The great greyhound problem 3
April 18th 2011 20:46
Well, alright, there are a few extra rules about living in a house, but I'll explain them as we go along and I promise you'll soon get the hang of it.
The Greyhound Adoption Program, or GAP, is an Australia-wide, non-profit organisation supported by Greyhound Racing Australia. It is dedicated to finding homes for greyhounds whose racing careers have ended. But it has a problem.
In this third of a three-part series written for Zoomies, JENNIE ALCORN continues her look at the biggest obstacle GAP faces in placing more dogs - the bottleneck caused by a shortage of foster carers.
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As I said at the end of Part 2 of this series, I have now fostered more than 40 greyhounds, and I cannot think of one that I didn’t like.
Obviously, though, there have been favourites along the way: Amber, the most beautiful hound I’ve ever seen; Celeste, who let our crawling infant granddaughter cuddle up to her in her bed and didn’t move till the child awoke; Mr Tee, who loved a game of ball and was the perfect gentleman; Paul, a strikingly big black boy with perfect manners and the gentlest of natures; Rosco, full of fun and affection who now belongs to the residents of an aged-care facility in a country town and is loved by almost everyone in the town; Nanna Goose, who clowned her way through her foster period but was always quiet and gentle when the children were near her; Roman, a big boy with a decidedly noble roman nose who oozed personality, practically demanding cuddles from everyone he met; and sweet Kathy, who came to us after her original adoptive family were involved in a tragic accident, a sad little dog who took quite a while to adjust to her new life but who eventually became a delightfully affectionate creature with the sweetest nature of all. She now lives with an older lady, two small dogs and two cats and is utterly contented and thoroughly loved.
Of course though, the reality is that the present foster hound is always the favourite at the time. It is such fun watching their different personalities develop and seeing them discover the joys of pet life as they learn to play with toys and other dogs, enjoy the pleasures of sharing quiet time with me or my husband and experience the joys of car rides and walks down the street.
As the hound’s personality develops I report my findings to our coordinator, Angela, and she then starts to try to match it with the information she has from potential adopters. Once she has found a match we arrange for them to meet the dog. If all goes well (and I’ve never known that first meeting not to go well), we arrange a time for the adoption to go ahead. Sometimes the hounds are a little clingy at hand over, while some like Kathy fall instantly in love with their new owner and go without a backward glance. Sometimes I leave feeling elated, sometimes I am a little saddened to lose my beautiful foster hound, but always there is the excitement of looking forward to the next one, wondering what he or she will be like, and getting ready to start the process all over again.
Being a GAP foster carer is about giving, but it is also very much about receiving. It’s about wonderful memories, the deep satisfaction of helping dogs, and about knowing that you are touching, even enhancing, the lives of people.
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Read Part 1 of this series here.
Read Part 2 of this series here
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