Greyhound Boden Betty

Sultan a blind galgo and friend Talitha

2006-11-09T11:46:00.000-08:00

The above photos are of two Spanish dogs that I met at the Sunday lunch in Modena of the greyhound forum. The handsome white guy in the kennels is called SULTAN he is a 10 month old Spanish galgo from Palencia in Spain, he was found in a very critical condition after his owners had tried to hang him, due to this horrific barbaric act SULTAN lost his sight and is now totally blind. Luckily for him he was found and taken in by volunteers into kennels.

An appeal was made to find him a home and an Italian couple, Patrizia and her husband bravely and kindly answered to the appeal and drove 1,600 kms from their home in north Italy to the kennels in Spain to collect SULTAN.
At the same time they also adopted an old tired Podenca TALITHA in the crate inside the car with Sultan ready for the homeward journey to Italy. As you can see in the photos below they are happy and relaxed in their new home surroundeb by affection and other caring animals.

To see the two together at the lunch was so great, Talitha was actually leading Sultan around it was great to see this and bought tears to my eyes.
It's great to know that there are people like Patrizia and her husband who are willing to go that extra mile and make all the difference.

You can see some more photos here http://www.adozionilevrieri.it/sultan.html

ciao ciao
Betty

DEVIL IN DISGUISE !!!!!

2006-10-29T10:27:00.000-08:00

Now don't I look just like an angel ????
Well today my owners took me back to Modena where they collected me ........................no, not to get rid of me but to have lunch together with other greyhound, PLI, whippet owners who participate on the same Italian greyhound forum.

I was allowed to run free in a big field and I had to put my muzzle on..........as I'm an ex-racer and the racing and instinct is still in my blood...................little did my owners know this . So what they saw today was a different Betty to what they are used to and I think they were left gob-smacked as to say !!!!!!!!!!! hehehe.

I barked at the others and wanted to be the LEADER OF THE PACK, I was very aggressive ............infact too aggressive ,that after a couple of free runs it was decided that it was better that I didn't run with the others, only by myself.................by myself I didn't want to do it.........no fun................I just love competion.

My female owner said that the Elivs Presley song ' SHE LOOKS LIKE AN ANGEL ', fits me to a tee. When I'm good I'm very good but when I'm bad I'm terrible !!!!!!!!!!!

I think I need to learn to socialize a bit more with other dogs, as where we live there's no other dogs for me to play with. Now I'm DOG tired as it's been as extra busy day for me
bye for now
Betty

JUST A WALKING IN THE RAIN !!!!

2006-09-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

Today it's raining ' cats and DOGS ' so my owner, the female of the species, has decided it's time for me to try out my new wind and rain jacket that was a gift to me . It's very light not padded but waterproof so I won't feel too hot in it. What do you think? I haven't got a mirror so I just have to take everybody's word for it that I look classy.

The thunder scares me very much, even so that it has stopped now I don't want to go out, so I think I'll plonk myself down on the floor hoping they will get the message.

ciao ciao
Betty

CORN ON THE COB

2006-09-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

CORN ON THE COB.

I just love corn on the cob, biting of the corn is really good for me teeth and cleans them a real treat. I sometimes eat the corn but very rarely. I prefer to leave them lying all around and then watching the family get the pieces stuck in their shoes............well, they have the television to watch I have to have something, no ? hehehe It keeps me occupied when I'm sometimes left by myself.

I am wearing a new collar that was a gift for me...I like it I think it's classy...........this will be my Sunday best collar.
My male owner's brother is coming over from Ireland this month , he's an artist and earns a living in Ireland by designing celtic designs and putting them onto rocks and stones with a hammer and chisel.............real great work. I'm hoping he might be able to put a celtic greyhound design onto my collar. I think his website is CELTIC FRAGMENTS in Ireland, I will confirm this with you once his here and hopefully my owners have learnt how to put up links onto this blog for me.........................dream on Betty !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next time I hope to be modelling my present of a collar and windjacket.
ciao ciao
Betty

BIG TOADS

2006-09-11T13:29:00.000-07:00

clean
Originally uploaded by craftinitalia.

Well, I'm wondering if Cookie has been adopted yet, I do hope so.

I'm back to digging up the garden , this time I'm not after lizards but BIG TOADS, yep I saw a big fat one the other night and it was quicker than me....................now that's saying something !!!!!!!!
If I keep digging where I saw it disappear I'm sure I'll find it sooner or later. You think my owner would give me a helping hand, but oh no.....I dig up the earth and what does she go and do?.....she sweeps it all back into the hole. It's so annoying all my hard work for nothing !!!!!!

It's still up in the high 20's low 30's, sunny and warm so it's nice to sit out in the garden.............actually my coatshas got lighter over the last three months, I've been bleached by the Italian sun!!!
I can feel the season is beginning to change as in the evening it's nice and cool now and it' s great that I can have a peaceful night's sleep without the heat and the humidity. I suppose my owners will be measuring me up for a quilted winter coat, I do hope they go through the Italian adoption group where they got me from, all the money goes towards helping us retired greyhounds, galgos and lurchers.
The website is as follows:-

www.adozionilevrieri.it

It's all in Italian but I'm sure you should be able to make out some of the words as they are similar to the English ones . Items for sale are under SEZIONE SHOP. I like the blue coat with the tartan snood, I would also like a black house collar and a nice new quilt. Let's hope my owner reads this and gets the hint.

ah well off to have my walk so I can do my number 1's. Will be back soon with more news and greyhound websites and blogs
ciao
Betty

COOKIE

2006-09-09T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is COOKIE, a brown coloured greyhound, (colour code DUN ) this colour is very rarely seen. Cookie is on the ' give a home' on the GREYHOUND & LURCHER WELFARE RESCUE website , www.glwr.org.uk .

I hope she will be lucky like me and to find a good home, all of us greyhounds who have been retired or no good to run deserve good homes to go to. We make fabulous pets, but , unfortunately there are just too many bad things said about us such as needing lots of exercise, being cat killers .....definatley not true. Yes, we get those cats sometimes but it's only because out of the canine race we are the only dogs fast enough to catch those cats...............don't think the other dogs wouldn't do the same...............because they would given half the chance !!!!!!!
We are very docile, definately couch potatoes, don't take up much room in the house, adore our owners and ask for a little bit of affection and attention in return.................now that's not a lot to ask for is it.

There are thousands of greyhounds and galgos for adoption through the many different adoption associations / groups . When my owners have learnt how to do the favourite sites etc I will ask them to list some of them. You can also adopt some of my greyhound friends through distance adoption, or making donations to some of the association / groups. Some families are kind enough to be foster parents until the greys are finally placed in permanent homes...........ah aren't they kind.

I know there is/ was a greyhound named Rex up for adoption for nearly a year, I think he may have been sent to the kennels now, I will check with the kind Italian lady Francesca. I should have mentioned him before now , apparently he is a lovely chappie just waiting patiently to be given a home.

Promise I will post sooner , but like my female owner I suffer from the heat and it just take the energy out of me.
ciao ciao
Betty

MY SISTER

2006-08-11T01:01:00.000-07:00

This is my sister Bodenbiddy, who is now going by the name of Lucy. She was a much better racer than what I was so I must admit I was a little surprised to see her photo of ex racers to be adopted.

I've borrowed this photo which was taken by a very nice Italian young lady by the name of Francesca, she does a lot of work in the sector of trying to get greyhounds adopted and into loving families. She takes photos of some of us greyhounds that will be lucky to go for adoption, we are on our best behaviour for her and try to look our best for the photo shots, you could say we are models for a day . Francesca has lots of photos of us greyhounds on FLICKR under the title of IRISH GREYHOUNDS. There you will see all the photos and descriptions of all the greys to be adopted.

My sister, like me, has been lucky and on Saturday will be on her way to Germany, you could say we are becoming an international family....................I wonder what has happened to my other brothers and sisters.....all I know is that they didn't race so they may of been unlucky and put into a pound and are no longer with us............... hopefully not.

Weather here is now cooling down so I can start sitting out in the garden for some fresh air...hope there are still some lizards to be caught !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ciao ciao
Betty

PEACHES

2006-07-26T05:03:00.000-07:00

After having my wash the other day, in the evening when it was much cooler, my owner decided to take me for my well earned walk in the fields. Now my owner really likes fruit and along this walk there are lots of peach trees so I knew it would only be a matter of minutes before my well earned walk would come to an end and it would be time for picking peaches.

Should take only a matter of minutes ..............that's what you think !!! you don't know my owner like I do. Here we go the ritual choosing of the fruit. It's too big or too small, too soft or too hard, too yellow or too red, ................to choose or not too choose this is the question !!!!

Well you can see how bored I was by it all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I want to do was to go in the sporting field and have a nice little runm which eventually I did.
ciao
Betty

WASH DAY

2006-07-23T13:00:00.000-07:00

Today has been the hottest weekend of the year so far so my owners decided to give me a bath.
Don't know what I've done to deserve this..........I'm not smelly or flea bitten, I've been good all day, I've not dug up the garden !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ah well che sarà sarà, what will be , will be.

I was very good while they gave me a good wash.......must admit I really enjoyed it , a nice wash and massage, hand and then blow-dried with the hair dryer, althought the hair dryer did scare me. It's so nice to be pampered ...............but I'm not letting on , I'm going to use my WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS ? face, as you can see in the photo where I'm being hand dried.

Oh, in the first photo you can see how I've ruined my owners garden by digging and going to the toilet which is very acidy and has burnt all the grass.

I now look a very pretty young lady indeed and am ready to go for my walk.
speak to you soon.

Betty

HOT HOT HOT

2006-07-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

It's oh so very hot outside, it just takes it out of me going out to do my you know whats!!!!!!!!!!.
We greyhounds suffer from the cold but we also suffer from the heat as well , so it's best to take us for a walk first thing in the morning and late in the evening when it's cooler.

As you can see from the photo above this is how I spend most of my day, my head on the cool paving tiled floor and my body against the cool radiator, or just flaked out on the floor sleeping.
Only problem is I come to life in the cool evening and run around and play like a lunatic, and digging up the garden looking for lizards.

ciao ciao Betty

CATS !!!!!

2006-07-16T05:46:00.000-07:00

Well, my new home is ok. It's in a small village and opposite the house there is a big football pitch, I can't wait to get in there to let off steam and have a good run. There are lots of fields with fruit trees so that will be a nice place to go and have a peaceful walk.... hopefully I might see some hares to chase !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At the end of the street I saw some black furry little creatures, my owners call them cats, now I definately wouldn't mind some of those. My owner wanted to take me for a walk in the fields to get me used to the area....... NO WAY.!!!! I want those cats, it's in my DNA to chase and catch small furry things that move, my owner kept trying to make me go in the opposite direction to the fields, little does he know that I have a secret weapon. Greyhounds when they don't want to do something or are afraid of having something done to them stop dead in their tracks and become like statues and it's very difficult to make them move, you could say they are just as stubborn as mules .

Above you can see a photo of me doing my statue act, not bad eh ? my owner finally decided to see where I wanted to go then realized when he saw the cats, so decided we had to go back ....was time for the statue act again, I'm really good at this. Infact as my owners are new to owning a dog I've got the upper hand as to say. This went on for nearly a week, I was driving my owners mad, one night they even picked me up to take me home......mind you I must admit taking 30 minutes to go 25 metres was a bit much !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hehehe.

At home I'm as good as gold, I have my quilt to crash out on, people that make a lot of fuss over me, I don't smell and don't bark............well only at the big alsation who lives with those cats I wanted so badly, it's his fault he barked at me first which wasn't very nice as a home welcoming!!!. I let my new family sleep at night, I'm what you could call a gentle giant.

There are a lot more ex-racing greyhounds like me that are in need of being adopted as the situation in Ireland , Spain and Uk is at an all time high, if you know someone who would like a dog try suggesting adopting a greyhound, we make wonderful pets and just adore our new owners. .
ciao ciao

See I'm learning the lingo !!!!!!!! LOL

SCARED

2006-07-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken on the 2nd of June 2006 at the Italian Greyhound Meeting in Modena , I was amazed ..............there were lots of greyhounds, all different shapes and colours !!!!! This was the day that my new family came to collect me.

To get to Modena I had done a fair bit of travelling, from Ireland to the Uk, all France then onto Italy. Even in Italy I was moved around................, so, as you can see I'm a well travelled lady !!!!

One of my new owners recognized me immediatley.................which was comforting for me.... they also bought me all new things at the meeting, a nice soft comfortable quilt for me to crash out on, a nice new collar and leash, and last but not least a muzzle so I don't get into any trouble.
Oh and they also had to buy bags to pick my number two's up in ..............which I glady did for them so they could get used to it ..... heheheheh.

They then decided to take me to my new home.........I was hoping that they would like me and vice versa....so I had another car ride and I was very good all the way home.

Above is a photo of me with my new male owner...........don't know who is more scared .....me or him !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

FIRST IMPRESSION

2006-07-14T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is the first photo that my owners saw of me.......not bad eh !!!!!! I can understand why they chose to adopt me.

Well my name's Betty and I'm an ex-racing greyhound , I'm an ex-racer because I wasn't that good for my then racing owners, I'm 4 years old and was born in Ireland. My mother is Irish and my father is Australian. Looking back through my family tree I come from a family of good racing greyhounds in fact some of them were champions .................unlike me !!!