Emma - Arrived @ Tailends 8th February 2008

Emma arrived at Tailends on Friday 8th February 2008.  She had been picked up by the dog warden in the Wrexham area of Wales and then transferred to a dog pound in Staffordshire where she served her statutary time.  The conditions in the dog pounds are very grim with very small pens and just a plastic bed to sleep in with no bedding or any comfort even for an old dog.  They are often cold, wet and miserable in these places.  Emma is 12 years old and is a white and brindle greyhound girl.  We know nothing of her past and how she has lived since racing/coursing/breeding.  She is a very affectionate dog who gets on very well with the other dogs here.  She just loves having a nice comfortable bed to sleep on and gobbles down the food which we give her.  We would like to thank the kind people who gave up their time to transport her down to Tailends, including Hayley, Jenny, Alison and Ian & Wendy.  Emma went for a nice walk after her long journey and enjoyed looking round at the lovely countryside and beach from her vantage point on the dunes.  The next morning she was taken on the beach and back through the dunes followed by a nice breakfast of Nature diet and scrambled eggs.  She is totally overwhelmed by the freedom and comfort which she has here.  Hopefully she will soon forget her past.  Emma is booked in for a check at the vet on Monday 11th February, but her health seems to be fairly good apart from being a bit underweight and minor damage to her tail and hock which happened in the dog pound.

Emma’s blood tests were fine so we will book her in to be spayed this week.  She has settled in very well and is learning the routines of Tailends.  She is much calmer now that she is having regular walks on the beach.  Emma is such a sweet girl and did not deserve to be abandoned on the streets.  (Not that any dog deserves this fate. Perhaps a few humans do though!)  Emma is a real “foodie” and gobbles down her food too fast so I now have to give her smaller amounts at one time.  She also goes down the bin and scavenges around the garden and kitchen for anything she can find to eat or rip up so I have to make sure everything is well out of her reach.  We find this is very common among dogs who have lived as strays and is very soon remedied once they have regular meals.  She has a little arthritis in one of her hind legs but it does not seem to affect her too much at the moment.  She is very biddable and I think she will be able to go off the lead in a few weeks when she is thoroughly familiar with the area and proves she has acceptable recall.  She watches me all the time when on the lead so the signs are all good for letting her off lead.