves ice cream, she says it's one of her downfalls - the list of those is endless though!

Mum says when we go on holiday there's a lovely ice cream parlour not that far away called Morwick Dairy Ice Cream at Warkworth and if I'm a good boy we can go there and have a cornet. She says their Raspberry Pavlova is hard to beat, but being a purist, I'm a bit of a vanilla man, myself.

Generally Mum is a big big fan of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. She says the best she ever had was their Wavy Gravy involving lots of chocolate & nuts, but it was discontinued about 10 years ago and probably wasn't even sold in this country.

This is a list of mum's top ten Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream flavours:

Phish Food, Chocolate brownie, Fairly Nuts, Cherry Garcia, Caramel Chew Chew, Chunky Monkey, Cookie Dough, Fossil Fuel, Baked Alaska,New York Super Fudge Chunk.

"Ice Cream Farms" in the UK are becoming increasingly popular, so check out your local area. In the meantime I just need to convince Mum a big cornet with a chocolate flake and raspberry sauce is very similar to a gravy bone..... fat chance!!

Declan Petrol Head

Hello! I've just got back from a bit of a road trip with my Mum. You know, visiting a few friends and relatives; and meeting yet more people who adored me!

Anyway, it was nice to meet some new friends, but the best thing about my trip was being in the car. I LOVE cars! 

Mum says she thinks it must be a Greyhound thing, as Flynn was just the same. She even bought him a new car when she had him, but what with the economic climate and everything, she says I'll have to make do with Flynn's old one. I don't really mind. It's a nice big roomy estate with a comfy duvet and a dog guard to keep me safe.

I like to see myself as the Jeremy Clarkson of the dog world. Actually I've heard said more than once that Mum might be his long lost sister. If I had a gravy bone for every time I'd heard Mum say "For God's sake, how difficult can it be....." or "bored bored bored", well, I'd have a lot of gravy bones! 

If my humans do win the lottery I'm hoping I might be treated to a new set of wheels. Something sleek, sexy and sporty - a bit like me. Mum says that, unfortunately, as far as she knows, Aston Martin don't make an estate car, otherwise she'd get me one....obviously.... And on that bombshell..... goodnight!!

Declan's favourite things...

Food!

I love food, no, I mean I really LOVE food! When I was racing it was all a bit boring. Lots of high protein stuff and not much in the way of treats, but now the world is my lobster, or something like that!

Mum would be the first to admit she's not the fittest person in the world, but she's pathological about ensuring her pets have a good diet. She says if she chooses to stuff her face with a cream cake, she has no one but herself to blame, but I can't make choices so she has to be responsible. Personally, I think she's got that dead wrong. I am more than capable of choosing my food - if someone conveniently leaves the fridge door open.. Only this morning I spied some boiled ham which would have done very nicely for lunch and a piece of sirloin steak and a key lime pie which would have sorted out my dinner dilemma.

Mum says so far she can't find anything I don't like; I even enjoy a chew on a stick of celery. Somethings are not allowed, like chocolate, raw onions and raisins as they are poisonous to dogs. I like curry too. Mum knows this as she turned her back on me for two seconds and miraculously half a popadom, 1 chapati and a mouthful chicken rogan josh vanished. I was only trying to be helpful; I thought she'd finished and was just clearing away.. A lot of spicy food isn't good for me though. Without wishing to be indelicate, we Greyhounds do tend to suffer from...err...hmmm....well... farting. People have written books about it - really!

Anyway, as it's such as long-winded (he he he!!) subject, I might save it for another day. Bye bye for now.

A Dogs Thoughts On Holidays

Uncle Flynn and his black pudding birthday!

I’m really looking forward to my holidays!

My humans are taking me to Northumberland in a few weeks time. They took Flynn there a couple of times and he loved it. Hated the sea and the beach but loved the battered black pudding apparently! Mum hopes I might be a bit more confident than he was about the sea, but I won’t be able to be let off my lead this time, Mum can’t trust me yet! Greyhounds should never be put on extending leads as we are way too strong and fast. I’m still pretty young and fit and can get close to 40mph in three strides. I could break my neck and Mum would have a dislocated shoulder, or worse. Mum’s bought a training lead that she can wear draped over the shoulder and is hands-free, which will give security and me a bit of freedom. I’ve told her to pack her wellies and plan on some paddling!

Mum says there’s a great Sunday market at Amble where you can buy fresh fish from the quayside and she also got the best dog bed Flynn ever had from there too! Yeah well.. I bet it wasn’t as good as my bed; it’s huge! Mum keeps muttering about needing to build an extension to put it in, but she is prone to exaggeration. We do like to stretch out, do us Greyhounds and as you know, we really like to sleep. I’ve told Mum, if she doesn’t want to lose the couch completely, she’d better buy a spare whilst we’re there..