When Failure Is Greyt

The following article has been written by one of our long time foster carer, volunteer and supporter Kylie:

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Failure is not usually a word we associate with greatness. It’s usually paired with disappointment, let-down and even disaster. Until you enter the world of foster-caring, that is. Fostering an animal who is looking for its forever home is a wonderful gift you can offer - to teach it how to live in a home, to socialise with people and other animals, to trust. To be ready to move to the next stage of its life in a loving new home.

Our love affair with greyhounds started in September 2010.  We had previously decided that our next dog would be a greyhound as we had a friend who had adopted one and she was beautiful. We’ve always adopted pets from shelters so saving the life of a greyhound fitted with our beliefs. But we didn’t realise that day would come as quickly as it did, as our two dogs, Ralph and Rupert, were only three years old. A year and a half after our beautiful dog Ralph passed away aged 4 from lymphoma we considered adopting a greyhound.  We didn’t know if we were ready to have another dog but Ralph’s brother Rupert had been depressed since the loss of his best mate and we thought a new friend might cheer him up.

We contacted Greyhound Rescue NSW (out of which Amazing Greys formed in Victoria) and thought we’d try fostering for a while to see how everyone got on.  April, an 8 year old, black and white girl with a lame back leg was put on a plane to Melbourne and a couple of days later she arrived to meet us. Rupert was a bit wary of her at first and bossed her around a bit to let her know it was his place and he’d lay down the ground rules. When it came time to put April up for adoption, she had wormed her way into our hearts and home – she was a real character and made us laugh. She and Rupie played well together and we decided we could not let her go to yet another home, so we made the adoption official. Foster-fail No. 1.

Two years later, Martina from Amazing Greys put out a desperate call for a foster carer for a young dog who needed rescuing from a trainer’s kennels. We’d fallen in love with April big time and we couldn’t bare to see a dog at risk of being killed.  So, we offered to take in New Girl (she didn’t even have a name) and in a few days, we had a skinny, dirty, woolly, frightened 2 year old girl living in our house. We named her Billie, and gradually, with lots of love, encouragement and space, she came out of her shell and became part of the family. When it came time to put her up for adoption... well, foster-fail No. 2! 

Billie was officially adopted by us in October 2012, and now as a grey faced 10-year old she is happy, funny and the first to the door to greet visitors and steal the attention because she is now so beautiful. Sadly, our first greyhound April passed way in 2013 and in September 2014 we decided it was time to foster another greyhound. Amazing Greys had 5 dogs needing a foster home.  So we asked if there was a female available (Rupie seems to like the girls best) and there was – a lovely fawn girl called – Crazy! Oh dear.  Did her name reflect her personality?  We had agonised over the decision to bring another dog into the house – we had a lovely balance and friendship with Rupie and Billie.  Everything was calm and organised and routine.  What would a dog called Crazy do to that harmony? We were assured her name wasn’t an indication of her personality (an ironic name, perhaps?) so we said we’d foster her, as long as we could change her name.  After all, what young lady wants to be called Crazy?  So we re-named her Chelsea.  Less than a week later, after picking her up from a road transport, she arrived! She was quite anxious and excitable, but she’d had at least a 10 hour road trip in a small dog trailer from Adelaide, so it was understandable. After initial introductions, all seemed well, although Chelsea was quite full on and in Billie and Rupie’s faces.  They gave her a few grumbles and she turned the other cheek, not retaliating, so that was a good sign.  She was very thin so we fattened her up with some good dry kibble and puppy food. Very quickly she proved to be friendly and affectionate and she settled into home life very well.  She is a quirky girl who loves to ‘roach’ with her back legs up the wall.  She wiggles and wiggles and her tail never stops.  It’s like a whip though and poor little Rupie is just the wrong height and cops it in the face! In the next few weeks, Chelsea grew in confidence and in fact became very pushy for affection, and quite crazy at times!!  So, it appeared her name was not ironic – she was the most enthusiastic greyhound we had ever met.  But she was funny and cuddly and loved to follow us around.  She was very easy going with Billie and Rupie  and they seemed to enjoy her company. Having foster-failed twice already we had to think very hard about this young lady.  We loved her and she’d wormed her way in, but it certainly changed the peace and quiet of our home!   I think at one stage I said to her “you’ll not be staying here permanently, young lady” after watching her tearing up and down the hallway and jumping around like a baby deer. However, despite our best efforts, and my husband’s determination to prove that we can foster dogs without keeping them, when it came time to put her up for adoption… well, foster-fail No. 3!!

We felt we couldn’t uproot her and get her settled into another home – that’s our excuse anyway. She’s quite the goofy girl and is extremely affectionate and even quite smart.  She’s learnt to sit when there’s food around (not an instinctive thing for a greyhound to do) and is no longer pushy when we sit down for our dinner.  She happily sleeps in her bean bag, and loves to jump on the bed for a morning cuddle.

Nearly six years on, we have managed not to adopt any more dogs, basically by not fostering any!! In 2015 we did a tree-change and moved from inner Melbourne to Central Victoria. We now live on 2.5 acres and the dogs have free run of the whole garden. They have matured into easy-going, fun loving dogs who enthusiastically welcome visitors, and of course still love sleeping all day on the couch. Our old boy Rupie (staffy x) is approaching 16 years and sadly is nearing the end of his long and happy life with us. He’s been a great teacher to April, Billie and Chelsea – he’s taught them table manners and how to behave around visitors. In late 2019 there were two greyhound boys – Jack and Benson - in our local pound who needed to get out as they were anxious and not enjoying the environment. The adoption team at Amazing Greys asked if there was any way we could get them and keep them for a couple of days until a foster home could be found for them. Of course we could – we have plenty of space, and they were going to another home, weren’t they? A few days later Benson, a huge 4.5 year old blue cow-dog (white with blue patches) was picked up by his foster family, leaving Jack with us – he was a little black pocket rocket with a stumpy tail. He was affectionate but extremely food focused and feeding time was a bit of an ordeal with the 4 dogs. We couldn’t get Benson out of our thoughts though – he was a super friendly, super goofy, easy-going giant and we’d already fallen a little bit in love with him. Our plan was never to have 4 dogs – we wanted to travel so as our current 3 passed to the Rainbow Bridge we were not going to replace them – Rupie 15.5, Billie nearly 10 and Chelsea 8. Long story short, Benson’s foster family couldn’t keep him so we said we’d take him back, now having 5 dogs at home!! It was full on for about 5 weeks and for the first time I wondered if we’d really taken on too much by loving these dogs. The Amazing Greys adoption team found a wonderful potential forever home for Jack, and Jen came to visit him at our place so she could see him interacting with the other dogs – he was very friendly with them and with her and she took him home with her to start an adoption trial. We are very happy to say he settled in very well with Jen and he now has a wonderful life. And we, for the first time, managed not to foster-fail! Big boy Benson was another story altogether, however. He was amazingly friendly with Rupie, Billie and Chelsea and every afternoon did crazy zoomies all around the garden. He’s super affectionate and loves nothing more than to stick his big head on our lap, or on our thigh for cuddles. He’s handsome and cheeky and at 5 years old and at least 40kg he’s the biggest hunk of greyhound love we could imagine. Needless to say, he became foster-fail No. 4!

But that was never really in doubt. The Amazing Greys team do a wonderful job of finding foster homes (often leading to forever homes - we’re not the only ones who think failure is greyt!), for the never-ending stream of beautiful greyhounds needing rescuing from the cruel racing industry. Fostering a greyhound is a rewarding experience – to see an anxious or nervous dog who has not always been treated kindly, blossom into a funny, affectionate and often quirky, long-limbed, long-snooted doggie is the best feeling in the world. But beware – you have to be prepared to fall in love, and accept that your greyhound will have a much more colourful wardrobe of outfits than you do!