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..