This month we would like to promote the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP)

We recently interviewed Nic, who kindly answered the below questions on her experience with the GAP program.

Greyhounds make loving pets and there are many who need new homes once their racing career is over.

Please ‘like’ the GAP Facebook Page

PET HORSE & FARM INTERVIEW WITH NIC:

When did you adopt your two Greyhounds from the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP)?

We adopted our two girls in May 2013 from GAP in Seymour.

Were the dogs already named or did you rename them Tui & Pipi?

Our dogs already had names but it was surprisingly easy to rename them, we just used their new names when feeding and they quickly got the idea!

If you did name them yourself, how did you come up with the names and do they have any significant meaning to you?

Hamish and I were both born & bred in NZ so we chose NZ names for the girls. 

Tui (black and white) is named after a common NZ native bird, which is dark with a white plumage on its chest. 

Pipi (blonde) is a type of NZ shellfish but we actually named her after our favourite pizza restaurant in Havelock North NZ "Pipi's". 

You have a baby, named Matilda. Were the dogs in your life before or after the birth of your daughter?

We had the girls a year before Matilda came along; in fact it was having the dogs that helped us make the decision about expanding our family.

How have the dogs reacted to Matilda being around?

Initially they were curious but fairly apprehensive especially once she starting crying, and so after the customary sniff they decided to ignore her for the first few months.  Now that she is crawling and giving them a "pat" Tui gives her a bit of lick and gentle nudge and Pipi gets the heck out of the way!  They are so tolerant of Matilda; nothing much really fazes our quiet, lazy girls.  In saying that, we do still always supervise Matilda around the hounds as you can never be too careful - we are more worried about what Matilda might do to them!

Please tell us a little about your experience with GAP: 

We had wanted to adopt a GAP greyhound for quite some time so after much deliberation about when was the right time to put in our "adoption papers" we did so and a week later GAP had made contact and we were off to Seymour to visit our potential new family members.  We took them for a walk and pretty much fell in love. GAP were amazingly helpful in matching us with absolutely perfect dogs.  You don't pick out the dogs yourself, you are matched by key criteria and what GAP feels are the right dogs for you - they know what each and every one of them is like as they all have their own little quirks. We wanted two dogs, at the time we were both working full-time and we wanted them to keep each other company.  It was a great decision and they are fabulous companions for each other and for us.

How you would promote GAP to someone interested in taking part? 

You will find that those who adopt a greyhound quickly become passionate about these wonderful pets and are always keen to increase public awareness in caring for them after their racing careers have finished.  If you are interested in learning more about greyhounds, GAP have a Christmas Festival every year (Sunday 30th Nov 11am-3pm) where it is a good chance to meet the hounds, talk to other owners and even adopt on the day. The GAP website contains very detailed information about ownership, applications and events: http://gap.grv.org.au

There are also various organised greyhound walks and playgroups all over Melbourne and a great Facebook group called FOGAP (Friends of greyhound adoption program) for all things greyhound.