A very soggy day! So much rain the kennels flooded again. :(( Declan and Richard managed to get the drains unblocked but just in case they flood again tonight we moved Jessie to the next door kennel. :)

Thanks so much to all of our walkers this morning and this afternoon, it really wasn't a good walking day. x

Lucy had two pampers this morning...it was lovely to see cute little Annie again. :) Reggie was her other client, he is a very handsome blue boy belonging to Pete who is working on our kitchen renovation. :)

Ruth collected a new supply of calendars this afternoon. Available from the kennels or we can arrange to send them out to you by post. Xx

Xxx

I just want to thank everyone at Daybreaks who work so hard all year round in taking care of the wonderful greys whilst they wait for their forever homes. Happy Christmas to you all. xxx

It was very quiet without Brandy at breakfast time this morning. He usually reminds us he is waiting for his breakfast when he comes out into the run and barks excitedly! I'm sure he was being spoilt in his new home and didn't have to wait at all! :))

We had a lot of help today, so the dogs enjoyed two good long walks, we even had a little sunshine. :))

Ruth popped in this afternoon with Rose and Ruthy. They are so very cute together. Rose goes where ever Ruthy does and seems very happy :) Ruthy loves everyone and everything! Xx

Apologies to everyone who has visited the kennels for bag of Greyhound & Lurcher over the last few days. We don't have any at the moment but
there should be a trip to the warehouse later in the week. :)

We should have more calendars delivered tomorrow and we still have packs Christmas cards for sale. Can't believe it's Christmas next week! My three have been enjoying their advent calendar and I sure will miss their daily treats when it is finished!

Xxx

Well....an emotional day or what? Liza was first to go out to her forever home, she didn't want to part with the yellow ball she found, do she didn't! She was quickly followed by Brandy, now sporting a new name Kuro (in Japanese this means black)! I like many of you had a little cry. We will miss him, but what a fantastic home he has got and in lovely Yorkshire no less. Thanks AliJ and family for giving this boy a home, and in time for Christmas. Well done. X

Thanks to everyone for their help today, again it was very cold (thermal socks didn't help).

Pretty little Maggie (Gussi) came to us the sand run, she really enjoyed it and is starting to listen to whistle training and returns when whistled, clever girl.

We had visitors for nail clipping and Christmas card buying.

All in all a greyt day. Xx

A very chilly day! Warmed up by seeing pretty little Diva reserved. All being well, she will be going to live with Oscar an older Collie cross gentleman. :))

Despite the weather the dogs were able to go out for both morning and afternoon walks. Some enjoyed going out, others not so keen! Can't say I blame them. :))

It was lovely to see Kitty today. She came in for a pamper with Jess. Brandy also had a pamper before he goes home tomorrow! Xx

Thank you to everyone who has offered to foster one of our lovely residents for Christmas. Please call the kennels if you think you can help. Xxx

Great to see Ruth today :)) Sara has been allowed home from hospital. She is still not good but at least she can see her gorgeous Louis again. Sending lots of love to them both. Xxx

Thank you to everyone who brought in donations of duvets, food, treats and toys. Very much appreciated.

Xxx

HELP NEEDED!!!!! Who would like to make Christmas dreams come true - not only for our Daybreaks residents but our Daybreaks Team?!

If you have adopted from Daybreaks before and could open your home for just a few days over Christmas we would be so desperately grateful. This would mean we could all enjoy Christmas at home in the warm and with family.

If you could foster one of our greys - we will provide everything and don't worry - we will be expecting them back. Giving these greys a chance to sample home life is the best pressie you could give - and hopefully when they come back with plenty of good points, we will be able to find them a forever home.

If you think you can help, please call us on 0121 782 7702.
Keeping everything crossed!!!! xxx

Bitterly cold today, quiet for volunteers this morning, so the resident went in the sand run with Angie, they do like a good run. This sfternoon we had more helpers, so all that could go on a walk did. Thanks guys.

Handsome Reggie went home this morning, he has a lovely golden retriever for a brother, what a lovely early Christmas present for him. His new family have really fallen for him!

We had another viewing this afternoon, resulting in beautiful Shabby (now Shaney) going off to her new home. Her new mom was quite smitten I think.

I took big Hector to the vets this morning for his neutering op, he was not too keen to get in the car, I am sure he knew what was going to happen! Nothing like trying to lift a huge 39.7 kilo dog into a car!!! Even the vets commented on what a big dog he is. He came back this afternoon and ate his dinner.

Angie had to leave early today and asked me to do her usual diary post. So in the immortal words of Angie, I think a glass or 2 of wine is called for, obviously for medicinal purposes just to warm me up. Jo Xx

Hi all did Lorna find a spare face guard by any chance as we realised when we came to use it we had left Jess' there when she came for her pamper, no worries if not just have to get a new 1 x Shaz & Jim

Lucy and I took Little Ratty off to the vets to be neutered this morning. She is such a cute girl. :) we also took Jetson for the second part of his vaccination. They were both very good at the vet's, a Rottweiler came out of the consulting room while we were waiting...both of them looked at him with trepidation and didn't make a sound he was huge!! :) It's Hectors turn to be neutered tomorrow, poor lad!

Thank you so much to everyone who brought in donations of food and treats for our residents today. So very kind. They are very lucky boys and girls! :))

We have had a lovely gift of food, including Doggy Christmas Puddings, treats and squeaky toy bones from Webbox. We are very grateful. They asked if we could send some photos of the dogs enjoying their Christmas gift. There was no problem in getting Rocky, Lisa and Stan to eat the three bird Christmas dinner! It took a Lucy few attempts to get just what she wanted with the photos. They were more than happy to carry on eating the food. :))

It was one of those days today.....the clock fell onto the floor and broke and the fridge door fell off!! Thanks so much to Pete and Richard for putting the door back on and to Alan for supplying the life saving donuts! :))

Thanks so much to everyone for your help today.

Xxx

My houndy Christmas cards arrived today and I love them! Thanks so much for sending them so quickly xxx

Soooo..... we have the fabulous calendars and Christmas cards at the kennels on sale.

With Christmas coming if you are stuck for a special gift for someone - why not order a special gift from myuniquefamily.co.uk. For every order, if you put GREY10 code in at the checkout, 10% of all orders will be donated to Daybreaks Trust. The memory baubles and pictures are just beautiful.

Also why not order a tag for our memory tree - this can be to celebrate the memory of special ones - 2 or 4 legged! For a donation of £15 we can arrange this. Please call the kennels for details on 0121 782 7702 or you can pay via paypal at daybreaks2006@gmail.com

Karen one of our volunteers brought her two gorgeous whippets Gracie and Rufus to the kennels today to do some "meet and greets" with some of our residents. Ratty, Shabby and Lecky all did really well. Stan was a little more keen...don't think he could quite understand what they were especially as they were wearing Christmas coats and hats! :)

We also did some cat testing....sadly no one passed this particular test today! Not to worry, sure there are plenty of cat free homes out there for them. :)

We had lots of walkers today :)) The dogs were able to go for longer walks this morning. And included going "off road" along the public footpath by the farm. I believe they all enjoyed it, so much so that Ratty didn't want to come back to the kennels! We had to send Norman out with a bag of tasty treats for a little bribery. :))

Thanks to Lucy for the new photos on the website, I think you will all agree we have lots of beautiful boys and girls in the kennels at the moment. If you can't adopt at present but have Greyhound experience maybe you might like to offer someone a foster home for Christmas please give us a call. :))

Thank you so much to everyone for their help today. :)

Xxx

Fat neck Finn wants to know if his "starvation" diet that Aunty Pam inflicted on him has anything to do with BREXIT and stockpiling because everything seems to be put down to this !!! Also he feels victimized because Hector is described as cuddly and he weighs more than him. I told him don't be so spitful, Hector is comfort eating till he finds a home LOL

I met new arrivals Ratty and Hector today. Ratty is such a cute little girl and Hector, wow! What a chunky, cuddly lad! :))

Mitzy has found herself a lovely new home and has a new Greyhound brother also a previous Daybreaks resident. :)

Many thanks to Lisa for taking Olive over to her new home this morning. She too has a previous Daybreaks lad for a Brother! Wishing them both very happy new lives.

We had lots of visitors bearing gifts today, thank you all so much for the food, treats and toys for the dogs and chocolates for the volunteers. So very kind of everyone. Xx

Lecky's mouth is looking a lot better. :)) She is a lovely, girl who would be happy with her own company. Xx

Pete is still working hard on the kitchen. Pete is a perfectionist, it will be a work of art when it's finished. :) Think we will have to have an official opening and ask one of the dogs to chew through the red ribbon!

Xxx

Thanks to ever one who took a kennel dog on the Sheldon Country park walk, and thanks to those who came in to help on another cold day. I am sure that it got colder as the day went on!

Little Olive was sadly returned today and almost immediately was reserved by Kin and his mom. He looked at the other residents but she was the one he chose, they were absolutely great with each other. She will be going home tomorrow pending her home check.

Reggie was also reserved by a family with a retriever, he was great with him.

We had 2 new arrivals, I see lots of you have already commented on them. The very handsome big lad Hector, weighing in at over 39 kilos! He is lovely boy. We also had little girl, Rat (I know, that is the name that she came in with), she is so pretty and friendly, and yes she does deserve a pretty name that would suit her, we will have to work on that one...Rat, I mean!

Thanks for the donations of bedding, always appreciated.

Don't forget we have 2 great raffles going on at the moment, a photo shoot and a very large chocolate hamper. We also have a wonderful array of items on our donation tables. The memory wall looks great, remember if you would like to have a tag done to commemorate your rainbow bridge hound the donation is just £15.00, and the tag will remain on the wall forever.

Here's hoping we can home lots of houndies before Christmas, what a fab present that would be for them. X

It was great to see Jessie reserved today. :) She will have a lovely Greyhound sister!

Lecky's injury to her mouth looks good. Hoping it will continue to hold and she won't need anymore treatment. Xx

Ruth popped in again today. She is looking better! :))

Thanks to Diane this morning who brought several members of her family with her to walk the dogs this morning and thanks so much to them all for the donations of treats and blankets.

Jess had two customers for a pamper today, Seana's Mel and Teddy. Both of them were not too impressed with having a bath! They are so sweet and you can tell they adore each other. Xxx

Jayne had the best job of the day...washing out the recycling bins! Angie, she did a great job of it! Xxx

We do have two new arrivals tomorrow! :)

Xxx

A cold day and one a bit short on volunteers, so today's exercise was done in the sand run. The inmates do like to have a good run. Thanks to everyone who came in and helped.

We saw the lovely Liza reserved, so pending her home check she may well be in residence in a new home, just in time for Christmas. It was a close call between her and Jet!

Bit of a drama this afternoon, Lecky had to make an unscheduled trip to the vets, she had a cut on her face. Looks like she may have got her nose through the bar's of the run and made contact with someone's tooth,. This has been glued, but may need to be stitched if this doesn't hold. Thanks so very much to Lisa for taking her.

It was really strange opening up the kennels this morning and not seeing Nick as we walked into the kennel block, wagging his tail and hearing his good morning bark, I hope his new family were treated to a Nick welcome today. Xxx

Poor Stan had a shock instore this morning...Jessie was due to have her neutering op today but she has come into season so is no longer able to be neutered for a while. That meant Stan took her place and went to neutered instead! He is a lovely lad, was a little stressed in the car, but was such a good boy at the vets. He was very sore when he came back to the kennels....hope he feels better tomorrow. Xx

It was great to see Ruth at the kennels today. :)) Hope she didn't over do things! Xx We now have a selection of doggy toys, treats and people presies too in the kitchen run all for a donation. I bought my three a couple of extra Christmas presents before I went home. :))

Many thanks to Richard, Alan and Declan for doing yet another trip to the tip today! The dogs got extra long walks this morning as we had a lot of volunteers:) Thanks everyone. Xxx

The Memory Wall is lovely and a special way to remember those we have lost. Xxx

Xxx

Ah the tree looks lovely on the photo and what a fab idea! Ffn your stories are just hilarious I love the updates! Now tbf jet never puts an ounce on and just appears pure muscle...mommy however wouldn't mind bootcamp aunty jo! Jet could help as one of the personal trainers that make you sick with their perfect figures! Xxx

The memory tree looks absolutely beautiful, what a lovely idea xxx

F N Finn, after my conversation with your Mom yesterday and having a bit of a giggle at your expense and mentioning Auntie Pam D's comments regarding your weight, I think that I am going to recommend we have a greyhound boot camp at the kennels, what do you think? Please keep your answer polite!! P.s doesn't mean you get fed extra to build your strength up in anticipation of the strict regime. X

I have just heard from Loveheart.
Guess what? She forgot their breakfasts this morning!!
Finn I think I should report her to houndline!!!!
Naughty mummy, Finn no wonder you were following us about and licking your lips at the squirrels in your garden! !!!!

Oh dear, oh dear! In spite of knowing Auntie Pam D and mummy are doing the best thing for you I can't help but feel sorry for you Finn. I can just imagine your little face as you wait hopefully for food!! However, I'm sorry, but I can't help but have a little giggle at your posts. Keep perservering and well done on that thinner neck! xx

Lovely seeing you and your grey Labradoodle!!!
Sorry Fat Neck Finn but you still look very chunky to me!!!!!!
Xxx

Fat neck Finn is distraught. He has been on his diet since Aunty Pam D came on her visit and thought I had swapped him for a overweight Labrador! and knocked his self esteem right down. I did think I could see a rib last week but alas it was a trick of the light However his collar size has gone down a hole so we where quite encouraged by this. That was until Aunty Pam came again today. Finn greeted her waiting for a compliment on his new thinner neck. Alas she knocked him back again by saying "he needs to loose more or he will have health problems in the long run" ! I had to cover his ears to prevent further degradation. As far as he is concerned he has health problems already in the form of "malnutrition" because his mom is starving him, and he is "big boned" so that makes him look bigger than he is. I feel He does have "puppy bearing" hips which is quite a draw back on a male Grey lol. So you can see we are up against it, we will however continue and he is banned from the kitchen because I cannot stand the guilt when he lies looking at me while preparing food. He was even estatic to grab a "Ryvita" and run off, now that's what I call desperate!!! lol

The memory tree at Daybreaks looks absolutely beautiful and especially lovely with the tags on remembering many special greys. If you would like to order a tag, please call the kennels on 0121 782 7702. These are a minimum donation of £15 and will stay on the tree forever.

Apart from the cost of the tag, the remainder is a direct donation to Daybreaks Trust which funds the continuing improvements to the kennels.

What a cold miserable day, I think it got colder as they day went on, nothing could brighten this day up....wrong!

Our favourite boy Nick went home, he had lots of new stuff to take with him, spoilt already. I thought I was holding up quite well until he jumped in the car ready to go HOME!! I confess I did cry a few tears. I hope all goes well with is new family, I did have a quiet word in his ear 'Nick, for goodness sake be good'! I am sure he will be :))

Thanks as always to our intrepid Wednesday walkers, thanks also to those who stayed in and helped with afternoon walks and feeding.

We had a fantastic donation from Jess greyhounds human sister who sent us some rather lovely fleecy blankets with doggies on and tins of pilchards. Greyhound Jess's mom and dad also brought in some pilchards and treats for our residents as well as for our resident cats. They didn't forget us humans either, biscuits and mince pies, yum.

We have 2 more wonderful raffle prizes up for grabs, a fab photo shoot and for all you chocolate lovers a great hamper full of goodies. Tickets are available now.

Don't forget our foster appeal for Christmas, you will not be expected to fail unless you choose to! Seriously though, It gives the dogs a taste of what living in a home is like and also helps us with your comments and feedback with trying to find them their forever homes. If you did decide to fail for any reason, just remember we do have the official Failed Foster Parents t-shirts for sale ;) Thank to those who have so far put their name down to take a resident. X

I am sure you will all join me in hoping that Ruth starts to feel better soon, we miss her and know she misses the kennels. I know she was gutted having to miss our Christmas open day. Speedy recovery Ruth. Xxx

Shabby went for her neutering operation this morning. Thanks so much to James for taking her and collecting her this afternoon. She is a very sweet little girl.

The Pet Blood Bank team were at the kennels today. They had a slight hiccup when part of their equipment decided to break...A couple of the nurses had to drive all the way back to Loughborough to get a new one and then drive back to the kennels. :( It was great to see ex Daybreaks residents coming in to donate blood. Their next visit isn't until next March....Spring!! :)))

Thanks so much to everyone who helped out today. Thanks to Lucy for the great new photos of some of our residents! :))

We have a couple of lovely Christmas raffle prizes at the kennels, a fab chocolate hamper and a voucher for a mini photo shoot in the new year for your dog or dogs! Tickets are £1 each. If you want to have a chance of winning either of these great prizes please pop in or give us a call at the kennels, 0121 782 7702, we can accept payment by debit or credit card. :))

Xxx

What a very wet morning! We had such a lot of rain in a short space of time the drains just couldn't cope! When we arrived Jet could have been jet skiing around his kennel! :) Dave and I managed to bale out the water and after his kennel had a good clean Jet was on dry ground again. :)

Beautiful Sky went home today. Do hope all goes well in her new home. Xx

Reggie had his post op check this afternoon and he is fine, all he needs now is a forever home! :))

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. :))

Wow, what a fantastic amount of money raised, well done to you all, everybody works so hard for these wonderful hounds, have a glass of wine to celebrate xxx

Hi aunty Kate! Yes, mommy said I look extremely handsome in my new fleece and matches with my tartan collar and mommy's tartan handbag (also from the rgt shop!) We look very fetching together! Send my love to your 3! We saw Teddy on the way out and mommy commented on what a handsome fellow he is xxx

Thank you everyone for a lovely Christmas Party! Santa Paws was brilliant :)) Sadly my three were at home...have to get them to write their Christmas lists to send to him instead. :))

It was great to see lots of Daybreaks ex residents! Teddy looked great and has put on some weight. :) I missed Jet modelling his new fleece, sure he looks very handsome!

The Brass Band were great! Thank you for playing Ding Dong Merrily On High for me! :))

Wish Ruth and Sara could have been at the party today...lots of love to them both. Xxx

What a great Christmas party we had. It was lovely to catch up with so many of our ex residents, all looking amazing - especially the brave & lovely Skip who is still recovering from his surgery and was sporting a very festive bandage!

It was so sweet to see all the doggies lining up waiting to visit Santa, and then coming out with their very own special present - think I am just a big softie at heart!

So sad that Ruth was too poorly to attend the festivities today - I know we all send her our very best wishes for a speedy recovery and return to the kennels, she is missed by 2 legs and 4 legs alike.

As Jo has already said, thanks to everyone who helped today go so smoothly, I hope it's not too early to wish everyone a merry Christmas.

Angie

xx

An amazing £576 was raised today at our Christmas open day. Massive thanks to all involved and a special thanks to Santa for taking time out of his busy schedule.

Well, what can I say, what a fantastic day today was. When I arrived this morning there was already a hive of frantic energy going on with feeding and cleaning. People were setting up the stands for the raffles, tombola and donstoon tables. Walking started a little earlier than usual, after all today was anything but a normal day!
Thanks to everyone who gave up their Sunday to set up, walk, clean and generally man the stalls, refreshments and show visitors around. I won't try and name everyone individually as I would still be here this time tomorrow and would not want to miss anyone off!
We had a couple of viewings, and fluffy Layla was signed up and went home.
Fantastic to see lots of our ex residents come in for a visit, I think most saw our very own Santa Paws, thanks Santa for stopping by at this very busy time of year for you!
Sadly our Ruth was not up to attending today, she was greatly missed by everyone, but she does need to take time out to recover. I know she would have been so devestated and disappointed not to be there :((
We now have our memory wall installed as you come through our front door. You can have a tag engraved to remember your rainbow bridge hounds, I think it a fab way to remember them.
Well, I will stop rambling on for now and will wait in anticipation to see what fantastic amount was raised with your generous contributions.

Thanks again for your your support, without you we could not do what we do. Ok now I will stop!! Jo x

My mommy and I had a lovely time this morning at the party. I saw Santa which was very exciting but I was abit scared but I got a toy which was lovely and mommy took some great photos which she's since shown everyone, she's very proud of them! there was a lovely girl dog in before me who came out carrying her new toy off Santa proud as punch, made mommy really laugh. Then mommy decided she liked the look of rummys new coat on his picture so much that I should have one so got myself a new fleece (that'll be the 6th coat I've got, think she just likes buying them!) That was after I went sniffing round the office and found a hidden biscuit hehe! Mom fell in love with my namesake again and is so wishing him a new home! Anyway thank you all at daybreaks it was brilliant well done to you all and wonderful to see so many hounds. Lots of love jet xxx

What a lovely day at the Christmas Fayre. Well done to everyone who organised/ran it. Ruth, we missed you. Get well soon. Xx

Hope the harnesses and leads i left for you will come in handy for someone xx

Congratulations to everyone who helped at the fayre . The brass band did excellent work in one of the runs, must surely have been one of the strangest venues for them to play carols! Lovely to see so many happy hounds x

Just spent a lovely hour at the Christmas fayre got myself a couple of calendars and mugs and would you believe it had a go on the tombola only to win 2 of the prizes i donated lol what are the odds of that, great work to all the staff hope you raised loads x

Rummy went off to his new home today, do hope all goes well for him and his new family Xxx

It was great to see Ruth and Andy today. Tried not to let Ruth do too much! She supervised while we started to put the Christmas decorations up ready for the party tomorrow....Santa's Grotto is looking good!:) please bring your Greyhound along to meet him. :)))

Thanks so much for everyone's help today.

Xxx

A lovely sunny Autumn day today, I always think things feel so much better when the sun's shining.

This morning saw the lovely Fairy, now called Ivy, off to her new home. Wishing her a very happy retirement.

It was a quiet morning so residents had a play in the sand run. Fortunately we had plenty of volunteers in the afternoon so the boys & girls could enjoy a lovely walk down the lane.

Update on Spritz, who went for a dressing change this morning. The Vet is very pleased with her progress, the wound has shrunk again and looks very clean. She is also well on the mend following her terrible illness last week, just a couple more blood tests on Monday to ensure things are still going in the right direction. She was an absolute star at the Vet's and everyone there has fallen in love with her. So happy for this most special little lady. x

Can you believe it is December tomorrow? We will be setting up in preparation for Santa's visit on Sunday, and would be so grateful for any assistance, just give the kennels a call.
Looking forward to seeing lots of friends, both 2 & 4 legged, on Sunday and hope the weather is kind to us.

Thanks for everyone's help today, time now for a glass or two of wine (just for a change!!)

Angie
xx

We had two new arrivals today Kirsty and Stanley, they are lovely! Lucy and Declan gave them both a bath. Stan really didn't like having his nails trimmed and proceeded to scream, very loudly!!

Fairy went off to the vets first thing for her neutering operation. She was very wobbly when I picked her up tonight. She is going home tomorrow. Sure she will get lots of extra tlc.

Many thanks to Alan, Richard and Dave for doing two tip runs for us. not the Chuckle Brothers today, but the Three Musketeers!! :) xx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help for all their help today.

Xxx

A little milder today, all dogs that could go on walks managed morning and afternoon walks. Thanks as always to our Wednesday walkers, Helen and Dave we missed you and do hope that everything is ok. X

Ruth, Lisa and Jill headed off to the Swan office to collect the trees, decorations and other stuff for our open day on Sunday, It was lovely to see Ruth, she is still not well :(

A bit of good news, Buddy has put on a little more weight, around half a kilo this week, so is heading in the right direction. He spent some time in the office and was such a good boy, bless him.

Very quiet for visitors today. Nick was taken to the park by his new 'mom', Denise and myself had to get him back out of the car when he came back, he really did not want to come back into the kennels, little monkey!

Well, it looks like a busy few days ahead setting up for Sunday's open day, if anyone can spare some time to help set up we would be extremely grateful. Is should be a greyt day, we have Santa, a brass band, refreshments, raffles and of course merchandise for sale. Please come and support us, you know it's for a good cause. Thanks for all your fantastic donations for raffle and tombola prizes, you are all so generous, there are some fab items up for grabs.

Take care all, Jo x

A very rainy afternoon! We decided our residents would rather not get wet so they all came out for a play and a groom! Nick loved the extra attention and so did Brandy. Little Mitzy decided toys were scary and ran away from them! Bless her! Xx

Despite the rain Ebony a beautiful dark brindle Boxer still came for her usual Tuesday race around the sand run. She is made of sterner stuff than our rain shy Greyhounds! :)

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. Richard makes a lovely cup of hot chocolate!

Sending lots of love tonight to our two poorly girls, Ruth and Sara. Thinking of you both.

Xxx

Whoops - only posted half my comment! I was going to say that I've selected The Greyhound Trust but it would be good if it could go specifically to Daybreaks. We're regular purchasers through Amazon!

AliJ - good point about Daybreaks and Amazon Smile

Hi there, I just wondered if Daybreaks are registered with Amazon Smile to receive donations when people use their service? We would like to support you in this way. Xxx

Thanks so much to everyone who has sent me get well wishes and cards. Unfortunately I am still not back at the kennels and awaiting more tests and investigations - it is so frustrating :-((((((( However with the open day this weekend there is some organising to do so if you are free Saturday for set up or Sunday to help, I would be very very grateful. Please give the kennels a call if you are free - I am hoping to be there - I need to tell Santa I have been a good girl (well - almost) if nothing else!!!!!! x

Dave and I took Sky and Jetson off to the vets first thing this morning. Sky for her neutering operation and Jetson for the first part of his vaccination. They were both great in the car and after a brief look out of the window sat down and went to sleep. Poor Jetson's stomach was rumbling so loudly during his examination....he had to leave before breakfast! :)
Lucy and I collected Sky this afternoon, poor little Lass was a little wobbly. Hopefully she will feel much better tomorrow. Xx

Brilliant news for Buddy, well done to his Foster family for failing again! :)) Womderful to hear Spritz has been allowed to leave the Willows. Do hope she will soon be well again. Xx

Many thanks to Erica for her kind donation of sardines today and to Linda for the duvets, all very much appreciated. :))

Our colleagues from Greyhound Trust Hall Green popped over with four of their black Greyhounds this morning. They wanted to do a little cat testing. Socks and Tyke were the perfect hosts and we think one of their dogs maybe able to live with cats. They too have a problem with finding homes for their black Greyhounds and being cat friendly will give them a better chance of finding a home. :( I just can't understand it, I am sitting on the edge of supposedly "our" sofa as there is a very large beautiful black Greyhound stretched out on it and another stretched out on the "dogs" sofa!! They are both gorgeous! Little black spotty girl Lyra is actually in a dog bed! :))

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today! Xx

Xxx

It's that time of year again!!!!! We are planning for the run up to Christmas and with less than a month to go we hope you will be able to help with the best gift ever for our Daybreaks residents.
Do you think you could open your home to take one of our in-mates for the Christmas period? If you think you can, please give the kennels a call on 0121 782 7702. We will supply everything you need and don't panic - we are expecting them back!!!!

Thanks to everyone for their help today, our hounds had both morning and afternoon walks.

Thanks again to Liz_Beth for taking Jet out for a couple of hours. Nick had a nice outing to the park with the lovely family who have reserved him, he was such a good boy with their little daughter :)

Sadly, little Mitzy was returned, her family are very upset but feel she may be better suited to a family with older children who are a little less active than a younger child, but say she has none the less been very good in the house.

Layla has found herself reserved, she is such a sweetie and very affectionate.

Fairly quiet for visitors today, must be the cold!

Take care all and keep your houndies warm. X

What a great day for some of our residents! We were all so very happy to see Brandy reserved by Alison and her family. Thank you for travelling all the way from Leeds to visit us and offer our fabulous Brandy a home with you all. Xxx

Little Sky found herself a home too. :)) She is meeting her prospective new doggy brother tomorrow; he is a Border Terrier called Diesel. :) Fingers crossed they like each other! Norman took her to Pets at Home in Stratford this morning he said she was such a good girl. :)

To end the day on a high lovely little Fairy found herself reserved! So happy for them all. :))

Thanks so very much to everyone for their help today. Ricky had already been to the warehouse and unloaded the van when I arrived at the kennels first thing! Then he took Layla off to a roadshow at Mell Square in Solihull :)

We had the help of a new recruit...Pip, a cute little Schnauzer! Jess brought him to help with some small dog testing for us. He was such a good boy. :) Xxx

Ruth and Andy popped in this morning. It was great to see Ruth looking better. :)) Hope it won't be long before she is feeling fit again. She saw Sara at the hospital earlier, she is still really poorly. Sending lots of love to her from us all. Xxx

Xxx

We are less than 5 miles from Daybreaks, stuck in a bit of traffic but due to land very soon. Beyond excited! X

I'm so excited that someone is coming to look at the long term resident boys today. I'm going to be stalking this page for updates. Fingers crossed

Just love reading about Fat Neck Finns, he's brilliant xxxx

Fat Neck Finn

Sorry your on a diet but I really thought that it was a labragreydoodle meeting me at your door when I came for a visit. And as your suffering Perhaps I should join you and take a leaf out of my own book and go on a diet myself. Then we can agonise together!!!! X

Finn's little head???? Sorry, couldn't resist, I have met him and he is bootimus. X

And I do they're so funny and you can just imagine been in finn's little head! Xxx

I do love the updates for Fat Neck Finn - they make me laugh so much. Now I am feeling really sorry for him! Xx

Don't worry Kate I was just about to do an update on Finn and his diet so here it is.
It's not going well ! He feels betrayed by Aunty Pam. After welcoming her into his home the result is the "love of his life" food, has been decreased and he feels she should have kept her comments about his size to herself as it's not fair. Just when he had got his mom wrapped round his little (big) paw with treats on demand she has scuppered it!!! and he is now on what he feels is a starvation diet which his mom insists is the correct amount. Nina is helping out as she is now eating all her food while he watches having eaten his pitiful dinner and licked the bowl cleaner than when it was new ! I think it's helping as he must have lost a Kg in drool lol.
I am having to harden myself to the big sad eyes sat by the treats draw and when I am tempted to weaken my husband reminds me that I can cut his cheesecake supply on a whim easier than I can refuse Fat neck a sweet potatoe stick. (or two lol) I will persevere and sneak Aunty Pam in by the side door when she comes next time.!!! Sorry Pam, but I cannot have him blaming me.I have to live with him! Updates on weight loss to follow but don't hold your breath xx

You need an "are you sure button" when deleting items to prevent accidental deletions. Maybe IT department can sort this out for you. It's an extra safety net :-) xx

Iv done that Kate in the past!!
Unintentionally but never the less you feel awful as it’s not recoverable xx

Lots of lovely new arrivals today! Thanks so much to Bob and Declan for collecting Layla, Sky and Shabby from the track for us and to Jetson's trainer for dropping him at the kennels. They are all gorgeous! It was a chilly day for having a bath but we made sure they were all kept snug and warm afterwards. Thanks so much to Lucy, Becky and Declan for spending most of the morning getting wet!

Our little Iceman went home this afternoon and now has the great new name of Horace! I'm sure he is going to be great fun and a real character. He came into the office while his new family were filling in his paperwork and tried desperately to steal anything that was within his reach....his favourite item being my empty hot chocolate mug!

Handsome Reggie had a checkup with the vet. All is looking good with his wound after his recent neutering op. Sue took him for us and said what a very good boy he was both travelling in the car and when he saw the vet. :)) He has to wait another week until he can have his stitches out.

Nick had the bestest ever news today...he has been Reserved!! Please keep everything crossed for him that this really will be his forever home! He is such a special lad. Xxx

A huge thank you to everyone for their help on what was a very busy day and also a very cold day too! :)) Special thanks to Jayne who I'm sure sabotaged the water pipes at her place of work so she could spend the day with us! :))))

Xxx

Loveheart, I am so sorry but I have just managed to delete your last comment about Finn!!! :(( Had just read it and pressed the wrong button! Please add it again....grovelingly yours Kate Xxxx

I do look forward to the next instalment of a day in the life of Fat Neck Finns, he sounds such a character and great fun, keep up the good work FNF xxx

He certainly was Fat Neck Finn !!!
Lovely seeing you again
Looking forward to next time
Xx

A bitterly cold day today. Thanks to our Wednesday walkers for turning out and walking the residents.

Fairly quite today apart from a quick visit from Ruth and the Daybreaks crew of Angie, Michael, Lisa and Jill. Lovely to see you all.

Fantastic news that Billy Bob (Patch) has gained weight.

I would like to thank everyone who made a donation over the phone today, you are all very generous and we really appreciate your support, you are all amazing, as are all of you who have donated and supported us previously.

Checking the diary for tomorrow, it looks like it is going to be a very busy day. Keep an eye on this page!

Anyhoo, I am now wrapped up in a lovely toasty fleece dressing gown with a nice glass of wine before I have to start again with dinner.

Take care all. Xxx

Reggie a lot brighter today. He enjoyed his breakfast and dinner and seemed a little more comfortable. Xx

It was a very cold and dull day today. Thanks so much to everyone who came out in the cold to give the doggies a walk this morning and this afternoon. Nick got two walks this afternoon. We had a volunteer left with out a dog to take out. Nick was there ready and waiting, I'm sure he was saying "take me, take me!" :)) He came into the kitchen with us this afternoon and was such a good boy.

Brandy came for a visit to the kitchen too and spent some time in the Magnotherapy box. Xx

It was great to see Fifi go home with her new brother Rory this afternoon. Do hope she is a good girl and doesn't boss him around too much!! They did get on really well together and had a competition as to who could push Dawn over by leaning the most! :))

Our residents have had their first Christmas present! Thank you so much to Danny for arranging a food and treat collection at his place of work. Everyone has been so generous...lots of tins of meat and bags of treats for all the dogs to tuck into. :)))

A big thank you to Declan for feeding the doggies and cleaning the runs this afternoon...you are a Star!!!

Xxx

Sue dropped Reggie off at the vets for us this morning. He had a major op to locate his dangly bits! They were found up by his kidneys! Thankfully all went well. He was very subdued when I picked him up this evening and he was very uncomfortable getting on his bed. Poor lad, do hope he feels better tomorrow. Xx

Thanks to everyone for their help today, we had enough volunteers to be able to take our residents on morning and afternoon walks. :)) We were also able to catch up with health checks, washing etc.

Thank you to the visitors who popped in with donations of bedding and then stayed to have a cuddle with all the dogs. :)) It was great too to see Rosie and Brae's Mom and Dad today, can't believe their girls are ten and nine now....time just flies by! Xx

Xxx

Hi all,

A fairly busy day today, thanks to all our volunteers, we had extra today which was great. Morning and afternoon walks done.

We saw Tears, now Belle off to her new home, she has a rather handsome blue brother now.

We had several people come to look around, resulting in Rummy being reserved pending a home check :)

Massive thanks to Liz_Beth for taking Nick out this afternoon, he loves to get away from the kennels for a while, bless him, and secretly I think she enjoys it just as much!

Briefly saw Ruth today, she seems to be improving a little more day by day, we do miss her as do our inmates.

Very busy for calender and Christmas card sales. We have more calendars on order and should have more cards soon. Please call to make sure we have what you want to save a wasted journey, although you could always have a look at our current beauties!

Lovely to hear the updates on our previous residents, and great to hear Patch and Gracie are both doing well in their foster homes.

Well, enough from me now, take care all. Once again thanks for your help, donations and continued support. X

Jo x

We are very grateful to Alan who very kindly took Honey to her new home this morning. He said she had a great time exploring her new surroundings. :) Alan also carried out a home visit for Tears...she will be going home tomorrow. :)))

Mitzy also went home today. Wishing her a very happy new life. Xx

Iceman found himself reserved again. :) Keeping everything crossed all works out for him this time. Xxx

Great to hear good news about Gracie and Patch. Xxx

Thanks so much for everyone's help today. So very grateful. Xxx

No problem... :) Enjoy your holiday. Xxx

Hi Kate can you save me 2 of the slimline ones please we are at the caravan at the monent will pop in around 14th dec thank you Shaz & Jim xx

Hi Willerby, We still have some large calendars left priced at £10 each and there are more of the slimline calendars priced £6 each on order. If you let me know which size you would like I will definitely save them for you.
Kate Xxx

Hi are there any calendars left please if so are you able to save me 2 please xx

A funny old day today, no Angie, hence me writing the Daily Diary. Not many volunteers this morning, so the kids had a nice stroll around the sand run.

This afternoon saw more volunteers so the dogs had a nice walk.

The gorgeous Raven went home, if a little reluctant to get in the car, he has a lovely whippet brother called Skye to play with, good luck sweetie.

Thanks also for the generous donation of duvets, towels and bedding, very much appreciated.

Apart from that a fairly quiet day.

Wishing a speedy recovery to Ruth, thanks so much for your enquiries as to how she is. Still needs to take things easy, I know she misses being involved on a daily basis, but she needs to get completely better. We are all thinking of her. Xx

Anyhoo, as Angie would say, it's wine o'clock. Take care all, thanks again for everyone's help today, signing off. Jo. Xxx

We had a lovely new arrival today, Fairy Slippers! She is a very pretty little girl. Thanks so much to Alan, Richard and Lucy who had a trip to the track to collect her for us. Xx

There was no rest for the wicked as we then sent Alan, Richard and this time Declan to collect some household items that have very kindly been donated to us. :)

We did let them have a rest and a cake on their return! Thanks so much to Alan for the cakes and Happy Birthday for tomorrow. :)

Thankfully, Lecky is much better today. No more diarrhoea! :)) She is a very quiet girl who likes to lie on the floor watching the world go by. Xx

Honey and Mitzy are sharing a kennel. They are very happy together and are always playing. :)) They will both be going off to their respective homes in the next few days. Sure they will bring lots of fun to their new families. Xx

Great to hear Gracie's leg is improving already and hopefully Patch is doing ok too. :))

Sending lots of love to our other poorly Daybreaks girls tonight. Ruth is still recovering from her recent operation and Sara had a seven and a half hour operation yesterday and faces yet another tomorrow. Xxxxx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today and thanks to Lucy for the lovely new photos of some of our residents. Xxx

Xxx

Thanks to our Wednesday walkers and volunteers today, as always. Dogs had morning and afternoon walks.
Poor little Lecky was still suffering with a poorly tum, so off to the vets we went, she was such a good girl traveling in the van. She has some medication so hopefully she will start to feel better very soon.
Thanks for the donations of bedding, always much appreciated.
Thanks also for your kind and generous donations towards the care of Patch, Gracie and also for little Bez, your generosity never ceases to amaze me. Xx
It was great to see Ruth briefly today, she is still not well, but is hopefully heading in the right direction. Thanks for all your messages wishing her a speedy recovery, we do miss her as do the hounds.
Let's now hope that we can look forward to more positive weeks ahead, the past couple as most or all of you know have been a bit of a strain to say the least! Let's try and get as many of our residents into permanent homes and try to get our ever increasing waiting list down, we can but hope.
Thanks again all. Jo. Xx

Lecky was due to have her neutering op today but unfortunately she had diarrhoea this morning :( So not a good idea to have a major operation! She is booked in again for the end of next week. Poor little girl. Xx

Yesterday Reggie went to see the vet...he has retained testicles! This will mean a more complicated neutering operation for him. :(( He will have to be opened up so the vet can look for those bits that are normally visible! He is a fabulous lad, travelled so well in the car and enjoyed a walk up the road by the vets. I can understand why his trainer said she would marry him if he was a man! :)

A little short of volunteers first thing, thanks so much to Declan, you were a star!! Lots of reinforcements later so all our residents went on morning and afternoon walks today. They also had lots of extra fuss from some visitors who fell in love with Jet!

Xxx

Well, what a day! We had an extra couple of volunteers this morning, thanks so much for coming in and giving your Sunday morning up. This meant the residents got a morning walk.
This morning also saw gorgeous Turbo now called Jack go off to his forever. This afternoon we were short on volunteers and inundated with visitors, Bella was rushed off her feet, as I was kept busy with queries and yet another homing, this time for pretty little Evie go home. The dogs all had a lovely grooming which they thoroughly enjoyed.
Sadly Fifi was returned this morning, her family are very upset about this, as mentioned on her profile, they feel she would be more suited to a home with either older teenagers or as an only child. If you would like more information about her or any of our hounds, please give the kennels a call.
Anyhoo, now trying to get warm along with a nice glass of wine (or 2) as Angie our Friday diary writer would say.
Thanks again for everyone's help and to all who took the time to visit us, and to Liz_Beth who took lovely Nick out for a couple of hours, he really enjoys being out of the kennels for a little break.
Jo. Xx

A very busy day that saw Tears and Ice reserved. :)) We also had several other promising viewings; all the residents loved the extra attention!

Thanks to everyone for going for walks in the rain, it was very wet this afternoon.

Jayne also braved the damp weather to plant winter Pansies in our little remembrance garden. :) Xxx

Andy and his Dad finished the new cat run for Tyke and Socks. They have done a great job! Socks was the first to venture out and enjoyed exploring her new space. :)

Jess gave Elsa a lovely pamper this morning while her Mom was busy falling in love with Ice! :))

Xxx

Loveheart & Nifty........same situation for me with my Mel although compared to poor Nick his 3 month stay wasnt really that long. I think it was his age, 7.5 yrs, not your traditional cutiepie & he was so quiet so maybe giving the impression of not having a lot of personality but as soon as I got him home he settled in like he had always been in a home. He bonded with my (then) lurcher Archie (RIP) & Kate used to laugh at how Archie would literally stand under Melly's belly! Theywere so good together. All these hounds are all wonderful but I have found those at a mature age that have been returned for no real reason or late into retirement so rewarding & even though they may be really chilled they give love in abundance in their own special way. Like Archie, Mel is now probably on borrowed time and I am so grateful for the last 3.5 years together. I remember Nifty well because he is a little similar to Mel. I didn't mee Cilla but I'm glad she is doing well. I remember Finn. He certainly sounds a character! I don't think I could afford his weekly food bill!!! I'm popping in to pay respects to Bez tomorrow & I shall have another cuddle with Nick. I am at a loss to understand why he is still waiting. He is so loving & has such a great personality. I am praying the right people will come soon.....preferably before Christmas. Have a good wkend.

Totally agree with you lovehart.. When we first went to Daybreaks we were introduced to all the residents by Kate. Eventually we decided on Nifty because he was the longest stayer there at the time at 7 months. Nifty decided when he came home he was settling straight in & made himself at home. Nifty was one of the best decisions we ever made and since then we've had Cilla so Nifty can have a friend x

Loveheart, You totally are right. Our last two were overlooked and were miserable in kennels (mostly Max) we had seven awesome years with our Will and thank Ruth every day and do so still for making it possible for us to have him. Max is a different story and we work with him and continue to do so as he is a loving boy but with some issues, wouldn't change a thing !

Back from Bude and see that although there has been a fabulous amount of Red and Green postings some of the longer residents are still waiting patiently watching all their kennel mates go off to their deserved forever homes.It reminded me that when we went to find a Grey (the first 2 and all following "adoptions ")we had one criteria "we will take whoever has been waiting the longest through no fault of their own, regardless of colour, boy, girl, or age" and you know what? we have had the best hounds ever. Two had been waiting for a Year! and we took both home with us.It may not work for everyone but it certainly did for us and they all lived their life out with us spoiled rotten. Fat Neck was Daybreaks longest stayer and just look at the "fun" he has given us. He had a lovely time in Bude as usual, only pulled the modesty net curtain down twice through getting his legs tangled up in them whilst displaying his bits to all and sundry in front of the patio window and nearly starved to death on the way home because he only had a light breakfast for an early start,and as soon as he got back took up position by the treat draw and spent the evening there (even after his meal) So come on guys don't miss out any longer there are a few to pick from at the moment. xxxx

A busy old day today!

This morning we welcomed the beautiful Lecky to the kennels. She liked her warm bath but wasn't impressed with the drier bless her. Can't say I blame her as it is very noisy! However, she had no trouble polishing off her bowl of supper.

Not many helpers today so the boys & girls had to make do with a spell in the sand run - and plenty of cuddles!

As another weekend approaches let's hope for a continuation of the red sign epidemic!! We have a kennel full to bursting of beauties at the minute, each so deserving of a lovely sofa to call their own.

Have a lovely weekend one and all, it's now wine time!

Angie
xx

Two new arrivals this morning. Very pretty Tears and very handsome Reggie!

After all the heavy rain our drain couldn't take the strain and poor Rummy found himself paddling around in his kennel! Help was at hand with our very own Daybreaks Chuckle Brothers, Alan and Richard! After collecting our new arrivals they then turned into expert drain cleaners assisted by our lovely Declan! Thank you so much chaps, brilliant job! :)

It was wonderful to see Teddy go home today :) Keeping everything crossed he will be a good boy! Xxx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. Xx

Once again thank you so much to everyone who called to make a donation in memory of Bez today. It's good to know her final resting place in the garden is very peaceful. As I was driving to the kennels this morning I saw a rainbow....

Xxx

A sad morning with Bez's ashes being laid to rest in the memorial garden, many tears were shed. Then the heavens opened, Jill said it was as if all at rainbow bridge were crying down on us, it was however more like a synchronized mass weeing as it was so heavy! It was good to see Ruth briefly there. X

Little Gussi, now Maggie went off to her new home, she is so pretty and did need some persuasion to walk to the car!

Thanks to all of our Wednesday walkers who got drenched on their walks this morning, they are so committed (or maybe should be), the rain was horrendous. . This afternoon the dogs managed to have a run in the sand, they do enjoy it. Remember you can book the run via booking with the kennels.

So sad to see Mr Nick no longer reserved, he is a firm favourite with volunteers and visitors alike. He really does deserve a forever home. Come on guys, let's get him into a home, we are working so hard to achieve this.

Hope tomorrow is a good day, Teddy is going off to his new home, so that will be a good start.

Jo. Xx

I'm finally well enough to attack the computer and do some work and I've just been reading through all the comments that have been left recently and it brings it home that there are many wonderful people out there - those that have felt the sadness over Bez who never even met her and the supportive messages. Having dealt with Bez's return and having her at home for a couple of nights before the fateful day she escaped, I have felt beyond devastated but there is absolutely nothing that can now be done and nothing can be changed. However it is a lesson to be even more vigilant to keep our precious family safe.

Not only the great sadness of Bez but the sad and sudden passing of many special greyhounds - you sometimes feel you can't deal with any more bad news and then more comes along. Breaking point comes to mind but you either run or you stay strong and keep focusing on what we need to do and that is to help as many Greyhounds as possible.

I am not back at the kennels yet but hope to be as soon as I can and want to say thank you for my get well wishes and cards. Again, a reality check about life - without your health, you have nothing..... setting up Daybreaks changed my life and I am determined it will continue to change other lives - for the better. Ruth x

Also remembering Trevor who gained his wings very suddenly yesterday. Run free fella - you were beautiful.

It was Mitzy's turn to visit the vets for her neutering operation. Many thanks to Shirley for taking her this morning. When I collected her this afternoon we got stuck in traffic, so it took us a while to get to the kennels. She was very comfy in the back of the car and refused to get out...she really is a cute little girl.

Lovely to see Olive go home. Wishing her and her new family lots of great times together.

The Pet Blood Bank were in today to take donations from the Trust dogs. The nurses fell in love with all of them especially Nick. Brandy was "retired" as he was too nervous this time to donate. He still enjoyed the extra cuddles he received from the Blood Bank Team. :)

Thank you so much to everyone who called or visited the kennels today to give a donation in memory of little Bez. Xxx

Xxx

Greyt to see Ruth home again :) and so much activity at the kennels xx

Ruth is home! She looked a little fragile today but sure she will bounce back! We missed you! :)) Xx

Rummy went for his neutering operation today, he was such a good boy and went in with tail wagging and came out later with tail still wagging! Bless him!

Teddy also went to the vets for the second part of his vaccination booster. He really is a nosey boy and was watching everything Christian was doing, even tried to follow him into the other room. :)

Wonderful to see Honey reserved. It's about time! :))

With Honey being reserved we ran out of "My bags are packed" signs to go on the kennels and had to photocopy a couple! Great :))

It has been a stressful Bonfire evening for two of my three doggies. Fletch has finally calmed down and is sleeping next to me on the sofa. Lyra decided she felt safer upstairs and is hiding in the spare room surrounded by pillows. :( As for Skippy Doos, well he is fast asleep oblivious to it all! Bless him.

Thank you so much to everyone who has made a donation in Bez's name.
So kind. Xxx

Loveheart I think we all need some fat neck Finn stories tocheer us, they're fab! And yes, at this rate of rehoming daybreaks are going to have to get some new recruits as the kennels will be empty but how wonderful! And agree with tinkersnan, we worship the ground jet walks on, these hounds are all so special xxx

I can’t believe how many of greyhound is going to be rehomed it’s so encouraging to know people love these beautiful hounds ours is now ten and she is the best thing that happened to us we love her so much she Knows what time feed time is when Steve gets home greets him with her baby in her mouth I hope they are all so happy in there new homes bless them all love tinker and nana xx????????????

I felt I had to thank all of you for your kind words about my poem for Bez. Like you all I get very emotional over our beloved hounds and I can hardly type for the tears falling when I am writing them. So I think between us we could fill a lake ! Bez deserved them and is now in all our hearts forever. One old lady, so much love. I am sure many Greys will benefit from her legacy. Her life was not in vain but still so sad an ending. We are just back from Bude and Fat Neck Finn has a few stories to tell so hope to I can cheer some of you up a little with my next posting. xx

Steve thanks for concerns with our greyhounds I have a through lounge but what we do we bought baby gates so have them at both doors so if anyone calls ours can’t get out I also have one at the at the side door so she is safe hope this helps others they are quite cheep to buy we did think about trackers but these could be cut of xx

Sorry for the late post for yesterday's daily diary. It was a very busy and late day.

Firstly, and apologies as I know most of you already do this, but please ensure that you dog does not only have their Daybreaks trolley tag on their house collar (this should be worn at all times) but also an identity tag with your contact details on. Just a reminder, this is a LEGAL requirement. Should your hound escape, then at least they have your details and those of the kennels, so if you are not contactable then we are. In light of the terribly sad events of the past few days, we should all make sure this is done. Thanks, rant over......

Anyway, on to much happier news. It was lovely to see Clodie now Star be signed up and go to her forever home.

Turbo and Mitzy were both reserved pending home checks. And, well Mr Nick has also been reserved, pending the approval of the husband/dad of the family (please, please) and home check. As our longest stayer I as everyone else hopes this works out for him, he is truly deserving and such a handsome boy.

Thanks to everyone for their help yesterday.

Jo x

A very busy and late finish today, so please forgive me, I will do the Daily diary tomorrow. X

I have not slept since this little girl Bez went missing I didn’t know her but I cried so much for her being out there with no food or water willing her to be found safe she has the same marking has our tinker so that made it worse for me so sad it’s happened this way my the angel s look after you wrap there armed around you give you all the love you ever needed special baby Xxx

So many red lights this weekend, but still can’t think of littleBez with out tears. Xxx

Same as jetlucy use the donation as you think fit every bit helps, I was too far away to help with the search for poor Bez but have been in floods of tears all week. I have hugged and cuddled my two so much this week even they are looking at me oddly.

Wow. So heartlifting to see so many reserved signs today. Delighted for all the dogs especially for the wonderful and patient Nick. Wishing all the dogs and prospective families happy times together. Xxxxx

We don't mind what our money goes towards its all a good cause and every little helps you out xxx

The Greyhound Trust is more than happy to pay for Bez's Cremation costs. Any donations made will go towards a Memorial Plaque for her. Thanks so much. Xxx

A very somber day, we are all stunned by the sad passing of sweet little soul Bez; I was personally convinced she would be found safe and sound. Peter and Alison visited the kennels this morning to bring back her personal possessions and to lay flowers in the small remembrance garden. Xxx

If anyone would like to make a donation to help with the cost of Bez's cremation you can call the kennels on 0121 782 7702 and make a donation by card or click on any of the dogs looking for a home and use the donate button on the right hand side of the page, under the Photographs. Xxx

We did have a lot of visitors to the kennels today and a couple of very promising adoption enquiries. :)

Teddy shared the kitchen with several other Greyhounds for the day. He throughly enjoyed himself. Xx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today, so kind of you. I know our dogs enjoy the extra company and tlc .

Xxx

After a totally devastating day regarding beautiful Bez, she is going to be laid to rest at Daybreak for everyone to visit if they so wish... I personally can't thank everyone enough who helped look for her.... In Bez's memory, we must help all the hounds in our current care and those waiting to come to us.... She will never be forgotten... Let's get these boys and girls into forever homes that they so deserve... Please... It's not about any one person, we are a family.... A Greyhound family, let's never let this happen again. Xx

Let's hope that after a very distressing week for everyone, bez in her new found role of the latest Angel, helps her fellow kennel hounds into homes to try and raise our spirits. God bless little girl xxx

It was great to have some good news today, Evie and Teddy reserved! :)

Ruth is also hopefully on the mend! :))

Sending love and best wishes to Stuart who very kindly organises our waiting list for the Greyhounds waiting to come into the kennels, he is also in hospital! Xx

Thanks so much to everyone for all their help,it was a busy day. Xx

Xxx

Another cold day today, thanks to everyone who came and helped and walked the dogs.
Good luck everyone who is going on the search for Bez tonight, it is breaking my heart to think that she is still out there in the cold, she has to and must be caught soon. Hopefully Dogs Lost are now also on the case too.
Wishing our poorly Ruth a speedy recovery, we miss her, but we will make sure that she does not come back until she us back to full health. X
On a much happier note, Lady, now Tilly was signed up and officially homed, so looked so happy and has a Lovely family.
Dewey who was Dew came for a visit to choose a new coat, she is a very pretty girl. Lovely to her and hear how well she is doing.
We had visitors come to use the sand run. Thanks to Sir and Madams family for their extremely generous donations of sardines and treats for the 'growlers' and treats for the 'Moms and Dads', very much appreciated.

So sad Bez is still evading everyone out looking for her, but ever hopeful she will soon be back with her new Mom and Dad and brother Merlin. if anyone planning on helping to look tomorrow has a spare slip lead Alison could borrow she would be very grateful. :) Xxxx

Sending lots of love to Ruth, she will be in hospital for a while and to Sara who should have had her operation today but the Consultant decided to take his holiday this week instead of next! She now has to go home and wait until next week, supposing that there will be a bed for her. :(( It must be something about the kennels...Thinking of them both. Xxx

Evie had her Neutering operation today. She was a little out of it when she came back to the kennels but brightened up when her dinner appeared! :) I am so grateful to Shirley for doing the vet run for us. Xx

This morning, Teddy went for his first walk in quite a while. I believe he enjoyed the change of scene. :)

Olive finds herself reserved again... :) She is a lovely, sweet little girl. x

Pete has been working hard on the kitchen renovation and it is looking great! He has put the new doors on they are fab. Apologies once again for the lack of cups of tea!!

Hoping all our Guardian Angels at Rainbow Bridge are watching over little Bez, please just guide her to safety. Xxx

Sending Ruth and sara get well soon wishes! And wow 16 how fantastic, I must tell jet that this is what I expect from him! Well done teddy, hopefully your forever home comes very soon! Xxx

Sending love and get well messages to Ruth and Sara. Hoping Bez is home safe soon. Love to all. Xx

Oh no! Get well soon Ruth and Sara. x

Not one of our better days...sadly little Bez has still not been found :( Olive is no longer reserved and we had to call an Ambulance for Ruth this morning as she is very poorly. :(( She has been kept in tonight. :(( Sara has also gone back into hospital today so they can keep each other company!!

We do have some good news, Teddy had the stitches in his paw removed! He is an amazing lad with such character. He was so good at the vets, he met two other Greyhounds a lovely girl who will soon be sixteen! He also met Norris a former Daybreaks resident. He was so patient while Christian removed his stitches...he did have a tinkle up the Reception desk but only a little one! Xxx

Thanks so much for everyone's help today, we were able to take the houndies for a lovely walk in the Autumn sunshine.

Many, many thanks for everyone's continued support in looking for Bez, sure it won't be long before she is found. Xx

Xxx

You're right jo, with all this worry of poor little bez all I keep wanting to do is hug and snuggle jet and hope that he never does this. Mind you he is literally my shadow so don't think he'd ever go far but you just never know! Let's hope tomorrow brings bez home safe and sound xxx

Firstly, I really would like to thank everyone who has been searching for Bez. Sadly she has still not been found, we won't give up. Poor little girl must be absolutely terrified, cold and hungry. Every time the phone rang I got my hopes up for positive news...but none came.

Thanks to all who came in walked today, by this afternoon there wa s just Willow and myself.

The one piece of good news for the day is that Raven has, pending a home check has found himself a home with a gorgeous whippet brother.

So sorry this post is so short, but I really don't know what else to say right now. Hug your babies extra tight tonight. Xxxxx

Many apologies - our photographer today was Sharon not Samantha, so sorry. And I did the diary post before I had wine!!!!
Xx

Wow - another crazy busy Daybreaks day today!

This morning Samantha & Helen came along to take some photographs of our current residents and, as it was a lovely morning, we took them into the sand run for some exercise followed by a photoshoot! Nick, Brandy and Raven in particular enjoyed all the extra attention and the treats that followed!! Hopefully the ladies have managed to get some great shots of the boys & girls.

We had 2 new arrivals mid morning - 2 beautiful little girls Mitzy and Evie. Mitzy is a very nervous, timid girl at the moment, and she wasn't very happy in the bath bless her. Evie is a little more outgoing, and hopefully they will soon adjust to their new surroundings and begin to settle. They did both polish off their dinner without any problems though!!

The day was filled with viewings, visitors for the sand run, visitors dropping off donations of food, bedding and toys, and Jo and I didn't seem to draw breath all day!

The residents enjoyed a walk this afternoon once the downpour had stopped, and are now all settled in their warm and cosy kennels for the night.

Thanks for everyone's help today.

Tomorrow night is the dress rehearsal for Daybreaks in cabaret. It will be the first time we have run the show from start to finish with props and costumes so fingers crossed it all works as well on stage as it does in my head!! Tickets are selling but please contact us to get yours booked - it will be a great evening.

Well, you all know the routine by now for a Friday - wishes for a weekend of homings & time for a glass or two of wine!

Have a good weekend all.

Angie
xx

We had two more new arrivals this morning :) The very gorgeous Gussi and the very handsome Rummy! They are both very happy and very friendly hounds. Many thanks to Alan, Richard and Sam for collecting them from the track for us and to Lucy and Gail for giving them both a lovely bath. Xx

We have two more girls arriving tomorrow. :))

We had a lot of volunteers today, so all the residents had lots of extra fuss and cuddles. :)) Which of course they loved!

Teddy had a lot of company in the kitchen today. He had to have a dressing on his paw overnight as he had been licking his stitches! Touch wood he hasn't bothered with them today.

We had a visit from ex resident Cleo today, she came to use the run. She looks absolutely stunning and her owner adores her. :))

Very sad to see Bez (Pebble) returned to the kennels today. Understandably she was very stressed on arrival but calmed down this afternoon. She spent the day in the office and has gone home with Ruth and Andy tonight. Sure she is getting lots of love and hugs. Do hope someone will offer her a new home very soon. XX

It was donut Thursday today, thanks Alan! Xx Thanks so much to everyone for their help. Xx

Have to go and tidy my lounge now as thanks to Lyra it is strewn with cushions, blankets and disembowelled toys! Bless her....

Xxx

Ok so apologies for no Daybreaks Diary update yesterday. I guess you were all thinking a) we had the day off and the dogs fed themselves or b) IT WAS NUTS AS USUAL!!!! Yep... option b.... after the usual feeding and cleaning and arrival of our usual Wednesday walkers, I saw Wispa off to her new home.... then we had a visit from vet students from Nottingham vet school who helped with training a visiting dog who had behavioural issues in the sand run. Health checks were done, Teddy and Brandy had their daily session in the magnotherapy unit, I took Bob to the doctors etc etc!... you get the picture!!!!

Nathan our deaf volunteer and his carer cleared the back car park of leaves and loaded the van for the tip whilst Sam and and Emily our work experience students were kept extremely busy -of course it’s better to be busy than bored I say!

Teddy had a lovely time in the kitchen today, he had lots of other Greyhounds for company...Skip, Ellie, Sarah and Willow. :))

Thanks so much to Norman for taking Ice and Turbo for their first visit to the park this morning. They both had a great time. :)

We had a lot visitors to use the run today including a very lively 14 month old Boxer. By the time she finished her face was covered in sand including her tongue...she was a great advertisement to show other dogs how much fun it is! :))

Thanks to Lucy for the new photos of some of our residents. :) Our boys are very handsome!

Ruth was busy sewing this afternoon, finishing off costumes for the show next month. :) Please come along and support their hard work! Tickets are available from the kennels Xx

Thanks to everyone for their help today. :))

Xxx

Teddy had a check up with his vet this morning . He was such a good boy, jumped in the car and settled down for a snooze :) The vet said his paw is looking good but wants to leave the stitches in for another week. He had another snooze on the way back to the kennels! Bless him. He spent the day in the kitchen with my Skip.:) x

We had a lot of volunteers today. All the dogs had two good walks in the autumn sunshine.

Barney came for a visit this afternoon. He looked great!

Thanks so much to everyone for their help. Xxx

I was waiting for the announcement.... the train leaving from Platform 4..... ok - yesterday felt like New Street Station - it was SO busy!!!! Great day though - I thrive on busy!
Andy and his Dad spent the whole day putting the roof on the cat extension so hopefully by next weekend it will be finished and Tyke and Socks can enjoy their extended outside area :-)
Thank you to everyone who came and helped or visited - it is really appreciated x

It was great to see Lady reserved today. :) She is a very sweet girl.

A lovely day for walking. Thanks to everyone who came in to take the dogs out in the sunshine. Thanks so much to Jembob for taking Jet for a trip to the park. :)

Teddy spent the day in the kitchen again. He was such a good boy and loved all the extra attention. We took the dressing off his paw this morning as he unfortunately managed to wee on it! His stitches look ok. He has an apppointment at the vets on Monday morning to see if he can have the stitches removed. Fingers crossed. Xxx

It was lovely to see Billy and Sam this afternoon. They had come for a pamper with Jess. Sam's back legs were shaking as he had his nails clipped! Poor lad. They both looked great when their "torture" was over! :))

We also had a visit from Kitty and her family. They had popped in for food on their way to go and help out at Melbicks. I understand they were going to pick Moe and his Mom up too....do hope all went well and everyone enjoyed telling visitors to Melbicks how wonderful Greyhounds are! :))

Ruth and Lisa spent several hours today going through all the car boot donations. I came away with yet another book on Greyhounds! :)) Thank you to everyone who has brought items in for us to sell and raise money for the dogs over the last few months. Xx

Thanks so much to everyone for your help today. Xx

Xxx

After a cold and very misty start, it turned out to be an absolutely glorious Autumn day with wall to wall sunshine.

Very quiet for volunteers this morning so it was sand run playtime again for the boys and girls, who thoroughly enjoyed romping about in the sun without coats on! Our gang of post op patients had a very gentle plod round too to stretch their legs and enjoy a change of scene.

The beautiful Latina found herself reserved mid morning, she is such a lovely girl and has really come out of her shell.

Teddy spent the day out in the kitchen area again, he was particularly helpful whilst I was hanging out the washing and emptying the recycling bins!! He just had to check everything out for me to make sure it was safe!! He is such a gorgeous boy and is very responsive to training - he would love a home of his own in which to flourish.

We had plenty of volunteers this afternoon so the dogs enjoyed a lovely walk, with grooming and TLC for the "patients".

Many thanks to everyone who helped out today - hope you enjoyed being out in the sunshine as much as me.

It's a busy weekend for our roadshow crews - why not pop along to Stratford Racecourse or Melbicks Garden Centre to say Hello?

For our boys & girls in the kennels, my wish is for that special family to come along and give them their very own forever home.

As is usual on a Friday it's wine time now - I think a nice chilled white is called for today in celebration of another lovely Daybreaks day in the sunshine.

Cheers all!

Angie
xx

Jo very kindly came in especially to take little Lass to the vets for her neutering operation this morning, while Declan and I took Ice and Honey for their vaccination boosters. They travelled great together in the car and were both so good at the vets. :) They were very happy to get back to the kennels and find their breakfast waiting for them!

It was lovely to see Dexter and to meet the very handsome Dougie when they came to see Jess for their pampers. I enjoyed trying to get Douggie to run around in the sand run! :)) Thanks so much to Shani and Ken for the cookies for us humans and tins of pilchards for the doggies. So kind of you. :) Xx

Jimmy went home this afternoon. He was so calm and patient waiting for us to complete his paperwork. He was a little unsure on leaving the kennels without any of his Greyhound friends with him. Im sure his new family will give him lots of support to help him settle with them. Wishing them all lots of happy times together. Xx

We also had a visit today from our Best In Show winner at the Dog Show, the very pretty Daisy and her equally as pretty sister Diamond. :)) Ricky and Jess are very proud parents! Thanks for the homemade biscuits Jess they were a great help in trying to get Jimmy to his owners car. Xx

I collected Lass from the vets late afternoon, she gave me a wonderful welcome when I arrived! She is such a smashing little girl with a very waggy tail who loves to be cuddled....I will be very jealous of the lucky family who get to take her home. :))

Ruth redressed Teddy's paw this afternoon. It looks a little sore. All washed and clean now, do hope it heals well. Xx

Thanks to everyone for all their help today. we are so very grateful. :))

Xxx

We really enjoyed our visit to Daybreaks today, we were made to feel very welcome as always by Kate, thank you Kate for trying to get Douggie to run around the sand run, it was hard work as he is just too lazy!!!. Thanks to Jess for her patience in trying to bath 1 reluctant hound and 1 extremely reluctant hound, Douggie was not happy at all bless him. There are so many lovely hounds at Daybreaks waiting for their special homes to come along, I could have stolen Latina, Lady, Brandy.....all of them really, just hope at least some of them finds a home this weekend, especially the long stayers xxxxxxxx

Sending love to Sara, how she's soon recovered. Xxx

We're coming to the kennels tomorrow to bring our boys Dexter and new boy Douggie for a pamper with Jess, so looking forward to seeing all the current residents and hoomans too xx

Rose went home today! She is an absolute delight such a very sweet girl. Do hope all goes well for her and her new family. Xxx

It was much dryer day today :) Thanks so much to everyone who came in to walk our dogs. They were very happy to go out and not get soaking wet!

This afternoon Ruth tried not to drown in the sea of paperwork that has been building up. Think she felt as though she was getting somewhere by the end of the day :)) She also managed to sort the treatment room out :)

Had a good look through Next Years's Calendar today. There are some fab photographs of past Daybreaks residents in it. Skip is this year's Mr October, he looks very handsome and I will be having the photo framed to hang on the wall. Xxx

Thank you so much to everyone for their help...we missed Sara today as sadly she is having problems with her hip and leg and is back in hospital.
Nick and Brandy love her and are missing her! Sending her lots of love. x

Xxx

Got our calendar at the show and it'll take pride of place next year! Xxx

Our fabulous 2019 calendars are now on sale at the kennels..... photo attached :-)

I am still recovering from Sunday and our upheaval of the treatment room, magnotherapy unit, cupboards etc etc but it is all coming together and getting sorted! I am grateful to the volunteers who braved the weather Sunday to help at the kennels and also take some of our inmates to the walk xx

It was a busy morning with Teddy having a dressing change at the vets and Latina going for her neutering operation, then a trip to the track with Bob to collect very pretty new girl Lady.

When I got back to the kennels our work experience students Sam and Willow were getting very wet trying to unblock the drain in the bottom kennel block. They did a great job! :)) Thank you. Xx

It was an awful day and didn't stop raining...thanks so much to all our walkers who got soaked taking the dogs out this morning and this afternoon. The dogs all loved being wrapped in a nice dry towel when they came back.

Jo collected Latina from the vets this afternoon. She was a little sleepy, hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

I was away on holiday last week and although it was lovely to see them l was so hoping our handsome black boys...Nick, Teddy, Brandy, Raven and Jet would have found their forever homes. They really are all so special....Lyra, my two lads Skip and Fletch and my sister's gorgeous boy Max had a great time on holiday with us, hope some of our kennel boys and girls get the chance to do the same.

Xxx

Was lovely chatting to you and your 2 beautiful pooches too, they both did you proud and looked lovely! Xxx

I really enjoyed our visit to the dog show,unlike Jay who let us know in no uncertain words just how bored he was once he relized he wasn't there to play!!I thought he looked a million dollars but with his head hanging down and tail between his legs there was no way he was winning anything!Petal seemed to enjoy it and behaved very well considering she is not the best with smaller dogs,she even won a rosette,bless her It was nice to chat with jetlucy---I think!!--and see some of the Daybreak dogs .Its sad to see some of the long stay lads still there but they are so well looked after and as Ruth says,"some one will come ,one day"
Ruth,hope you are feeling better now?Has any one any tips on distracting 2 very keen greys from having a go at squirrels on our walks ,which can become a nightmare if I am on my own!!

Oh never mind Finn, but I'll take note of the cafe and have a cake for you as going to bude down Monday. Been to the pub tonight and mom was stopped 3 times for people to question her about me so we've proper promoted the greys tonight! Plus I've had prawns, steak, halluomi and cheesy chips...yummy! Oops naughty Finn but funny! Xxx

Awwww Jetlucy what a shame we are back in Brum. Sounds as though Jet is having a real blow out down there. Finn says the food in Cornwall is Fab and the Carrot Cake at the "Cornish Bakery" cafe next door to Costa Coffee on Bude's main street is to die for. We always buy half a large cake to take away. It's the only way Finn enjoys carrots LOL (and we have never tasted better). Finn is very unsettled since we got back. He made another raid on my teddy collection while we where out (forgot the stair gate) and we walked in to find him coming down stairs with one of his favorites, whilst Nina was munching on two others he had already put on his bed.
Luckily they never damage them just soaking wet. Good job he never finds one that squeaks or it would be history!!!

Fat neck fin, we've arrived in hartland, are you still in bude or have I got to fly the black boy greyhound flag on my own? You'll be pleased to know that since I've arrived I've had a some little cocktail sausages, mini cheddars, pigs ear , chip shop sausage, some cheesy chips and then finished off mom and dads cake washed down by moms water that was on the table! The owners of the farm are very kind and left me a doggie welcome pack with treats but mom says I've had enough now till tomorrow...boo! It was too dark to explore when we arrived tonight but mom can't wait to get out and explore the farm tomorrow so that'll be our first walk of the day...see I need all these treats to keep my energy up! Lots of love jet xxx

Today it rained!!! There was a torrential downpour all morning and it was much too horrid for the boys & girls to go out. They stayed dry and cosy in their kennels whilst the humans got soaked!

This morning saw the arrival of 2 beautiful new girls, Lass and Latina. Lass is a very bouncy friendly girl with such a waggy tail. Latina is also very sweet but a little quiet at the moment. They both enjoyed a lovely warm bath and settled very well into their kennels - and both enjoyed their dinner, licking the bowls clean!

The sky got a bit less grey after lunch, and the rain eventually stopped so afternoon walks did happen and the dogs were happy to get out and about after being cooped up.

Many thanks for everyone's help today, hope you all dry out soon!

Really hope the weather improves for the walk in Sheldon Country Park on Sunday. If you would like to take a kennel dog out for the morning to enjoy the experience, please give us a call on 0121 782 7702.

I'll close by making my usual weekend wish of red or green signs for our lovely boys & girls - and am now off to partake of a glass of wine or two (purely medicinal of course!!).

Have a good weekend one and all.

Angie
xx

Congratulations to everyone who made the dog show a success, and in particular all the bakers who produced a great selection of cakes. The lemon coconut slice was to die for, can I have the recipe lol!!

I am keeping my fingers crossed that Teddy is OK after his operation, he is a lovely boy and I hope he finds his forever loving home very soon xxxxxxx

Fivelands in Moseley was the first thing on the agenda yesterday morning to take Olive in for her spey. By the time I was back Denise (who comes in at stupid o'clock) had cleaned out and the walkers had arrived. I then set to work with clearing the back car park and a trip to the tip followed.

I fetched Olive late afternoon and she was bright and recovered well - she is just beautiful!

Today was Teddy's turn and I took him to Fivelands in Yardley. My adorable boy has had a limp since he arrived at Daybreaks in July and had surgery to remove an embedded corn but weeks later, his toe is still extremely swollen and he has gone in for surgery today. Keep everything crossed for him - at least he is off to a lovely foster home this evening for a few days for some extra TLC x

Oh you poor baby Finn, how traumatic for you, I'm sure you will make in into 2020 calendar xxxxxxx

Oh Finn, don't be sad. Why don't you do your own special calender and sell it at your caravan site. Would be lots of takers as you are obviously very famous there! Xx

Well Fat neck Finn has had a set back emotionally.He had great hopes of being in the Daybreaks calendar, and now his hopes have been dashed. All that center fold posing in front of the patio window in Bude and big smiles from passers by has been in vain. He has taken it really badly and his diet has gone to pot! After someone said he had a Rottweiller's body he did make an effort (of sorts) but now he is comfort eating and has low self esteem. Maybe I will have to make his own calendar up and he can be in every month. All proceeds to Daybreakss LOL

A lovely bright,warm sunny day, just like summer again.

I arrived this morning and unlocked, started letting the dogs out and ooh where is everyone? Started cleaning and feeding and heard the rattle of the gate....volunteers, yay. Thanks to all who came and walked today, very much appreciated.

Not many visitors today, although I did see a couple of people who wanted information about greyhounds with an option in the future of fostering or adopting. Nice to be able to have a chat about this wonderful breed and put to rest some of the myths people have about care and excersise.

We had healthchecks and weighing to be done, thanks guys for sorting that for me.

Gail and Blaise sorted the bedding store again! Please try and keep it tidy! They also moved stuff from the treatment room, it actually looks as it should do now
We had piled stuff from the show in there...oops, sorry

Take care all. Have a greyt day tomorrow. Xx

I ache after yesterday!!!! Thanks to Richard and James for helping me empty the van with all the things from the dog show - I then headed to the Swan office to take the rest for storage. I was met there by Lisa who helped me unload, sort and clear and then back to the kennels to load up more.

I want to re-iterate Jo's thanks to Richard for all the painting - especially the new kitchen floor which looks fantastic. Also I was over the moon to see Roary had been chosen and met Olive's new owners who adopted one of our original inmates Meg (Tottie as she was so well known!). Olive is being neutered tomorrow and then she will go to her new home next week - how exciting!

I then went back to the office as I'm sewing costumes for the show on the 17th November - all but one of the costumes are now finished. By 7pm it was time to head home and chill.... I am so grateful to Jo and all the volunteers for all their help :-) xxx

Thanks so very much to all our volunteers today, dogs had morning and afternoon walks.

Richard came in with Shirley, he painted the kitchen doors and floor, Shirley got stuck in with feeding and walking.

We saw Roary finally get a home, so very happy for him. X

Olive was also reserved, quick work girlie.

We just need to get forever homes for our Mr Nick, Teddy and Brandy, they have waited for such a long time. Please dont be put off by the big black boys, they have just as much love to give.

Well.....with most of the kennel dogs going to the dog show today we thought it may be quiet so we could get on with some tasks that we never have the time for.
Oh dear what a mistaka to maka!
Thanks Tina for your help this morning. X

We saw pretty little Dew, now Dewey off to her new home, good luck poppet X

Angie decided that kennels duty was far more interesting than F1, thanks Ang for giving up your Sunday. X

New arrival Olive came in, what a sweetie, not shy at all.

Jimmy found himself reserved, great news.

We also had 2 fosterings, albeit 1 one maybe on a short term basis, and 1 hopefully leading to a permanent homing. Getting the dogs out into a home environment really does help to get them into a permanent home.

We had bookings for the sand run, remember, this is fully enclosed and recently extended, great to let your hounds have a fun off lead experience.

Thanks as always for our volunteers help today, much appreciated.

Looks like the dog show was a great success, with interest in some of our hounds. Hopefully this will lead to more homings, our waiting list is ever increasing we really need to get this down and get more deserving hounds into homes. They really do deserve a chance of living in a home.

Take care all, let's see what we can achieve this week. Xxxx

It was so lovely to see lots of ex daybreak dogs at the show today, all looking fabulous, especially lovely to have a little cuddle with Ruby Rebel and to hear from his mum and dad how well he's doing. He's as handsome as ever.

That was meant to say jay and petal not hat ...dam predicted text! Xxx

Oh Yes and thank you very much daybreaks for today, it's a wonderful event and can't wait for next year! Xxx

Well jet and I (and my husband...we had to bring him this year as hed sponsored a class and wanted to see...otherwise he'd have been left at home!) Had a wonderful time as always at the show today. So lovely to see all the hounds and the beautiful kennel dogs. Roary has totally stolen my heart and so hoping he gets a he soon cannot understand why he's been overlooked. I was talking to hat and petals mom and her friend in one of our classes and we were putting the world to rights on 'why don't people want these black dogs'. All being owners of black dogs we just can't understand it and think we need to start a campaign to get their profile up lol! Let's hope today will see some of you beauties get your well deserved homes xxx

gutted i can't be there this year :( full of cold and a poorly daughter, was hoping to win back 1 of the many prizes i gave you lol oh well roll on next year, hope it's a great success x

What lovely newcomers to Daybreaks. I just hope that the hounds who have been waiting patiently for a while don't get overlooked.They are all such great dogs and I do love the big black boys. , They do seem to get on with each other well. I think Fat neck Finn would have liked a brother as Nina is a bit of a controlling big sister, not that he takes any notice of her.lol

Teddy, you will be fine, I had one of my toes amputated a few years back. It was a good decision! Take care little one. Xx

Poor Teddy...sending him and Sarah a cuddle tonight. Xxx

Big hugs and kisses to Teddy, poor little lamb xxxxxx

Poor Teddy, as you say hopefully he will be better off (no pun intended). My little girl Sarah had one of her toes amputated yesterday, it was discovered she had a fracture and the vet decided this would be the best course of action. I now have 2 girls with a missing toe, both on the same foot!

A busy day today - fortunately Ruth was feeling a little better and was able to do a vet run this afternoon with Teddy. His poorly paw is just not getting any better and so the Vet has decided to amputate his toe - hopefully this will cure the problem and he will be able to walk and play in comfort again and without his boot!!!

No volunteers this morning meant sand run playtime for the boys & girls. Rocky was not impressed that he couldn't join in bless him, oh he did give me "a look"!!!

This morning saw the gorgeous Shiftie signed up, and her Mum & Dad become the latest members of the FFP club! She adores her brother Nifty and is learning the ropes from him. She has a lovely new name too, Cilla, as shouting "Nifty" & "Shiftie" was getting a bit confusing!

Our newcomers are all settling well and are all gorgeous, especially Clodie who is a beautiful happy little girl who gives out lovely kisses.

We had volunteers a plenty this afternoon so the boys & girls enjoyed a walk down the lane. Many thanks.

Well, a busy weekend ahead as our Dog Show is on Sunday. If you would like to take one of the kennel dogs to the show we would be very grateful. It is a great opportunity for them to get out and about and socialise, and who knows - maybe find themselves a forever home. Please give the kennels a call if you can help us out.

After such a busy day I am going to enjoy my usual glass or two of wine - have a great weekend everyone. Cheers!

Angie x

A very difficult day today....sadly Ruth was taken ill after dropping Rocky of for his neutering operation. She has spent the day in bed. Do hope she will feel better tomorrow. Xxx

It was sad to see Rose returned, her owner was very upset. Sometimes things don't always work out how we would like them too.

Many thanks to Bob and Declan for collecting Clodie and Turbo from the track for us this morning. Two very happy hounds and both gorgeous too!

This afternoon we had another new arrival the very handsome Ice! His tail didn't stop wagging! Thanks to his Trainer for bringing him in to the kennels. Alan was at the kennels with Paddy when they arrived and straight away Ice's Trainer recognised Paddy as one of his past racers. He was very pleased to see how well Paddy looked and what a lovely home he has. Xx

I took Jet off for his vaccination booster later this afternoon. He was so excited to be going out. :)) Jet is a super boy but needs a little help with small dog training. We saw a hairy little lad who Jet was very interested in meeting!

Rocky was very subdued on his return to the kennels after his neutering operation. I have never seen him so quiet! :)))

Lorna had a couple of pampers booked this afternoon, including ex Daybreaks resident Skip :)) He looked great! I was told he is a good boy...most of the time. :))))

I had a call early this morning from a lady who had found two Greyhounds in Sutton Park. They were wearing one of our tags but no details of their owners name and address. Fortunately from their description I recognised who they were and told the lady who to look for. She called back a short while later to say their owner had been found. Thank you so much to the lady for being concerned for them which thankfully led to a happy ending...please, please remember it is a legal requirement for your dog to wear an identity disc with your name, address and contact details on at all times. It is an easy and relatively inexpensive thing to do and means if your dog should go missing they will have a better chance of being reunited with you. Xx

A huge thank you to everyone who helped out today. It was lovely to see Yvonne back from a recent eye operation. She came to supervise mine and Richards bed making and kennel cleaning!

Xxx

Oh we may still see you as we're going the 12th I'll look out for the Grey's and if we meet we'll fly the flag for the black boys! Oh Finn how funny, just tell them you're not fat...you're just big boned that's what I always say! Xxx

We are going to Bude from the 9th so will miss your visit jetlucy such a shame as Finn loves socializing. He has had quite a traumatic day so the break will do him good lol. Let me explain. Now I always thought that Greys did not have many fat cells more muscle. Finn has proved me wrong. Today a chap I have a laugh with stopped me on our walk and gave him and Nina a fuss and said "is he a cross?" I said "no, why do you ask?" "Well" he said " he has a Greyhounds head but his body is so big I though he was crossed with a Rottweiler !!!!!" I think he was joking as usual. How very dare he, it's all muscle on the big lad and his coat WAS quite thick lol x

Ah loveheart when are you going to bude as we're going week after next? Xxx

This morning I created a lovely long 'to do list' and what a productive day it has been - all items have been ticked off with the help of Denise and our work experience students Emily and Nathan. A fabulous day and of course I got cuddles with my boys Nick and Teddy and the most beautiful greyhound in the world.... little Liza!!!!!!! If only...... :-)

Well, the Weather App was rubbish today! It said cloudy but mild when I looked at it this morning, but it was wet and cold today. :(

We had a lot of help this morning. :) It was lovely to see some of our "old" Tuesday volunteers who haven't been able to come for a while. Caroline was dismayed at the state of the bedding store....thanks so much for having a go at sorting it for us! :))

Despite the drizzle our residents enjoyed their morning walks. Some of them went along the nearby public footpath into the field. I understand Roary didn't want to come back but just wanted to carry on walking. :))

We have some brilliant black boys at the kennels waiting for their forever homes. Nick, Brandy, Teddy, Roary, Jet and Raven. All of them with their own special personalities. Wish someone would give them a chance. Xxx

We nearly had an extra inmate tonight. We were locking up the kennels when a little voice from inside called "please can someone let me out"...it was Declan one of our lovely volunteers! He was very relieved when we decided to release him! :))))

Xxx

Well back from France and went straight away to pick up Fat Neck Finn and Nina from Auntie Ruths loving care. I had told Fat Neck that he was going to a class reunion summer camp and to be honest I got more of a welcome from poor Nick than Finn when we arrived. It seems anyone who feeds him gets his full attention and affection He did wag his tail and look at my hands to see if I had bought him a foodie pressie, when he remembered I was the one who had got him the size he is, and then he was quite happy to run and jump in the back of the car.lol
Since they came home Nina who always misses us and has to be tempted to eat if not with us has eaten everything in site and even beaten Finn to her bowl. He on the other hand appears bored stiff wandering round and missing all the
hounds at Ruth's and I think the girls at the kennels. Never mind they are off to Bude soon with us so he can get back to "making shapes" in front of the patio window. Must get him some modesty pants !!!!!!!! lol

Another bright but chilly day. All dogs had morning and afternoon walks, thanks all.
We saw Ben, now Storm go off to his new home, all the best.
What a fab birthday present for little Bella, home on her birthday, complete with matching new wardrobe! Fab.
The bedding store had a makeover with all the dog coats sorted into size and type, thanks to the guys for sorting these.
All dogs were fed and tucked up in their fleeces ready for bed, remember we stock these at the kennels, so if you need one to keep your toasty warm give us a call or drop in and pick one up! We also have a good stock of blizzard and waterproof coats.
Lovely to see Florence and her mom Klair pop in this morning to purchase on of our 'a greyhound raced into my heart' t-shirts, not long before they move away to Wales, we do hope to see you before you go. X
Well, let's see what the rest of the week brings, more homing and reservations fingers crossed.
I think it is now wine o'clock for me! X

A lovely bright sunny day, if a little chilly. Was strange to have the kennels so quiet when all the dogs went to Brueton Park. Thanks to everyone who took a dog.
Poor Ben and Teddy had to stay behind as Ben is post op and is not able to go on a walk yet, and Teddy is still on shorter walks, he came into the office for a change of scene and managed to steal biscuits!
There has been some interest in Nick, fingers crossed., he is such a lovely boy.
Honey found herself reserved, whoo hoo.
This afternoon saw just Bella and myself at the kennels, we were kept busy with a steady stream of visitors and a couple of nail cuttings.
As we left I went to start the car and it wouldn't start, my son ended out having to come and jump start it!
Anyway, home now and I would like to thank everyone again for their help and support, it is very much appreciated. Xxxx

Just back from holiday and so sad to see so many beautiful black boys still waiting for their forever homes. I wish I could have them all. They give so much and ask so little in return. Just a comfy bed,and a walk or two a day. Oh and in my Fat neck Finn's case be the owner of a food factory, preferably one that makes sausages lol So let's hear it for the boy's next week, you'll be spoilt for choice.Maybe you have a little lady Grey looking for love. Well I hear Roary gets on well with the girls and my Nina gave him a kiss when we called at the kennels, and she is very choosy lol

A very busy day for visitors. :) Jess had several pampers. It was great to see some of our past residents. They all looked and smelt lovely after their baths.

We also had visitors to meet the dogs and a gentleman came along with his young son. They helped to groom some of them which the dogs loved, especially Brandy who had a good lean and would have happily stayed there all day! :)

Thanks so much for everyone's help today. It was a good walking day. :)

Xxx

Totally agree with Angie, a very productive day, and I too shall partake in a glass or to of wine! Cheers. Jo xxxx

What a beautiful day again today. Humans and doggies alike enjoyed the blue sky and lovely Autumn sunshine.

A busy morning saw the fabulous Sally off to her new home, and pretty little Dew reserved. There were lots of health check and weight checks to do, keeping an eye on the boys and girls and making sure they are fit and healthy.

Brandy is such a good boy during his check, I think he just revels in the human contact as he loves to lean and is very patient. Just wish we could get this boy into a home as he really doesn't like it in kennels bless him.

We had lots of visitors to use the sand run and buy food, and some new volunteers too so the day passed really quickly as there was always something going on.

Thanks for everyone's help today, and as another weekend is upon us it's time for my usual wish that some red signs appear for our boys & girls - it is the walk in Brueton Park on Sunday where hopefully some of the dogs will be out enjoying a taste of the outside world, and showing just how lovely they are. Who knows, maybe a home or two may be found too?!

Tickets for "Daybreaks in cabaret" are selling well, give us a call to get yours and be part of a fun evening. Well, I'm off for my Friday glass of wine now - a chilled white I think to complement the lovely sunshine!

Have a great weekend all.

Angie xx

A beautiful day! The squirrels thought so too, there were lots of them around! :)

Nick is in the kitchen run and seems to enjoy watching the comings and goings in the kennels. :)

New lad Jimmy is a little shy at the moment, Carol one of our volunteers came in and sat with him for quite some time. He enjoyed her company. Xx

Ben was feeling brighter today after his neutering operation. Such a handsome boy! Xxx

A big thank you to the team at Pet Search. They called to say they had some donations of tinned food for us. Lucy and I went and collected it this afternoon. So very kind of them.

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. We were all happy to see Alan who brought in the Thursday donuts! :)) Thank you.

Xxx

It was an early start yesterday with a trip to the vets in Moseley to take Ben in for his castrate. He was not impressed and did a big wee in the reception of the vets - ooops! Despite this all the nurses fell in love with him but he is spoken for and off to his new home soon. Thank you to Denise for holding the fort whilst I was out and also for collecting Ben after his op. I left him covered up with blankets last night looking very sad.....

Our new arrival Jimmy is absolutely gorgeous..... hmmm if it wasn't for the fact that I totally love Nick, oh and Teddy, Liza and a few others..... ok - I will stop there!

We cat tested Dew and Sally but sadly they both found Tyke and Socks just too exciting - thank you to Emily and Nathan our work experience students for helping with this. We are slowly learning sign language to help Nathan who is deaf - it is impressive watching John his support worker explain in BSL everything we teach.

We had the JCB in to finish off the sand run and it is looking fantastic and I want to thank everyone who has helped achieve this amazing facility.

I am over the moon at the news of Goofy (Nellie) being found - it means my planned 6.30am search for this morning with Julie now means I can stay at home and have an extra cuppa!

Hugs to Skip and Kate and also to Nicole who lost Teddy along with witnessing a very tragic series of events.... love your family be it 2 or 4 legged x

I managed to get to the kennels today :) Thankfully my car is fixed. Skip couldn't quite understand why when he got out yesterday he was still on the drive at home! Xx

Bouncy little Sally went off to the vets for her neutering operation this morning. Many thanks to Jo for taking her. She wasn't quite as bouncy when Lucy and I picked her up this evening. Bless her, hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.

We had a stressful afternoon as my lad Skip and Lucy's Ellie had a collision in the sand run...Skip ended up with a nasty wound on his neck which required stitches. :( Very fortunately Ellie was ok. When we arrived home tonight Lyra and Fletch sniffed Skip all over; but were very gentle with him. He stood very patiently while they inspected and counted his stitches! My poor little lad. Xxx

Thanks so much to Sara for looking after everything at the kennels so we could get Skip to the vets.

It was a beautiful Autumn day, the dogs and volunteers all enjoyed their walks. It's that time of year when the squirrel population are collecting food for the winter and driving some of our residents mad! Bless them!!

Xxx

A goodday today in some ways, but not for Kate, unfortunately her car would not start this morning, thankfully it is now fixed :)
We had lots of helpers so morning and afternoon walks were done, thanks all.
The back bedding store wa s blitzed and everything is now in some sort of order. Thanks to Bella, Lucy and Leanne for doing this.
Pete is making progress with the kitchen, it is gradually coming together.
Sadly Nick is back from foster, he was such a good boy and so well behaved, unfortunately the current dog of the house was not eating and was a little unsettled. He is such a lovely boy, he is our longest stayer and really deserves his forever home. Please someone give this boy a chance, he is such a gentle boy. X

Well done Nick...if you make yourself at home on a sofa that quick surely that takes you a step closer to getting a ftp?! Good work! Xxx

It was a busy day. :)

Our lovely Rose went home this morning. She is such a very sweet girl lots of love to her and her new family.

The very handsome Ben was reserved this afternoon. :) x

Fabulous news of the day Nick has been fostered! Fingers crossed all goes well. He really needs a break from kennel life and to give him a chance to fully recover from his squirrel chasing, gate crashing accident! Earlier this evening his Foster Dad sent a photo of Nick fast asleep on the sofa, he has made himself at home. :)) x

Jess had several pampers today. Great to see lots of lovely doggies, they all left looking and smelling great! Xx One of the boys had a big spot on his head...Everyone knows how much Ruth likes to treat spots! He left without it! :)))

It was great to see past Greyhound Grapevine cover boy Star. He came for a nail clipping. He is going a little grey now, but still a very handsome lad. :))

Despite the weather our brave volunteers took all our residents out for morning and afternoon walks. Two legged and four legged walkers looked quite bedraggled on their return from the last walk this afternoon. Thank you all so much. Xx

Thank you to everyone for their help today. We had two lovely new volunteers come along first thing this morning to help with feeding and cleaning. Xx

According to my diary tomorrow is the first day of Autumn...before we left this evening all the dogs had fleecy coats on. If you need any coats for your Greyhound we have a new stock of Fleeces and Winter Blizzards on sale at the kennels to keep them cozy. :)

Xxx

Too right Kate, if I had the space I would have them all! So lovely to put a face and personality to all the dogs I stalk on here everyday! Xxx

Well what a very wet day! :(

It was lovely to see Jet this morning. He is a very handsome and happy lad. I know if it was possible his Mom would have left the kennels with several Brothers and Sisters for him! :)) Xx

We had two more new arrivals today. Two gorgeous lads Ben and Rocky. We are so grateful to Alan and Richard for collecting them from the track for us. Bob is not very well at the moment so was unable to go. We all wish him a speedy recovery. Xx

Our residents had a morning walk, but were not impressed with getting wet! Our volunteers were not happy either! :) We did offer Gail an ankle length waterproof coat while she dried her own off in the tumble dryer....she turned us down; don't know why, it was only a couple of sizes too big for her!! Thanks so much everyone hope you have all dried out now! :)) x

Pete is making good progress with the kitchen. All the rotten wood has been replaced now and we have a new door!

Liza is a much happier girl today :) She had a walk around the sand run along with Nick. Teddy is doing ok and can go for walks as long as he wears a boot. He could have done with some little Wellies today. :)

Xxx

So despite the rain we had a lovely time at the kennels this morning as jet had his pamper session! Thank you to Lucy, she's done a fantastic job, he looks and smells beautiful, just wish the show was tomorrow so he might actually win something looking as smart as he does now! However, stupid us cleared the supermarket shelf of sardines to bring...then left rushed out and left them behind! Will bring them to the show xxx

Ruth took Liza off to the vets this morning for her neutering operation. Teddy went too as we are still concerned about his paw. He had the stitches out yesterday but it hasn't healed as well as we had hoped. He has some antibiotics to take. What he really needs is a home of his own where he can be pampered, I'm sure his paw would heal very quickly! :)

Liza was a little wobbly when she came back this afternoon. Hopefully she will feel much better tomorrow.

Lucy had a new customer for a pamper a lovely lad called Bruce, not a Greyhound. He is a big chunky lad and when it came to having his nails clipped he was having none of it! He would not keep his feet still. : ) I think he also tried to eat the hair dryer! He is a very happy boy and his tail didn't stop wagging! Lucy and I needed cake afterwards to recover! :))

We had two new arrivals, Dew and Sally, both very pretty girls. Sally is a very happy outgoing little girl. Dew is a little confused at the moment but I'm sure she will soon settle.

Ruth and James put banners up against the fence of the small area in the sand run. We want to make sure the dogs can see the fence when they are running around.

My Skip had a lovely day; he shared the kicthcn with three lovely girls! Ellie, Cassie, and Maggie. :)))

Thank you so much to everyone who helped out today. Xxx

Mom says it is lovely to hear you are getting back to work Auntie Ruth but you must take it easy! Lubs Florence xx

I have been easing myself in gently and yay - I feel I am almost back after just over 2 weeks of illness. After feeding this morning I said good luck to Beauty as she was being signed up and then I headed up to the office at the Swan to unload the van from the remembrance evening on Saturday - thanks to Angie for helping.... however I've got another van-load tomorrow.... hint hint!

Whilst at the office the lovely Neil from Fire Expel came and serviced and certified the fire extinguishers whilst Angie and I created more amazing outfits for our show which is on the 17th November.... we hope you can come - tickets are only £10 and on sale at the kennels.

Back at the kennels, Kate and I dismantled the gazebos in the runs and the shed was filled and then I was off to visit Maggie who lives locally and sort her corn!

I want to say a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who helped the Stars Shine Remembrance Evening being a success.... it really was a wonderful very happy evening to celebrate the wonderful souls that have come into our lives - it really was about remembering the happy times. I am so proud of being part of Daybreaks and long may it continue helping greyhounds into homes..... I just hope every single one is loved until they cross the bridge x

Just returned from a weekend away whereby jet had a sleepover at his Nannys while we were away, missed him so much even for 2 night's but oh the reception I got when I got back was so lovely...everyone needs a grey! May I just add though that he loves sleepovers at Nannys as gets fed goodness knows what it's his favourite place! Xxx

Another good day today. We saw lovely Bella reserved by a family with a daughter named Bella!
Thanks for all the donations of food and bedding too.
As always thanks to our volunteers, we managed morning walks and this afternoon was grooming time!
I had a call from Leo's mom, he is settling really well and is not phased by anything, even other dogs, squirrels on the other hand are another matter. Hoping all continues to go well for him and his family. xx

Hi Henlady, There are some schedules at the kennels.

Re the show next month,will there be a schedule to look at before the day ,we haven't been before but would like to bring Jay and Petal along ,even if we don't enter!!
Both are doing very well and get along great.Their only vice is they are still so very keen when we meet moving cats or squirrels when on a walk,dont know how I will cope with both of them on the occasions that I have to take them on my own when Barry starts his bowling again next week !!!Ant tips gratefully received !!

Yes we did on Facebook there is a big piece about looking after retired greyhounds. Very interesting reading xx

Did anyone watch coronation street last night with the greyhound on? Fab advertisement for the breed as he lies on the sofa of apparent strangers house with children all over him! Hopefully that'll encourage more people to have them! Xxx

Angie, don’t give up on the carrots:) both of mine (Keano and now Moe) have absolutely loved carrots. Moe definitely sees a carrot as being in the same treat league as a bonio or dentistick or any other of the many things that make him jump up and down with joy! He will eat at least four if given the chance. He used to eat them unpeeled but having observed that his mum peels hers before eating it, he will only eat them when peeled now. And, guess what, of course I peel them for him! Bless him, we love him and his funny little ways so much xx

So fantastic to be able to sign both Leo and Marty today over to their new families today. Wishing them and their families great times ahead. Xx

It was another busy Daybreaks day today!

The doggies all had a lovely walk this morning thanks to the volunteers and our new work placement Stan. Nick & Teddy are still on restricted exercise so we all had a gentle potter round the sand run. It is great to see Nick looking so much better, and Teddy is just happy to be able to go out - even of he does have a very funny walk at the moment due to the boot he has to wear!!

This morning also saw the lovely Leo go off to his new home. He looked so very handsome in his new collar, wishing him and his new family many happy years ahead.

The current module in my Canine Nutrition course has been about the ingredients of dog food and treats, so as an experiment I tried all the kennel dogs on pieces of raw carrot. Well, the reaction was slightly underwhelming to say the least!! Of them all, only Roary and Rose enjoyed crunching up the bits. Raven had a go but didn't want seconds, and everybody else turned their noses up!! Hmm - don't they know it's good for them?!?!

This afternoon was a hive of activity getting things ready for tomorrow evening's event. Ruth would like to pass on her thanks to the gang of Eddie, Dave & Stan who spent the afternoon putting up gazebos and tables, and Shirley & James who have swept and tidied the driveway and car parking area. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us tomorrow, although we will have blankets available should the Autumn chill set in!! Look forward to seeing lots of people and Greys as we get together to remember our boys & girls now playing at the Bridge.

Time is flying by and yet another week is at an end, and yes - you've guessed it, it's time for a glass or two of wine!!

Thanks for everyone's help today, and look forward to seeing some of you tomorrow.

Angie xx

Oops! Sorry for the late update, have been asleep on the sofa....I certainly fit in with the Greyhound lifestyle in our house :))

Teddy's paw is looking good. He had a couple of walks around the sand run wearing a boot to keep it clean. He was very happy to be out of his kennel. X

Nick is looking good too. He was a bouncy lad this morning and also enjoyed a gentle stroll in the sand run. :)

Brandy is not enjoying being back in a kennel environment. Do hope a new home will soon be his. He is a very affectionate lad and just wants a family of his own. Xx

Thanks so much to everyone who helped out today. It was a lovely morning for going for a walk. :)

Leo and Marty are both hopefully off to their new homes tomorrow. How exciting for them and their new families. X

Must go get my three ready for bed....wee wees and teeth cleaning are needed! :))

Xxx

Loveheart, our new boy Douggie is exactly the same, within 5 minutes of arriving at our house he had pooped in the middle of an Azalea bush (in a pot), he often has to have his bum in a shrub/tree, when he cocks his right leg to wee his left one is too far in and he falls over cos he can't balance on it, doesn't fall the other way around though - strange dog!!!! Xxxxxx

Hope u r better very soon lots of love. Patch Gracie and Bailey Ellie xxx

I am so desperately grateful to Kate, Jo and the amazing volunteer team at Daybreaks who have all pulled together whilst I am still battling a viral infection affecting my asthma so I am unable to be at the kennels. Although I am improving, another doctors appointment yesterday and was advised to stay off until I am 100%. I am so fed up as I have so much to do and feel helpless. We have the Remembrance Evening this Saturday with lots to do for organising and setting up so I am after your help....... if you can spare a little while on Friday or Saturday to help set up gazebos, tables, lights etc - please please call the kennels (0121 782 7702) and the message will be passed on....
Ruth x

Teddy had a trip with me to the vets this morning, he had his dressing removed :) but he has go back on Monday to have his stitches out. Sadly until then he has to wear his muzzle whilst in his kennel :( Denise was left to sort cleaning and feeding whilst I was gone.
Thanks as always to our Wednesday walkers, the dogs had morning and afternoon walks. We had a new placement student Emily join us today, hoping she enjoys her time with us.
Thanks for the fab donations of prizes from Jess's family and the kind donation of bedding. Xx

Well, what can I say. Finn does get bored quite easily and having realised he is never going to catch the pesky taunting squirrel who has a fail safe escape route (he thinks !) and found cat encounters are a disaster for him,having worn a cat on his face like an Haloween mask, he has taken up a new interest. Now you must have heard of Extreme Sports, well Finn is trying Extreme toileting options. We live on quite a busy road and walk along it on our way to the park. To break his boredom he now tries to lift his bottom onto a low wall or back into a bush (holly included OUCH!) and have a poo. lol Even a low branch on a tree will do, he enjoys the challenge I think. He seemed such a quiet boy when we fostered him. Just shows what a forever home can do, he has obviously become as crazy as us lol FFP and proud.

Jess's Mom and Dad thank you so much for the prizes. So pleased to hear Jess is still in charge! :)) Xxx

Hi all have left a load of prizes for you hope they are ok for you Jess says hello still happy with her human slaves and get well soon Ruth xx

It was Shiftie's turn to visit the vets for her neutering operation today. Thanks so much to Sue for taking her for us. She was a very sleepy girl when I collected her this afternoon. :)

It was Pet Blood Bank day! Roary, Honey, Raven, Marty and Nanny all donated. Well done to them all. :))) We had lots of visitors throughout the day, great to see so many Greyhounds coming in to give blood. They all seemed to enjoy their bowl of Chappie and choosing their own toy afterwards. Xx The vet and nurses were all very impressed with our Failed Foster Parents club T-shirts....very amusing to hear FFP at the Blood Bank stands for FRESH FROZEN PLASMA! Also a very good club to be a member of as that's what becomes of our doggies donations. :)

Our very shy, lovely little Mags went home today. Do hope all goes well for her in her new home. Xxx

Nanny has been fostered and will have a handsome Greyhound lad to keep her company! She is such a sweet happy girl. When I was checking the cameras last night she was trying very hard to get kennel mate Rose to play...Bottom in the air and tail wagging! Rose however was more interested in getting some sleep. :))

It was a really busy day, thanks so much to everyone for their help today.

Wish Teddy luck for tomorrow, he is off to the vets to see if his stitches in his pad can come out. Xxx

Xxx

Perhaps the Fox has heard how kind the day breaks folk are and thinks she should give it a go! Xxx

Bella went for her neutering operation this morning. Thanks so much to Jo for dropping her off at the vets for us. I collected her this afternoon she was a little sleepy but managed to eat her dinner. It's Shiftie's turn tomorrow!

Beauty had a viewing this afternoon and I had a message this evening to say she has got a new home complete with three Greyhound sisters! :) Brilliant news for her. Xx

Thank you to everyone for your help today, it was very busy. Myra and Alan very kindly supervised the kennels so I could pick Bella up from the vets. :) x

I took the bandanas and foster collars home to wash on Saturday....We have a fox who regularly visits our garden, she wandered over to the washing line and found one of the collars had fallen to the floor. She picked it up and trotted off with it! Hope the next time I see her she is wearing it!! :)) Xxx

What a day of 2 halves. This morning we had so many volunteers, so cleaning, feeding and walking were all done in good time, thank to you all for your help. We suffered a 'due to technical difficulties situation' earlier thanks to Lisa for rescuing us! After Alison went there was just Bella and myself left, we had lots of visitors come in to look around andYAY we found both Marty and Leo reserved, pending home checks they should be off to their forever homes soon, so very plesed for them. So it really was a day of one extreme to another.
Thanks again to everyone for their help, it is really appreciated, hope Tina feels better soon, she did feel grotty this morning. Hope Ruth feels better soon too, we miss you Ruth, but don't try and come back unti you are 100% better. Take care all. Jo x

Today got off to a flying start with Jerry being homed. He came in with his new owner looking very happy and relaxed. :) He now lives with his new friend a Springer Spaniel and has lots of fun and walks. Xx

Sadly Nanny came back to the kennels this morning. We have paired her up with sweet little Rose, they are getting along fine together.

Lucy had three customers for a pamper....not all of them enjoyed the experience! :)) but they looked great afterwards! :)

Rose has been reserved again! Great news for her, she is incredibly sweet. Xx

Had a phone call this afternoon to say Nifty wanted to meet Shiftie! It was kind of love st first sight....well they had a good sniff of each other anyway! They look lovely together. Fingers crossed all goes well when Nifty takes Shiftie home next week. Xx

Nick seeemed to be walking better today, ate all his meals and looked quite bright. He sat on a bed in the small run for a while watching the world go by. He really needs to be in his special home where he can be waited on until he is fully recovered. :)) x

Little Roxy popped in to use the run with her new sister Missy, they look so good together. Deb, their Mom showed us a video of them playing together in the garden at home. We also had visits from Elsa (Tiny) and Layla (Sheila) both adored by their new families.

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. A big thank you to Jo's son who came and fixed our water heater. :) It rained on the last walk this afternoon...a lot! Luckily the doggies all had coats on.

Shirley brought all the candles and holders in ready for next week's remembrance evening. Many thanks for all her hard work. It will be a a special evening. Xxx

Not a typical Friday today, we had lots and lots of helpers so the boys and girls were able to have 2 lovely walks and we could get on with health checks, grooming and other little jobs - it was great.

Mr Nick is still a little wobbly but his face is healing well. We also had woofs and waggy tails, and his appetite certainly hasn't suffered! Hopefully his recovery will continue and he will soon be back to his usual self - bless him he is such a lovely boy.

One of our helpers this morning was Ruby Rebel's Mum, she was very proud to tell us that she took Ruby to the Great Greyhound Gathering last weekend and he came 5th in the Best Black Boy class and is now the proud owner of a lovely rosette - well done handsome.

I spent some time sitting on the floor of the kitchen run with the handsome Roary and his pretty little kennel mate Honey. They both loved the company and Honey, bless her, insisted on trying to climb into my lap and sit on it!! I told her she is just not a lap dog, and she eventually settled for lying on the bed next to me, such a sweetie. My handsome Roary is a true leaner and stood for ages getting cuddles. It was great to be able to have the opportunity to spend some real quality time with some of the dogs today.

There were a couple of health checks and I must say that lovely little Rose was by far and away the best behaved. She stood so beautifully still to have her ears and teeth cleaned, and her nails trimmed. Such a sweetheart, still a little nervous but coming on really well, it is such a shame that her reservation has fallen through, but I'm sure she will soon find herself another sofa.

Well, another weekend is on us so lets hope for some more viewings followed by some red signs. I am now off for my customary Friday night glass of wine - cheers all and have a great weekend.

Angie xx

A big thank you to Heather and her family for collecting Beauty from her owner yesterday. They kept her overnight and dropped her off at the kennels this morning. I believe their houndie Toby was quite taken with her :)) She is a happy little soul, I'm sure it won't be long before she finds a new home.

Teddy had a trip to see the vet for a check up on his paw after having a corn removed. Unfortunately he had a poorly tum last night and managed to end up with a very smelly bandage. Thankfully his pad and stitches look good and his paw has been redressed. He lay very happily on the vets bench and almost went off to sleep! We had to wait quite a while to see the vet and he was such a good boy. Apart from raising his ears a few times he took very little notice of the cat who was miaowing loudly in his carrier...went by the name of Del Boy! He also met two Basset Hounds, he just couldn't figure out what they were and had a very long, hard look at them. :) x

Richard managed to straighten the metal bar on the gate that Nick had bent on Tuesday. It proves how important it is to make sure the gate is closed properly. He could have ended up on the Coventry Road had he managed to get it fully open. He is about the same today, still a little wobbly but had a gentle walk in the sand run with Shirley and post op girl little Rose which he enjoyed. Xx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. We had two ladies from HSBC who had come for a volunteer charity day. Sorry it rained on them and our other volunteers on the afternoon walks...Gail managed to fight through the bedding store and make it more presentable, thank you. :)) Alan and Paddy came in bearing gifts of donuts and sardines! X

Lots of hugs to Ruth who is still feeling poorly. :((

Xxx

Nick what are you doing? Thamk god you are ok, and thank him also that the gate was shut. Xx

Oh no Nick!!!!, such a lucky boy not to have been badly injured, what a fright you must have given everybody!!, hope you are feeling better today sweetheart xxxx

Morning from Mr Nick! Although still wobbly (not surprising as I’ve seen the bent bit on the metal gate) and still bleeding (but sides of his face look like they’ve been in contact with a grater) he is bright and just wobbled up to the sand run to empty out, had a biscuit and is crashed out on our bed! Seeing the footage on the cameras I can only say I am just so relieved he didn’t kill himself... he was on the ground passed out for over 6 minutes. I’m grateful to Kate, Sara and Lucy for taking him to the vets and only phoned Andy to say what had happened when they were on their way down the Coventry Road heading to the vets! He’s ok yayyyy and I’ll be working on squirrel lunging training!

Ha ha, not put me off. He will have his work cut out trying to pull me... i am about three times the size of you girls????. I have a friend who's dog chased a rabbit once and ran into a tree and knocked itself out. My mate picked him up buy his four feet and draped the dog across his shoulders and carried him home.

Riasdad, hope Nicks escapade this evening hasn't put you off coming to meet him! He is a very loving and intelligent lad except when it comes to running into gates! :) Xxx

Thanks to our Nick we had a very stressful end to the day! He had just been in the run with Sara when the poor lad decided to try and run through the gate on the drive without opening it first! He was in hot pursuit of a pesky Squirrel and was too strong for Sara to hold onto. He collapsed to the floor and had cut his face. He didn't get up for several minutes and we were fearing the worst. Thank goodness he got to his feet although he was somewhat wobbly.

We took him straight to the vet where he got a through examination. His face has a few cuts and he must have a terrible headache, but there are no broken bones. The vet recommended he stay somewhere he could be kept an eye on overnight....so he is staying with poorly Ruth...Andy has two patients to look after tonight! Bless him. Xxx

Please Nick, don't ever do it to us again. Xxx

Rumour has it, that Ria is looking for a mate. It is said that Kate has been asked several questions about a long term resident called Nick!

Hi Kate, I posted the coat back to you yesterday, so you should receive it possibly today. Thanks - Shani xx

Oh loveheart I just love your stories they're so funny and Finn sounds such a funny little boy. I think you should write a book of his tales, id certainly buy it! Xxx

Another warm day today, we had enough volunteers to do morning walks, short this afternoon so James took the dogs into the sand run for a blast. Visitors for food and a family came to look at our dogs, they are going to have a chat about who they may like the most.
Rose was reserved today, yah :) She and Teddy went off to the vets this morning, Rose to be neutered and Teddy to see why he keeps lifting his one leg, turns out he had a deeply embedded corn, bless him :(
We had donations of bedding, towels and duvets as well as a surprise delivery from Tesco of sardines for the dogs and chocolate cake for the hoomans! Thanks to Carol for that, very much appreciated.
We have a hornet nest at the back of the kennels, so pest control are coming to sort that tomorrow.
Ruth is still not well :(( I am sure you will all join me in wishing her a speedy recovery. Take care of yourself Ruth and listen to what you are told and do it!
Once again thanks to today's team, you are all just fab!. Jo xx

After coming home one day and finding 4 Greys on the 3rd floor of our Victorian house unable or unwilling to attempt descending whenever we have added a new "baby" to the fold we put a stair gate at the bottom step for a couple of weeks until they settle in. Well we thought Fat Neck Finn was a fast learner and the gate has been off for weeks now. However yesterday we came home and Nina met us but no Finn I looked on his bed and there was one of my teddy bear collection kept in our bedroom with its jumper half off! Just then Finn came bounding down the stairs wagging his tail very happy, has this hound no shame? Heart in mouth I went up stairs. It was like a Teddy Bear massacre lol
They where strewn everywhere; He had obviously been looking for one that squeaked (he's always been a "squeak freak") and abandoned it when he found it didn't and gone back to drag another off the window seat where they are displayed. None where damaged just chomped on and bless him he had had fun. Too tired for a second walk that day
Me not Finn..lol If anyone out there wants a dog with lovable quirks hurry along to Daybreaks they will have just the one for you----please x

A lovely warm day today. We still have a poorly Ruth :( We had enough volunteers to do morning walks, sadly not so this afternoon, so they all had some time in the run. All in all a little quiet for visitors with just the occasional person dropping in for food.
The extension to the resident cats area is making progress thanks to Andy and his dad :)
Would just like to say thanks for the help today, I really do appreciate it. In the immortal words of Angie, I am going to have a nice glass of wine now, oh dear I appear to be half way through it already! Maybe time for a top up.

Xxxxxx

Aw thank you Kate. Douggie has settled really well, he is a very good boy for a young pup, he is clean in the house, sleeps all night, walks beautifully on the lead and is great with other breeds. He and Dexter are getting along well, think Dexter is still missing Jack though. Bringing Douggie into our lives is helping us all cope with the massive hole that Jack left when he went to the bridge. Douggie makes us laugh with his quirky little ways and that's what we needed. Xxxxxxx

Shanishoo, Happy Birthday to your new boy Douggie! Hope all is going well. Xxx

Summer returned today! :)

Thank you to Andy for helping me with feeding and cleaning this morning. Ruth is still not feeling well. All the doggies send her lots of get well wishes. Xxx

Roxy met her new sister Missy, they got on great together. :) She then went off to start her new life with Debbie and her family. Everyone was very excited for her. Xxx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. A big thank you to Sara for supplying the ice creams!

We are running low on tins of fish and meat for our residents, If you are able to spare one or two next time you visit the kennels we would be so grateful. :)

We have two new girls arriving early next week....it would be great if some of our fab black boys could find their forever homes. We have many more on our waiting list waiting for their chance to go home too.

Xxx

Get well soon Ruth.

Get better soon Ruth xx

Hope you feel better soon Ruth xxxx

Get well soon ruth! Xxx

Get well soon Ruth. xx

I would like to echo Angies best wishes to Ruth for a speedy recovery, please Ruth take it easy, between us we can cope. X
Lovely to see Rory's dad today to get some food, he is doing fantastically (Rory I mean)!
Several visitors came in for food, don't forget we do have this on site to sell.
Lovely as Angie said to see Treaty now Murphy off to his new home, he was so very interested in everything in the office, he was into everything!
I seemed to spend a lot of time on the phone today, which was good and this resulted in a viewing tomorrow, pampers and new volunteers booked in over the next few days.
A massive thanks to Angie and James for all their hard work today, I am also partaking in a glass or two of wine! Ruth take care we are thinking of you. Xxxx
Jo xxxx

We had a furniture delivery today and Fat Neck Fin came off his bed to great the two delivery men as they stood in the hallway. I told them he's from Daybreaks RGT. He stroked him and said "He's erm, quite a big boy, erm quite bonny, quite filled out for a Greyhound isn't he? I could see he was trying to stop digging the hole he was in so I said "yes he is way past his racing weight I would think!" LOL poor Finn.x

Well, where did that lovely sunny day come from? What a bonus after all the grey and dismal weather of the past week or so.

Please join me in sending best wishes to Ruth, who was very poorly today and ended up with a visit to A&E. Fortunately she is back at home now tucked up in bed - take care and get well soon.

It was a typical quiet Friday, so more sand run playtime for the Greys today. The new "meet and greet" area is really good, it meant we could have 2 dogs out at a time, the more energetic in the large area and the ones that just enjoy pottering about off lead and having a general mooch around in the smaller area.

We had a visit from Jeanette, a Reiki practitioner, who spent some time working with Marty, Teddy, Mags and Roary. Reiki is a holistic Japanese healing method for stress reduction and relaxation. The Greys certainly enjoyed their time with Jeanette, and timid little Mags who is still so very nervous of life, was even pawing at her to carry on by the end of her session! Thank you Jeanette for your time today.

This morning saw the lovely Treaty, now called Murphy, off to his new home. Jo and I made sure we had plenty of kisses off him before he left the premises - wishing him and his new family many happy years ahead.

We had another visit from Sharon who took some photographs of the Greys in their kennels. The only problem she found was that every time she lined up a shot - the Grey would get up and come and have a nose at the camera lens!!!

Kenny paid us another visit today, he is looking good and has put a little weight on already after changing his feeding regime last week - good boy.

The weekend is upon us again, and we have viewings booked so fingers crossed. I am off now to have my usual Friday evening glass of wine - a reward after a busy day.

Its the Great Greyhound Gathering tomorrow and some of our volunteers are organising the refreshments throughout the day. To everyone that is going, have a great day and do pop in for a cuppa!

Have a good weekend.

Angie x

Sweet little Mags had her neutering operation today. She was very nervous and didn't want to get out of the car when we arrived at the vets. Bless her. All went well and she is tucked up in her kennel tonight. :)

Two more gorgeous new arrivals this morning, Bella and Rose, both very pretty girls. :))

Ballymac Victor who was on the website as "Coming Soon" has been found a home by his Trainer. We wish him a happy new life. :)

Ruth dragged Richard off to the sand run this morning and had him digging holes for the fencing! :) Shirley's Greyhound Mervin was using the run at the time and raced over to offer his assistance!

Later on Ruth had the lovely job of a trip to the tip! Such a glamorous life! xx

Lucy and I had lots of cuddles with Treaty before we went home tonight. He is off to his new home in the morning. Xx

Thanks to Sara for the new photos of the doggies...and thanks so much to everyone for their help today. :)

I have had to sit on the floor to write this diary update....both sofas have a Greyhound lying fully outstretched on them; on their backs with legs in the air! No room left for me or Lyra! :))) Bless them!! Xxxx

Xxx

Thanks Jo for the Daybreaks update..... sadly the Trust van failed its MOT and needs quite a bit of money spending on it.... however it is our work horse and it got Roxy to the vets yesterday afternoon for her post op check and Treaty for his booster vaccination.

I did some training work in the run yesterday introducing the very cheeky Fee (Julie Sadlers hairy boy) and Mags and it is going really well, gaining confidence daily :-) As we now have sectioned off a small part of the sand run for introductions this helps massively.

We will keep you posted later with news from our busy little kennels!

Well, I am late posting this today! Thanks as always to our lovely Wednesday walkers, and extra volunteers, all dogs (apart from them on no walk post ops) had 2 walks today.
Little Roxy was reserved ):
Ruth took the Trust van for an MOT :(
Roxy went for her check up at the vets and Treaty had his booster, both enjoyed their dinner when they got back.
We have 2 new arrivals tomorrow, hope they settle well and don't have to wait too long for their forever.
Mr Nick Nick really needs a home, he is currently our longest stayer, he really is lovely and needs a home where there is someone at home most of the time, he is a real people dog and relishes human contact. Please do not be put off by the big black dogs, they have so much love to give, he would make a fantastic addition to the right home. He is a bit of a favourite with quite a few of us (as all of them are)
Take care all. Jo xxxxxx

So sad to see Marty back at the kennels today :( His foster career says he is a very affectionate lad who will make a great friend.

Treaty being reserved helped to brighten the day! :) So happy for him.

We had a greyhound brought into the kennels late yesterday afternoon who had managed to escape from his home. Fortunately he had been picked up by very kind people who called us to see if we could help find his owner. Sadly he was not wearing a collar so had no identity tag. He was microchipped and we were able to ascertain he had indeed been homed by us several years ago. Sadly the owners contact details were out of date. The good news is we were able to contact them using an email address and he was reunited with his family this morning.

Please check with the microchip company your dog is registered with that the details they have for your dog are up to date. You are required by law to have a collar on your dog with an Identity tag which includes your name, address and contact details. We are able to order pet tags at the kennels if you would like us to. :)

Xxx

Thanks - will go with white, then. Xxx

NMD07... Sorry only in white. X

Do you have the “raced into my heart” shirt in black ?

Hmmmm LadyVictoria - when you mention Roxy is wearing one of my 'old' t-shirts - I have to correct you there! It is one of my favourite t-shirts but fitted her perfectly so was happy to let her borrow it!!! ;-)

Apologies for not updating on my 'movements at Daybreaks' over the last few days but Friday was another sad day and I accompanied Shirley whilst the lovely Bonnie went to Rainbow Bridge. Bonnie was Foxy's litter mate sister and I am just so glad I got to meet her. She had the most amazing ears just like Foxy.... I am sure they are running free together and a feather on the door of the van I am sure was a message......

Saturday was hectic as was Sunday - although very soggy so yesterday was a day off - thank you to Kate for covering. I am already getting orders for Christmas cards and t-shirts so I am doing regular trips to the post office.... the calendars should hopefully be ordered by the end of the week but I will let you know when they are available.

Andy and I popped over to see Nina and 'Fat Neck Finn' and we collected several boxes of our fabulous t-shirts which are now on sale.... I am massively grateful to Mark and Jenny who have made these possible and donated them to help raise funds for our kennels projects. I have added a photo of Jo, Lisa and Angie modelling them so if you would like one - give us a yell!

Tickets are going well for our Night of Remembrance on the 15th September - just hope the sky is clear so we can see our stars shine. If you would like to book via justgiving here is the link: www.justgiving.com/fundraising/letthestarsshine or pop into the kennels to let us know. Ruthx

A busy morning cleaning out the kennels...quite a few messy ones! Yvonne and I both agreed how rewarding It is to see them all nice and clean when you have finished. :)

We had several viewings which will hopefully see a couple of our boys reserved, fingers crossed.

Teddy seems much better now, but he really needs a forever home, he is quite stressed at the kennels. He loves people and would be a lovely companion and friend. Xx

Roxy spent the day in the kitchen with, Louis, Ellie, Lyra and Skip. She is a brilliant little girl. I was told she and Skip got along really well and she even managed to get Skip to play! :) She is currently wearing one of Ruth's old t-shirts to protect her stitches, she looks so cute! X

Thanks to Ronnie and Reggies owners who brought in dental chews for the dogs. The boys both looked great! We also had a visit from the the very handsome Billy and Sam. Great to see them all. X

Lucy had two customers for a Bank Holiday pamper! Reggie wasn't too keen and wanted to get out of the bath. :)

Thanks so much to everyone for all our help today. Xxx

Xxx

Teddy had a very upset stomach last night. Angie and I were met with an extremely messy kennel this morning. Poor lad. We decided it was best to pop him to see the vet. He came back with some antibiotics. He was such a good boy at the vets and was very interested in everything the vet was doing. :) Hopefully he will feel a little bettter tomorrow.
Thanks so much to Angie who had the unenviable job of cleaning his kennel! Xx

Ruth sent Will off to his new home this morning. :) Wishing him and his new family lots of happy times together. He is a super lad.

This afternoon it was Nanay's turn to go home. She was happy to surpervise the signing of her paperwork as well as checking out all the treats in the office!

Andy and his Dad started work on the cat run. All was going well until it started to rain on their concrete! We managed to get one of the gazebos put up over the top of everything, then it stoped raining and the sun came out again!!

Kitty came in for a pamper with Jess, Kitty is such a happy girl. :) We also had a visit from Seren and her family. She looks fab! Xx

Thanks so much to everyone who brought in donations of food for our residents. :)

We had lots of help today so the dogs had morning and afternoon walks. Thanks so much to everyone.

Hoping Teddy sleeps well tonight and is feeling better in the morning.

Xxx

An early start for Ruth as she took Roxy off to the Vet for her spey first thing.

No volunteers this morning meant the Greys enjoyed sand run playtime again.

We had a visit from Kenny and his Mum during the morning. She had come to buy some food and, as we were chatting about ways to build up Kenny's weight and the benefits of the various foods, Kenny settled the discussion by climbing into the food store and, after sniffing everything in there at least twice, selecting a bag that he liked the smell of!!! Just hope he eats it when he gets home!

We had plenty of walkers this afternoon - who unfortunately got caught in a torrential downpour and returned to the kennels absolutely drenched with some very unhappy wet doggies!!! Thank goodness it was the last walk and everyone could get dry. Thanks to everyone for braving the elements.

This afternoon saw the handsome Will get himself reserved. He was an instant hit with his new family, giving his new Mum the Greyhound "lean" which sealed the deal!

Let's hope the weather improves for the Bank Holiday weekend, and that some more of our residents find themselves a forever sofa to snuggle on.

Cheers everyone, a glass of red wine is beckoning me (well it is Friday!!). Have a great holiday weekend.

Angie xx

Ruth dropped Roary off at the the vets for his neutering operation this morning and I collected him this afternoon. He was still a little drowsy when he got back to the kennels. Hopefully after a good nights sleep he will feel better.

We had two lovely new arrivals today, Fifi and Mags, both very pretty girls. Fifi is a very happy and affectionate girl. Mags is very shy but has already been reserved! Bless her. Xx

Pete out lovely carpenter was in working on the kitchen, it is beginning to take shape. We are so grateful for all his hard work, even if he is getting very demanding when it comes to cups of tea! Xx

We had a visit from a great couple of photographers who took pictures of all the dogs for their Facebook page and also for us to use on our website. Many thanks to them for spending such a long time with our residents. They both fell in love with them all!

We are very, very grateful for all the donations of fish and meat we have received this week. But wouldn't say no to some more!! xx

Thanks to everyone for their help today!

Xxx

I have every thing crossed that this bank holiday weekend brings potential owners to the kennels as there seem to be so many lovely greys there waiting.Jay and Petal are doing really well,thr later is a real affectionate little girl and has this sweet habit of bringing our garden shoes,watches ,draft excluder etc into her bed if we are not in the room with her!!!I have handed her walking over to Barry for now as she is still very keen with cats and small dogs,he has done well with Jay as he just whines a bit but doesn't react unless they run!!!

A quiet day for visitors but we had our lovely usual walkers this morning and everyone enjoyed the late summer sunshine. A big thank you to Norman for taking Treaty to the park. I believe he had a great time and Norman said he was a good boy with both other dogs and people. He is a super lad who loves to give out kisses. :))

Thanks so much to loveheart for your kind comments about Daybreaks. We do have lots of great volunteers who truly love the Greyhounds and want everyone of them to find a happy loving home. :) We are so grateful for all their help and to everyone who supports us in lots of different ways.

Xxx

Oh no the waiting list is increasing, maybe it is just the holiday season slowing things down, I do hope so. On the positive side I have to say whenever I pop over to Daybreaks it is such a happy cheerful place with such positive vibes. Even the hounds who are anxious and confused when they arrive after only knowing kennel life, soon realise that this place is not just another kennel, it is somewhere full of caring loving people who will stop at nothing (well maybe there are somethings too far) to find the right forever home for these deserving Greys. They give up their days and weekends for the love of them, and sometimes have to struggle with emotions when they have sad news, but the next day they are back in the groove, because the hounds also keep them sane in this mad world with their little funny quirks, and cuddles soon put a smile back on their faces. Long may Daybreaks be the oasis of care it is.

I really hope this weekend brings some forever homes for the Daybreaks residents, some have waited so patiently, and they all deserve a home to call their own. I am keeping my fingers crossed for all the boys and girls xxxxxx

We had lots of help today :) Our boys and girls all had a nice long walk this morning and more walks again this afternoon. It was a really pleasent walking type of day!

The very handsome Ashley came in for a pamper with Lucy. He was such a good boy. :)

We have lots of lovely Greyhounds at the kennels waiting for that special someone to come along, take them home and love them. It's so sad there are so many on our waiting list. Some of the boys have been waiting a long time to come into the kennels for a chance of a forever home.

If you are thinking of adopting a dog please consider a Greyhohund, they make wonderful pets!

Xxx

A fairly quiet day today. All dogs managed to have morning walks. As we were short of volunteers this afternoon the kids all had a play with some toys in the run. Thank you to our volunteers for all your help today, as always much appreciated. We did have 2 bookings for the newly extended sand run, I think all the dogs enjoyed it. Thanks too for the donations of bedding, toys, doggie stuff and treats.
Sadly no viewings today, fingers crossed for a good week on that front. X

Loveheart, Barney lives with trauma everyday - his sister supports Aston Villa and his dad supports West Bromwich Albion. Need I say more! Xx

No homes found for any of our residents today :( Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Thank you to all our visitors today. Thank you to everyone who popped in and donated bedding and food. :) We are so grateful.

Our lovely previous Daybreaks lad Coffee paid us a visit with his Mom. He looks so happy:) It's so nice when we see old faces, wonderful to see them enjoying their new lives after their racing is over. :) xx

We also saw Nifty after he had been helping show people how brilliant Greyhounds are at Melbicks. He was so proud wearing his "uniform" It tells everybody he is happy and homed. :)))

Thanks for everyone's help today. Xxx

hooray" Fat neck Finn has gone down a hole on his collar ! but alas has now gone up a hip size. Think it may be comfort eating due r the "cat attack" Has barney had some trauma to make him go back to shredding I wonder? Finn would like to shred the cat but I told him aunty Ruth would not approve of that and anyway he would no doubt come off worse again. lol

Lovely to hear Nanny has been reserved and then so sad to hear Leo was running free. I have not met many of the Grey's who leave us, but always feel the pain for them and their owners. It truly is a special family who sometimes never meet but all have Daybreaks holding them together in it's heart. So let's all make the remembrance night on September 15th a big family affair, and raise lot's of money for the hounds yet to find a forever home. They are all special and this night will celebrate the lives of the ones we so loved and have lost. Gone but never ever forgotten.x

It was a quiet Friday today, only a couple of visitors through the door all day - but one of those visitors ended up reserving the lovely Nanny!

We had lots of helpers, including a volunteer from HSBC, so the boys & girls had two walks and the more energetic ones had some sand run playtime this afternoon too.

As it was so quiet I went on another mopping and cleaning mission round the kennels! It makes me smile when mopping the block corridors to see the different reactions from the inmates. Some can't even be bothered to lift their heads to look, whilst with others it's just like Wimbledon as their heads follow the mop back and forth!

Jet was fine today, he is such a gentle boy although he wasn't impressed when his pals went out on their walks and he had to stay behind!

I've bought my tickets for the remembrance evening on 15th September, it will be such a lovely evening getting together to remember our hounds who are now playing at Rainbow Bridge. Give the kennels a call to reserve yours, or if you can't make it on the night we can light a candle on your behalf for a donation of £2.50

Well the weekend is upon us yet again, and as it's Friday it must be time for wine! I've had a lovely day today and am keeping my fingers crossed for some more red signs across the weekend.

Thanks to all today's helpers, happy weekend all.

Angie x

It was Jet's turn to go off to the vets to be neutered today. Poor lad was very stressed at the vets. :( Thankfully all went well and when I went to collect him this afternoon he was back to being his usual happy self and enjoyed some dinner. :))

Ruth had the very pleasent task of visiting Diddy and his new family to complete his adoption paperwork, we are all so very happy for him. Xxx

Pete continued work on the kitchen, it's starting to take shape. Unfortunately he discovered more rotten wood than we expected so it has slowed things down a little.

Thanks to Richard and Alan for putting the big board with all the kennel details on up on the wall. It's much easier to see who is where without having to grovel on the floor to read it!

The Canine Massage Therapy ladies were here for the day. They loved all the dogs they worked on and the dogs loved all the extra attention! I watched them at work for a while. It was really interesting and quite a different type of Massage to what I was expecting. Greyhounds are good to work on as they really don't mind lieing still for a while!

Many thanks to Alan and Paddy for bringing in doughnuts for us all and lots of tins of Sardines for our Daybreaks residents! Doughnuts are a Thursday fixture now!! :))

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. Xxx

Well yet another busy day today. We saw 2 dogs off to their forever homes, Emily now Ebony and Jean now Angel.
Thanks as always to our Wednesday walkers, the dogs had 2 walks as the weather was cooler, much better for them and our vounteers!
We had some lovely donations of tinned fish for the hounds, thank so very much.
The kennels office had a bit of a tidy up and looks good. I went with Ruth to our Swan office to drop some stuff off, wow what an amazing space that is.
Remember tickets for our remembrance night are on sale now, £5.00 per ticket which includes a lovely jacket potato and a candle in a glass holder with pawprint embellishment for you to light and remember our Rainbow Bridge hounds.
Tickets are also now available for the annual Daybreaks show, this year not only will you have top class entertainment performed by our braver team of staff and volunteers, but also I am told there will be some lovely hot food to accompany this too. Book your tickets as soon as possible, this will be an amazing evening (as always) to remember!
Thanks to Simon for coming in and doing some more work in the sand run. Don't forget the run is available to book all week, and has now been extended even further!
Take care all. Jo xxxx

Poor Fat neck Finn just as we where going to get stuck in with his "Fat to Finn" diet program the vet gave him an anti-inflammatory for his cat induced injury and a side effect of this medication is increased appetite in some cases. Unfortunately he is one of them. I saw him looking longingly at a pigeon and told him "if you catch it you eat it"
he looked at me as if to say "I was trying to do that with the cat and look where it got me!!!" lol
He finishes the med today so hopefully will be back to his usual normal gluttony. Could I book 2 jacket potatoes for him at the remembrance night Ruth. Let's all light up the sky with our candles on 15th September because I am sure our Angels will be looking down watching with Foxy in charge xx

Ruth,I was so very sorry to read of your loss and having lost 2 Greys myself in the last 6 months I know just how you feel.Try and take comfort in the knowledge of all the lovely times you had together.
Jay and Petal have settled very well now,both are still very strong on the lead if we see a cat,am hoping I can manage them on my own once Barry starts his bowls in the mornings and cant come with me !!!
Am glad to see that dear Diddie is still being fostered do hope that works out for him ,he so deserves a nice home.As do all your other lovely Greys,its such a shame there are so many waiting ,don't think things will ever change until they stop breeding so many in Ireland
Wish we lived closer then I would be at the kennels many times a week but the journey from Rugby is a bit much!!

I had fun today helping Pete strip more out from the kitchen... boy - it was not good for my asthma :-( It was fab seeing Mr Jimmy Brindle today however he didn't seem too impressed.... I am sure the looks he was giving was 'I have my new life now and who are you?!'

I health checked cheeky girl Eillie, Will, Brandy and Mr Naughty Pants Nick spent some time in the office - he is such a fabulous boy!

Just logging on I have noticed that Sara has added loads of photos of Foxy to this page..... such happy memories of such a legend of a little fella - boy do I miss him however feel so blessed I was able to have him for a quarter of my life!!!! If you look at the events section, I have arranged a remembrance night at the kennels - a special evening to remember all our lost but loved ones.... I hope you can come x

Both Teddy and Treaty seemed to have recovered from their recent neutering ops. They were much happier today. :))

Sweet little Jet went home today. Wishing her a very happy new life with her new family. :) Apologies to Barney's Mom and Sister for the long wait while Jet's paperwork was completed. It was lovely to see you both. I am sure Barney will like the new pet tag you ordered for him. :)

We had a visit from Lola and Jimmy this morning. They came to use the run, both of them looked very well and happy! Xx

Horsey's Mom popped in to see us to let us know how her lad is getting on. He is doing great and all the family adore him! So very happy for him. Xx

We were a little short of helpers this afternoon, thanks to Sara for taking most of the dogs into the sand run and to James for his help with feeding.

The run is looking good, it's so very long! :) The new enclosure for the chickens is great, gives them lots more room.

Xxx

Riasdad, It was lovely to see you both yesterday. I'm sure Ria forgot all about her corns when she got her treat from the chippy! Thanks so much for the tins of fish and the donation of Shelby's coats. So kind of you. Xxx

Thank you all at the kennels yesterday for making me and Ria so
welcome. Ria is walking so much better today now those two huge corns removed and her nails trimmed. It only cost me two jumbo sausages and some roast chicken from the chippy to cheer her up again!. I will fit Greyhound stickers will go onto my van as soon as it stops raining.

Fat neck Finns antics are brilliant, always makes me laugh, he sounds a real character and so much fun xxxxxx

A much cooler day today. The dogs enjoyed morning and afternoon walks. :)

Poor Treaty wasn't a happy boy. He was neutered yesterday and was obviously not feeling brilliant, spent a lot of the day crying. :( Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. He is a really lovely lad, very affectionate. He really wanted lots of cuddles today. Xx

Ruth, Andy, Steve and Sarah managed to reconstruct the chicken coop and they are happily back where they belong. :)

Thanks to everyone for their help...sadly no homes found for any of our beautiful hounds today :(( Maybe tomorrow!

Xxx

Up date on Fat neck Fin's assault by a cat. Now on antibiotic and anti-inflammatory he seems mostly back to his old "eat your own body weight" in one meal, self. He had only just started a very flexible "diet" when this happened and now he is off down the garden again after his breakfast eating all the birds brown bread ! and drooling watching Nina finish hers. He does however have a bad case of post traumatic stress and cannot go in the conservatory where the dastardly deed took place without having flashbacks of having a cat hanging his your face!!! Good job hubby is a therapist lol

The sand run is looking great! Got loads of more space and a tractor to smooth the sand over! It will be excellent for the greys and other breeds to run and play. Good news for the hens as they have their own space now as well... xxxx

They're always with us - just a blink away. Still sometimes think I catch sight of my brindle girl Tia and she has been gone 4 years now. They get so deep inside our hearts. much love. xx

As Shanesmum said, it was one of those days where you can’t seem to accomplish much as the phone was so busy too so after the gates had locked from the outside I set to work!

Four hours later the skip had been filled, so had the shed and the storage roller shutter and I can now get into my treatment room in preparation for today as we have poor poppy coming to have her pads trimmed as well as a few corns to dig out! Huge thanks to Angie for keeping me away from the brink of crying all day.... several times I’m sure I heard or caught a sight of a fawn dog out the corner of my eye..... :-( xx

As the sand run extension is now finished I’ve just go to get the tractor out and rake it and we are ready for action ! If you’d like to book it - give us a call!

Such sad news re Foxy at an already difficult time. Saying goodbye never gets any easier. Take heart from the fact he was loved and well looked after. Our condolences. X

Today was one of those days when you seem to be on the go constantly but don't seem to accomplish much!

An early start saw Ruth take Treaty off to the Vet for his castrate, so with no volunteers I did my chambermaid duties for all the boys & girls!

There were lots of health checks to do, which kept me out of mischief during the morning!

Jet's new family came to visit her on her birthday, they are so excited about taking her home next week. The best news of the morning though was seeing Diddy trot happily off to his foster home - fingers crossed for this gorgeous boy.

Kenny brought his new Mum in for a visit - he is looking great and is doing very well, he is a much loved boy.

We had some helpers this afternoon so the boys and girls managed to get a walk, although the heavens opened on the last trip and soaked everybody!! We had a few rumbles of thunder too, but it soon passed over thankfully.

Work on the sand run is progressing well, and with our new kitchen and the extension to the cat room under construction, we are really excited to see the improvements to our facilities up and running.

The weekend is upon us again, we have viewings booked so fingers crossed please that we can send some more boys and girls out to start a new life and make way for some newcomers to start out on their path to the future.

As it's Friday it must be wine day!! A nice glass of red tonight I think as it's gone cool and dull. Happy weekend all.

Angie xx

So so sorry to hear about foxy. My heart and thoughts are with you Ruth. God bless foxy xxx

Two more new arrivals today :) Tall handsome Roary and very pretty little Jean. We were just contemplating who to pair Jean up with when she was reserved! :)) Fast work! x

It was a sad day for Ruth, she gave Foxy a lovely home. Hoping our current Daybreaks residents will all be lucky enough to find a home where they will be loved as much as Foxy was in his. Xxx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today.

Xxx

So so sad to say goodbye to Fox today! Gonna miss having the big fella stay with me n my boys. Hope you don't mind Ruth but i've added some pictures of Foxy n ones of him with Charles n Fluff. RIP mate, xxxxx

It is so satisfying! I was worried I was squeezing out pigment! Timmy looks so much better now and is growing fur on his tummy. I also use a facial wash on his tummy occasionally. He likes that! Bryn has been with us 9 years and has a pink skinned belly fully covered in bright white fur!

Hello everyone! It seems we're running low on tins of fish and dog meat for our lovely doggies, so this is a small plea to anyone who could spare us a few tins, the girls and boys would be really grateful! They are particularly fond of pilchards and sardines! :) thank you! xx

Hehe skinny me, I was over the moon when I realised the tummy spots were like black heads I could squeeze...So satisfying! Luckily get doesn't mind me getting them and in true jet style just chills and relaxes! And oh no poor fin...think he's going to have to learn 90% of the time cats will win! He'd have a heart attack here with the 5 cats, 2guinea pigs, chickens, quails and budgies bombing around! Hey does have to put up with some things living with us! Xxx

Oh poor Finn, hope he feels better soon, his antics do make me chuckle though xxxx

Hi Debbie, re: photo 9, yes they are dirt spots and can be easily squeezed out, very satisfying if youre into that sort of thing. ????

Picture This---2 small furry creature hating Greyhounds and a suicidal cat trapped after trespassing into our small conservatory through an open door. Guess who ended up at the vets. Yes you guessed Fat neck Finn. !!! The cat had bit his ear and muzzle (Nina waited outside as both could not get through the door) before rushing past him out of the door past the getaway driver Nina and off down the garden unscathed !!! Cleaned the wounds and put some antiseptic treatment on what looked like a tiny wound in the ear. Luckily I had booked a vet appointment because suddenly it became very tender and so off to the vets we went this am. Temp was 40 and he is now on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory. 2 hours after he he had the medication the abcess burst, funnily on the outside of the ear. He seems more comfortable but not eating as much, so definately not himself. Poor lad is now frightened to go in the conservatory. No doubt the cat is NOT lol

Hi, need to spend some time reading the diary!
With regards to photo 9, the spotty tummy, what is this? Trying to find the diary entry. Timmy ( Autumn James) who we adopted in December had exactly this. It’s improved a bit; it’s like dirt that can be squeezed out and a few actual spots. Look forward to finding out! X

Well I survived the day. All dogs able to go on walks did so this morning thanks to our Wednesday walkers. This afternoon as we were very low on volunteers they all had a lovely groom. It was lovely to see Jill back after her holiday looking really well. We had 2 new arrivals, Jet, a bouncy playful boy and Rosy, a lovely sweet little girl. They managed to have their welcome bath and be put on the website. The phone went crazy this afternoon, so Denise ended out doing the bathings and then feeding all the kennel dogs. Diddy was a little unsettled, so he spent the afternoon in the office with me whilst I booked in our new arrivals watching the coming and goings, when he had enough people watching he lay down beautifully. Hope I didn't break anything too badly.
Horse is settling well as are Kenny and Pebbles, each have their own little quirks which each of their families are working on, just remember if you are worried or having any issues you would like help with, we are on the end of the phone to offer help, support and advice. Take care all. Jo xxx

Hey Jo, you are doing great. Here's to 20 more years of greyhound ownership and working at Daybreaks! Xxx

Ruth, I am sure I can cope. I may not have been there very long, but just to put people's minds at rest I have had greyhounds for almost 20 years. Hope that this reassures everyone. Xxxx

Get well foxy! Keeping fingers and paws crossed xxx

Praying Foxy recovers quickly. Xxx

Lots of love to foxy get well soon. Xxx

Ruth, I am keeping my fingers crossed for Foxy, and I hope his new Meds help him, please take care of yourself, you take on so much to help these hounds, we are all grateful for all you and the Daybreaks team do every single day xxxxx

Thanks for all the comments everyone - knowing we have your support really keeps us going! Sorry for such a negative comment on our diary the other day but I am dealing with a very poorly Foxy and this morning he collapsed again. I am praying the new meds he was started on on Monday may help - please keep everything crossed for my little fella.

Today was another busy and emotional day - First thing the chap came to continue work on the sand run so as we have the fencing down in one section, we have had to cancel all bookings for the next few days. Bounty was dropped off this morning by her new Dad so I could take her to the vets for the second part of her dental along with Teddy who went in for neutering.

I then headed off to Rugby with Angie to keep me company to see how Petal was settling in with Jay and smiles on our faces - her new mum and dad signed the paperwork. It is so lovely to see such happy dogs and people!

We then headed to another part of Rugby to collect Diddy. Sadly he is getting increasingly stressed around the visiting grandchildren and as they are a big part of the family, sadly the decision was to return him. It was heartbreaking leaving him in his kennel this evening as he was so stressed. The M6 was awful so it took ages to get back and then I was off to the vets to collect Teddy and Bounty. Poor Bounty is now more gums than teeth bless her but greyhounds are sadly prone to dental problems. Her dad couldn't wait to collect her this afternoon :-)

Kate, meanwhile at the kennels, ensured the smooth running of everything and sadly saw Brandy returned. Sadly he is not getting on with the other greys in the family.

Tomorrow is paperwork and escape day for me and I am leaving the kennels in the capable hands of Jo..... good luck Jo..... I'm always at the end of the phone if you need me! x

There is nothing really to add to all the comments people have already posted on here. So we're just sending love and hugs and hope you know how much everyone admires you and think what you do is amazing. xx

Ruth - you & your team go way above & beyond what you do for the greys. You certainly cannot do any more. Yes there are lows for you but always remember there are loads of highs. Nifty sends you a special cuddle to cheer you up

Ruth my love, think of all the wonderful hounds who have found their forever home because of you and your gang work so very very hard to give them a better life. Many more adoptions are successful than fail. You all do an amazing job bring love and homes to these hounds. I dread the day you have no hounds to rehome as it will mean that the breed is at real risk of dying out and that would be such a huge shame. As always your hard work will bring homes. I just wish TC would let me have a brother or sister for Florence (he threatened divorce last time I mentioned it). Xxx

Ruth you are my hero. The work you and all at Daybreaks do is amazing and must take so much out of you physically and even more emotionally. You can not do more than you do to get the waiting lists down. The problem lies with track closures since racing boomed in the 20s to over 100 tracks. I believe we are now down to nearly single figures around the country, and not sure if the same number of greys are being bread as then. Without the RGT and all you wonderful people we could never even keep track of what happens to these beautiful hounds who add so much to our lives (wonder boy foxy is a great example even if he has been a git--- at times he is your sweet soul lol) So come on, you will never loose your passion gal, we won't let you, just sometimes you need to be told you can do no more than you do. We and the hounds love you very much xx

You can’t do anymore than your doing Ruth.
Please don’t blame yourself. You go above and beyond as it is!!

To anyone thinking about adopting a Greyhound please remember we have thousands here in the UK waiting for their forever sofas.

Also remember for every grey homed from Daybreaks another can come in from our waiting list.

Ruth...as people have commented without you and all your hard work we would not have our hounds, God knows what would happen to so many of these dogs if if Daybreaks had never opened, doesn't bear thinking about. People don't realise that you don't 'down tools' when the kennel doors close for the day you carry on with the stuff you couldn't get done during opening hours. I know it is such a very difficult time for you at the moment, and all we can do is give you all the support we can. I know i am still getting to grips with the kennel workings, but please if there is anything you can delegate please do so. As a team we can only do what we can, the key here is everyone at Daybreaks does work as a team. I think that everyone who knows you would never doubt your love and commitment to the greys and your kennels so never doubt this, you cannot physically do more than you do. I know it is difficult sometimes, be strong. Jo xxxxxx

Ruth, I know words aren’t much help - but yourself, Kate and Jo and all the others that walk though the door to give their time do a fantastic job. Looking in there has been lots of returnees lately - is it part of the ‘instant’ world - you can get everything sent to your door and do anything at any time - do people want the instant perfect greyhound? ? With any problems seeing them returning them as you would a piece of clothing.
Be strong and keep going forward - without you we wouldn’t have our girls, nor holes in the walls (Breeze), we may get a whole nights sleep (could be anyone) but can you imagine what they wouldn’t have with out you???? Xxxx

Ruth, think you all do an amazing job and i can imagine how you must worry but just remember, if it wasn't for you non of these pooches would have had a second chance and be as happy as they are! You're an angel! Xxx

All the comments yesterday have also been on my mind all night as I am sure they have on a lot of people who post on here, everybody at Daybreaks does a fantastic job and give their all to find these wonderful hounds forever homes, there is nothing more you could do, you are all amazing people, I really don't know how you do the job you do, but thank God you do. We are all behind you 100%. Xxxxxxxxxx

Spent much of the night worrying.... Our waiting list has almost reached 100.... 36 were added in July and we just can’t keep up with the pressure of trying to rehome along with another returnee today.... we are doing all we can but it is heartbreaking and frustrating and wish there was more I could do....

Totally agree with all your comments below. Think we've all struggled with any new animal not just a dog/grey at some point and think you have to remember 'it's not their little faults'. They are all different as we as humans are and that's what makes the world to round, it would be boring if we were all the same! But very much so, let these 'puppies' settle and you won't find a more loyal 'child'!. And I think Jo's comment is the one most stuck with me...cherish your beauty as they sadly won't be around forever, which breaks my heart just to think about it and i pray I am lucky enough to have my little boy for many many years to come xxx

Today was emotional and tomorrow will be too. But, the focus of Daybreaks is to find loving homes for our hounds. Sometimes it is difficult and disheartening, other days are full of joy and happiness that a hound has found a forever home. Staff and volunteers make this their goal, and whilst it can be difficult for new owners as Lucy pointed out we are on the end of the phone to offer help and advice to those who want it. Hug your hounds tonight and remember just how truly special they are, they are not with us forever. Jo xxxxx

The message is simple when adopting, give the dog time and space. When we adopted Ele she was a little madam and came very close to being returned after 2 days. Thankfully we got plenty of advice and help and slowly she settled. She needed time to find her place in the pack and it wasn't at the top! We watched the stress and fear slowly leave her eyes to be replaced by trust and contentment. Had we acted in haste then we would have missed out big time. Ele became the most loving happy girl we could ever have wished for and she was like a mother to Paddy. Without her help then Paddy might not have settled so well and so quickly into our family.I know it can be daunting trying to help a new dog settle but think everything about a home, the sights and sounds etc are a totally new experience. The end reward will be a loving loyal pet who will repay you over and over. As Lucy said help and advice is only a phone call away xx

We are totally gutted for Daybreak's when after all their hard work dogs are returned but know we should never judge people I've told our story before of our wonderful grey Ele who we wanted to return due to issues she had towards our other grey...however after much help and advice from RGT staff her 'issues' were sorted Still now having lost her to bone cancer 2 years ago, I feel guilty having ever thought about returning her...for Ele turned into the most wonderful loving sloppiest grey you could wish for and we miss that girl so much Don't give up on them too soon...there's a hidden gem inside these frightened and confused beautiful grey's x X x

Or Lucy and Ellie there are the other sort of people who spent about half an hour with Jato at the Stratford walk, then picked her up a week or so later!! She is still here, I had a wobble just after adopting all three but having just walked through the house and stepping over three flat out black beauty’s I wouldn’t be with out any of them. Xxx

I can only echo what has been said before. These hounds have to adapt to any number of things they have never encountered before washing machines, tv’s, radio, new environment need I go on. You have to give them time to adjust I always with my dogs non greys and greys have let them have their “safe” zone normally their bed where they can go if unsure and know that they will be left alone there. Also establishing a routine also helps they really are creatures of habit and seem to respond to this. But most of all please please give them time to adjust.

So sorry Ruth to hear the sad news about Nick and possibility of more returnees, but reading Reubens history shows that although it took him time to find his forever home he really ended up loved and treasured, and although it is such a sudden thing they did the right thing in letting him go saving him a lot of suffering. I do feel for them, we have all been there. Fostering is a great thing most of the time. If you buy a puppy it is usually chaos for a week or two because they have been taken away from mom and siblings to a strange new place. You don't normally take it back to the breeder though. 2 weeks down the line after a few sleepless nights and sometimes a chewed up house usually you will have a dog started on the road to be a super pet. This is what I think we need to remember. The Greys have had no more experience of a home than a puppy but they do learn fast like a puppy. As Ruth says sometimes it is not meant to be, but please give these "puppies" a chance.
All you need is love (and maybe patience) Hang on in there Nick, 2 of our hounds had waited a year for a forever home before we found each other and they where our soulmates in no time. Here endeth the epistle LOL

It’s so sad to hear about dogs being returned, I do think people need to remember they’re taking home a work in progress when they adopt, not a perfect dog, and some dogs take a little more work than others. That’s why it’s so so important to spend as much time with your chosen dog as you can before taking them home, you’ll start to grow a bond before even taking them home if you do that, which would make the settling in period less daunting for both you and your prospective hound! As a volunteer I can’t tell you how delighted we are to see people come and visit their new family member as much as they can before taking them home, it’s lovely to see! Don’t forget whenever you visit you can pick Ruth, Kate and Jo’s brains about things you want to know/find out, they do say knowledge is power!

Speaking from personal experience there were a few times I have genuinely thought about giving Ellie back and having her rehomed because she’s such a naughty girl (those who know… know!) and it makes me ashamed to say that because I love her so much, despite her constant appetite! With all the help I had from Daybreaks I was able to overcome the wobbles I was having and am now loving (nearly) every minute of owning her, it’s so rewarding! The most important things the majority of these dogs need when entering a new home is time and patience, and if that’s not enough like I mentioned before, Ruth, Kate and Jo are just on the other end of the phone to give you some support and advice! Please give these wonderful doggies a fair chance, they’ll make it up to you tenfold! xx :)

loveheart - it has been so busy recently at the kennels - but with all the highs have to come the lows and I was broken hearted to see Nick returned back to the kennels this morning after only one day. It is such a major life change for these precious souls to adapt to a new life - so some it do well and others really struggle.... I know I would if I was put in a strange environment away from everything and everyone I am used to. Along with this, we are waiting on the possibility of more returnees due to different circumstances so watch this space.

I can understand the stress of taking a newbie into a home and I am not judging anyone - please don't think I am - but it is so disheartening for us to have a returnee for any reason but fate plays a hand and if it is meant to be, it will happen. :-((((

I had to take Foxy to the vets this morning - he is 13 in December and I had him from the age of 14 weeks. Believe me, there were many times I could have happily rehomed him but I have gone through good and bad with him. He is struggling due to a disc problem and I know the time to call it a day is looming so I am going to make the most of my little git!!!!!

It is so good to see how many re-homed, reserved, and fostered Greys there are on the site now. Great work guys.So many are on the waiting list still, so their places are taken ASAP.
I look forward to the day when these lists are not so daunting, but not sure how this can be achieved, as there are so many. Daybreaks you do wonderful caring work and I don't know how you manage to keep your motivation going when you have such daily challenges. I believe it comes every time you look into a Greys eyes, they always seem to be happy and hopeful for the future. Only Fat neck Finn is the exception, he never looks in my eyes just at my hands to see if there is food in them LOL BLESS

Thankyou the Thethirdronnie, everyone seems so very friendly xx

Pleased to meet you Greyhoundcraze, welcome x

Welcome Greyhoundcraze! Xx

Good evening, sounds like it has been a busy day at Daybreaks today! Well done to each and every one of you who work together to help the greys - it is great to see.

I homed two greys direct from a trainer but had lots of support from my local RGT at the time so love the RGTS work. I have now moved to your area so thought I would take a look on here. I love the idea of the Diary keeping everyone updated, I just don't know how you fit it all into one day!!!!

I have some clothes and shoes that I no longer need - in good condition and have watched and ironed them. Would they be any use to you before I take them to the charity shop? I would rather give the money to help the Greyhounds.

Let me know.

Trish, Clappers and Duffey xx

Another very hot and busy day today. Again many thanks to all our vounteers. Morning walks were done, the afternoon was very quiet for volunteers so this taken up with grooming (Clive) health checks (Bella and Alina) and playing in the run with large containers filled with water and toys, thanks Tina. Willie especially enjoyed this.
This morning saw Mr Nick, New girl Emily and Kenny all go out on Foster (may need more FFP T-shirts at this rate)!!!
Lorna was busy with pampers, and we had 3 dogs come to use the sand run, they enjoyed it and have booked again for next week. we also had a lovely couple come to look around and ask questions about greyhound and what sort of pet they make, Greyt ones I said.
Hope Ruth and Andy had a very well deserved couple of days away, hope I haven't done anything to stress her out too much when she gets back (oh please I hope not, I did manage to leave my handbag behined today though). Thanks guys, you are fab. Jo. Xxx

WOW Think you might need some more FFP tee shirts fingers crossed. It is a great way to find forever homes without pressure and so you can get to know the hound and they can get to know you,and also see how wonderful home life can be. Plus the chance that "treats" will be on tap! (Fat neck Finn said to mention this as is it was very important to him when deciding to stay with us lol)

Phew! A very busy day. :)

Horsey went off to his new home this morning. He looked so smart in his new harness and very own collar! Thank you so much to his lovely new family for giving him a chance of a forever home. :)

Bob collected our new arrival from the track this morning, a very beautiful little girl called Emily. She is very sweet and a little stressed in her new surroundings at the moment. Xx

Pretty little Jet was reserved today! So happy for her. :)

It was great to see Shanni, Ken and Dexter this afternoon. Dexter was hoping to find a friend as he is so sad and missing Jack very much. He didn't find the right one this time but I'm sure he will. Bless him. Xx

Pebbles new family came to visit her. She is all signed up and will be going home with them after she is neutered on Monday. :)

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today. We were quite low on helpers. Lots of love to Angie and Michael for doing everything this morning and to Sara and Jayne who did all the feeding and everything else this afternoon!!! :))

Xxx

Thanks Angie. I got the part where you said Jo was left in charge and then read, and I quote, this is where it went all wrong!! Thankfully, I carried on reading and realised you meant your warehouse trip. Sigh of relief and warm glass of rose!!! Jo x

Today was a very different day!!

It started off normally enough, with Ruth taking Leo to the Vet for his castrate and, thanks to our helpers, the boys & girls enjoyed a walk this morning.

Mid morning saw the lovely Sully, now called Sunny, go off to his new home. Wishing him and his new family many happy times ahead.

Just before lunch Ruth asked me if I would pop to the warehouse with her - so we headed off leaving Jo in charge.

Oh dear - this is where it all went wrong!! We got caught up in a mega traffic jam on the M6 and after about 40 minutes we had only travelled along the slip road and just managed to join the motorway! It was literally 3 lanes of stationary traffic.

As it was hot and we were going nowhere fast, Ruth switched the engine off. You've guessed it - when she tried to switch it back on it refused to start!

The driver of the van behind us very kindly tried to bump start us, but when he couldn't we had to get the van across to the hard shoulder and call out the breakdown services.

We had a long wait, and a very lovely lorry driver on pulling up alongside us, gave us a bottle of lovely cold water - Slam Transport of Coventry you have a great driver there.

Eventually we saw the flashing lights of a recovery truck approaching - yay, except he wasn't for us!! However, Josh the driver said he would have a look and see if he could get us going - which he duly did before carrying on down the hard shoulder to find his actual call out!!

We got to the warehouse and back without any further excitement as the traffic was flowing again. Huge thanks to the good Samaritans who came to our aid today - it really restores your faith in humanity.

When we eventually got back to the kennels, afternoon feeding was over and all the Greys were settled down for the evening!

I think after an experience like that it is definitely chilled white wine time this evening, whilst Jo tell me she is going to partake of some warm Rose. There is never a dull moment at Daybreaks!

We have some new arrivals scheduled for the weekend, and more viewings booked so fingers crossed that our current trend of red signs continues.

Angie xx

Such sad news, but at least Charlie had the gift of a home and left this earth as a beloved pet who will always be in their hearts.
So here is my Grey's prayer for all the boys and girls still waiting at Daybreaks and everywhere
I awake each morning, hoping today is the day,
That someone kind will take me home to stay.
If love is the answer
If love is the key
Can anyone out there spare some for me.?

Today was great. Again a massive thanks to our Wednesday walkers and new volunteer Joe.
Lucy had a booking for a pamper for Skip (the 1st dog I bathed, and also the 2nd!) and his brother Bert which I helped with, both looked and smelled lovely.
Thanks for the donations of bedding.
Darren and Ruth put the new kitchen cabinets where we think the are going to go, it will look so fantastic when finished.
Great to see lovely Sully reserved, so very happy for him, long time coming!
Kenny went off for his neutering this morning, thanks Lisa for collecting him, he was not too happy with his cone of shame, but had his dinner and went straight into his kennel, good boy. His new mom called to see how he was.
Denise is a wonder, never stops, thanks to her and to Paul who stayed for afternoon feeding.
Ruth, I hope you managed to make a dent in your paperwork.
So many rehoming and reservations in the past couple of weeks, all due everyone's hard work .xxx

Have just read ALL of Daisy's history and what a wonderful story of love and commitment by her mom, and also by Daisy who was tempted out of her anxieties because she had found "the one" who believed in her and gave it her all so that they could spend wonderful times together. Happy Birthday Daisy, and many more to come, love really is all, YOU GO GIRLS xx

Oh my goodness gang!! What an amazing job you are all doing, every time I look on here you have rehomed more hounds! I can't keep up with it at the moment. You are all doing an outstanding job, fantastic!! Well done and thankyou for all you do each and every day, Daybreaks has an incredible team!! Three cheers hip hip....hip hip.....hip hip, love you all and all those gorgeous hounds xxxx big love from Ronnie and Reggie too xxxxxx

We had another visit from Sal the Cocker Spaniel this morning, she had a play in the sand run then met a few more of our boys and girls. Handsome Will was especially good with her. :))

Ruth went out to collect the last pieces of our kitchen. :)) Work should begin on it in the next few days.

Ruth also took Horsey to see his new home and carry out the home visit for him. He was great and she took a lovely photo of him running around in what will soon be his very own garden! So excited for him. :)

It was a good walking day; not too hot. :) Thanks to everyone for their help.

Kenny should hopefully be going off to be neutered tomorrow now his stomach upset has been sorted. It's Leo's turn on Friday...he has been getting rather "amorous" with some of the other dogs male and female, but has taken quite a liking to our lovely volunteer Lucy! His poor hormones are quite mixed up at the moment! Bless him.

Xxx

It was very weird to see an empty room where the kitchen used to be! Poor Louis was most put out when he arrived with Sara at lunchtime.

We are now using the kitchen at the back of the kennels. Took us all a while to stop going the wrong way! Can't wait to see the "new" kitchen. :))

Fabulous to see Sam now Rollo officially adopted. it didn't take long for him to get his little paws settled. He and Milly are a lovely couple. :)

Met the latest new arrivals Treaty and Nanny, both gorgeous!

Now Nick and Horse have been reserved, Sully is the last of the boys who arrived from the kennels of the trainer who had to give up keeping Greyhounds due to ill health. It would be wonderful to see him find his forever home too. He is a really happy and friendly lad.

Thanks so much to everyone for their help. it was a little chaotic at times today! :))

Xxx

Update on Fat Neck Finn--(no surprisingly, he has not gone up another notch on his collar, yet !
The news is he has become a gentleman. When we come back from walks he usually gets to the water first and starts drinking, however as soon as Nina walks to it he steps back and lets her have her drink. She is a bit of a Diva and doesn't like two heads in the bowl at once lol so he stands behind her and waits,when she is done and walks off back he goes. Today I gave him a chew which he wasn't too keen on so he left it on his bed and came to see if anything else was available.
In the meantime Nina had taken the chew (which she doesn't like as it is quite big) and gone and laid on HIS bed and was happily chewing away at it. !! He came in saw her and when she wouldn't get out of his bed he lay down beside her and watched her devour it, drooling buckets. A gentleman is born, and girls will be girls lol

Nothing new but it was soooo busy at the kennels as usual today. We had the canine massage team in again which meant the inmates had a fabulous time whilst we started destroying the kitchen!!!! Over the next week we hope to finish it and can't wait - we have had really lovely kitchen units etc donated in - so it was time for a change and the kitchen wall that needed replacing as the wood was rotting has now been demolished!

We had two new arrivals, Nanny and Treaty and as Jo was doing the admin side I was able to help bath and do admitting health checks for a change which was great to do. When Nanny shook - it didn't matter when I was soggy anyway from the rain :-)

The rain didn't put us off either - it was a great not worrying about the dogs with the heat as we have been doing.

Petal went off for the day and Kenny's new owners came to visit him and then I was kept busy hunting for the engagement and wedding rings belonging to one of the canine massage team in the sand run that had dropped out of her pocket whilst in there!!!! We didn't need metal detectors as armed with the rakes we found both yay and this meant another job of looking after the run was done!!!!!

Massive thanks go to everyone who helped today especially our new volunteer Darren who emailed on Thursday to ask if we could use his help with any plumbing or odd jobs and he almost hasn't been home since :-))))

The fencing for the sand run should be completed Tuesday along with the base for our extended cat run so things are coming together.

I am just sorry we missed being able to go to the Games Day organised by Michelle - we hope you all had a great time xxxx

What a difference in the weather! But is was great to see some rain! :)

It was a really busy and special day at the kennels....

The boys, Saddle and Roy have finally found their forever home. Thank you so much to Helen, Andy and their Greyhound kids Peg and Eoin for making them part of their family. :))

Gorgeous little Pip was officially signed up and now has new brother
Archie to play with. :)

Absolutely Wonderful to see Horsey, Kenny and Pebbles all reserved today!! :))

Thank you so much to everyone who took a dog to the event at Sheldon Country Park today. Nick, Will and Petal all went along. I heard they all had a great time meeting lots of people and getting lots of cuddles! :)

Thanks so much to everyone who helped at the kennels today. We were a little short of walkers this morning but we were able to go on afternoon walks.

This afternoon Ruth, Andy and Darren went off to visit our good friends Bob and Margaret and dismantled their kitchen worktops and cupboards! They brought them back to hopefully fit in the kitchen at the kennels!! I hasten to add it was with their permission! :))) We will be all posh!

Xxx

The lovely Petal, Will and Nick joined us today at Sheldon Coyntry Park and ALL enjoyed there special time away from the kennels... They were all very well behaved and lavised all the cuddles and affection they got... X

That's lovely Loveheart...see another reason every family should have a grey! Xxx

Well Fat neck Finn has a new fan. My grandchildren visited today from Bristol and had not met him before only Nina who is a small gentle soul. The 2 1/2 year old has had a few scares with barking bouncy dogs in their village so went behind her mom as soon as big Finn came towards her. They looked at each other and I said "he only wants to say hello, give him a stroke" he wagged his tail and out she came, straight up to him " Can I give him a huggle nanny" she said which translated is a cross between a hug and a cuddle I was informed "of course" I replied "be gentle". Well what a "huggle" it was, a little dot just about shoulder height to this big black boy both loving it,total trust.
All my Grey's have been wonderful with children, even the less confident ones, seem to have an affinity with each other. Mind you he was hoping there might be some food based treat in it from her. lol Bless

Three words for today - hot, hot, hot!!

We had lots of helpers this morning and so the boys & girls had a gentle stroll under the trees in their cool coats - just enough to stretch their legs and do what needed to be done!!

The kennels rang to the sounds of drilling and hammering during the day as the first of many DIY jobs that have needed doing for ages were tackled. The door in the kitchen run was repaired, but the drilling was upsetting little Pebbles, so I popped her out into the big run and went to get a duvet for her to lie on.

Well, she decided to be very "helpy" and plonk herself down on the duvet before I could get the cover on it. She then tried to get in to the duvet cover, rolled all over the duvet so I couldn't get to it, and scraped the cover up into a heap! Eventually I did get the cover on the duvet, and we spent a lovely time having snuggles & cuddles. She is an absolute cutie, so affectionate and playful. x

This afternoon was very hot & sticky so the boys & girls had a lovely cooling towel down which I think they all appreciated.

We also had a viewing and more donations of bedding and towels - thanks so much.

After a hot & tiring day, I am now ready for my usual Friday evening glass of chilled white wine! And I'll make my usual Friday wish that the weekend brings new homes for some of our beautiful boys & girls.

Keep cool - Angie xx

Maybe horse needs another Grey with him. ? How does he get on with his kennel mate.? Sounds like he was really frightened, poor boy. It took him a while to get the hang of walking back to Daybreaks LOL. Obviously takes him a while to adapt. He may be a big boy but doesn't mean he cannot be afraid. If Ruth is asking for ideas with her all her experience we all need to get our thinking caps on and try and help poor Horse.

What a crackers day!!!! That will teach me to have a few days off!!! I took Kenny off to the vets first thing for his neutering only to have a call from the vets to say they couldn't operate as had a very upset tum as they sedated him and therefore had to cancel. I think the mention of him losing his baubles sent him into shock!!!!

Thanks to Lisa for collecting him as we were busy with Horse going out to foster, Will being returned, Teddy the new boy arriving and Winny going out to her new home. This was whilst I dealt with George and Maggie's corns, a visit from the Council and showing round a new volunteer who is happy to help with all aspects of maintenance - yay!

The sand in the run has been delivered and sorted and we will have the new fencing in place by next week! We had several donations of blankets, duvets, dog beds and a generous donation from Philip's owners who have been fundraising for us - thank you so much!

What another hot day today, but thanks to our team of volunteers we managed to get morning and afternoon walks done. Thanks to Denise for heading off to Fivelands to collect some much needed medicatio. We had 2 viewings and both are coming back at the weekend with their other halfs to see the dogs they are interested in. So thanks to Paul for staying and helping with feeding whilst i showed the prospective homers around. Ruth/Kate I have left details in both the diary and notepad. All in all a very productive day. Jo xxx

Whoooo what a busy day!!!! The canine massage team were in and all the inmates had a lovely time with the team. The few that didn't have the massage went on a short walk due to the heat.

I saw Bounty and Rosie off to their new homes and the lovely Sam is going to go out to foster on Tuesday. We had 3 lovely new arrivals - Jet, Pebbles and Raven and we have 3 more new arrivals tomorrow.

After falling badly this morning, I am hobbling my way off now with massive thanks to Andy and Alison who helped today and Michael and Angie who came in this afternoon to help with feeding. What a great day!!! x

What a great day for our girls! Annie went home, Pip went out on "Foster" and Bounty and Rose were reserved!:)) Fantastic! Xxx

After a Girly Saturday we could do with a lads Sunday! Please come and meet our very handsome young genetlmen waiting to find forever homes. Xxx

Ricky took Sam out on a roadshow to Solihull today. He was brilliant with children and other dogs, big and small!

We had a lot of help today so the dogs had two lovely walks. Thanks so much to everyone.

We have three more new arrivals tomorrow and another threee more on Monday too. :))

Xxx

Oh love heart I do love your stories, they're so funny! Finn sounds like one very spoilt and I'm glad you also have a drooling dog! Xxx

Well Finn unlike Barney will not take time away from food to keep you updated so I will have to keep on doing it for him. Been on holiday to Bude again and have had to put voile up to the picture window as Finn insists on making shapes legs akimbo right in front of it, All passers by can see is his bum and other appendages displayed. lol Mind you it does make people laugh. Think the sea air has increased his appetite (not that it needed it) and as I was preparing his dinner in the kitchen he sat watching me by the door as I have trained him not to come in there while dishing up. As I walked past him to put his bowl down my foot slid across the floor and I had to grab the door. I looked down and there was a pool of drool by Finn and it was still dripping from his mouth, a perfect booby trap, but I didn't drop his dinner !!! so he had to wait while I cleaned it up. What a dog lol x

Wow Bounty so so pleased that someone has seen what a great girl you are and has a place in their heart for you. Now don't want to push my luck but Horse,Sully and Nick the beautiful black boys must be next to find a couch in a forever home. My first big black boy Grey converted me to the males who often get overlooked. Good luck lads x

It was lovely to meet the new arrivals in person this morning, and what a couple of stunners they are. Kenny is absolutely huge, but is such a gentle friendly soul, and Pip is a real sweetheart.

It was sand run playtime for everyone this morning, I just love the different attitudes from our boys & girls when let loose in the run - some will just have a mooch or a trot round then come and stand by the gate ready to go, and others will race around like crazy things, hurling toys around and thundering up and down!! They all enjoy it in their own way, which is great.

Ruth was tied to the office for most of the day as we had Holly, Shamus and Mandy (now called Sky) head off to their forever homes. It was lovely to see them all off, sporting smart new collars, and looking forward to a new adventure. We wish them and their new families many happy times ahead.

Many thanks for everyone's help today, our doggies got lots of exercise and fun as it was a bit cooler.

Apart from our homers, we were very quiet indeed for visitors all day. This meant I could get on with health checks and cleaning this afternoon - I was doing a great impersonation of Mrs Mop going round with my trusty bucket & mop and bottle of Zoflora!!!

It was lovely to see ex resident Paddy, who came in for a pamper package, he is looking very distinguished as he is going grey on his face, and went he home smelling lovely!

Another weekend is upon us, so lets hope that it brings a forever sofa for some of our beautiful boys & girls. Have a good weekend everyone, I'm going to put my feet up with a glass of chilled white wine I think now - cheers!

Angie
x

We had two new arrivals today, Pip and Kenny. They are both absolutely gorgeous!

Thank you to everyone who brought in bedding and towels today and thank you to Gail for trying to fit everything into our bedding store! :)

We had lots of visitors to the kennels today for various reasons. They all stopped to have a cuddle with the dogs. Which of course they loved :)

We had new visitors to use the run too. The bottom end is now cleared and awaiting the extra sand. :) It will look great when it is finished.

A busy day ahead tomorrow with three of our residents due to go off to their new homes, how exciting for them...one more sleep until they begin a new chapter in their lives. Xx

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today, a special mention to Lucy's poor Ellie. After visiting her vet for an upset tum recently she has been told she must stop having treats at the kennels! Anyone who has met Ellie will know this is not what she wants to hear! Sorry Ellie. x

Xxx

Well done to Rubytwoshoes for such good info on the boys and girls walks, I am sure it helps prospective adopters knowing more about the hounds than just seeing them in their kennels..
I wish I lived nearer to Daybreaks I would be out there with you. However maybe it would be a bad idea for me because I am sure in no time my husband would be saying"It's me or the 10 Greys you have bought home" I would miss him LOL

Well, what can I say. We were so very lucky to have our regular Wednesday walkers this morning. In addition we had volunteers from HSBC. Ruth showed them around and set them to work having a mass clear out. The back of the kennels now looks fab. The guys made 2 trips to the tip and the two lovely ladies did health checks on Nick and Winnie. They worked incredibly hard as did Freya our lovely work experience student, she did the feedings and also walks. Thanks to Denise and Sara Pill for all their hard work and help, much appreciated. Bounty now seems to be enjoying her food and is clearing her bowl at both breakfast and dinner ): Such a fab day, and work has started on the rest of the run, looks great.
Everyone makes such an effort supporting the kennels, and if you do see me sitting in the office, I am still trying to accustomise myself to all af the admin processes (that is until I can work out how to download Solitaire)!!!!!!!

Ooh yes, can't wait to see the agility equipment! The new toys for the run are great. :) It was a very nice trip to Pets at Home and spend money on the doggies! :)) Xxx

hey Kate - not forgetting our trip to Pets at Home yesterday to spend our Lifelines vouchers - we ordered the agility equipment which will go in the smaller area of the sand run and got loads of new toys for the Trust dogs.... it was a great shopping trip! :-)

Thanks Kate!
Today was great, so many lovely volunteers and Freya our latest work experience person. Thanks to you all for your hard work and support, very much appreciated, it was a great day. Nail cuttings done (scary when it's not your own dog)! Bounty managed to eat much better even checking her kennel mates bowl, she is getting there slowly. Hope I managed to do ok. Once again thanks to our wonderful volunteers, without you I don't think this would be possible. Thanks to Ruth and Kate for entrusting me with the kennels today. Ok Oscar speech over. Xxxxx

Jo should really be completing the diary today! :)

Ruth and I were out most of the day having several jobs to do including collecting a fridge, visiting Archie and his new Mom Marjorie so she could complete his adoption paperwork. He looked so happy! :) We also had to get a new tyre fitted to the van and pick up our gorgeous Sam from the vets after his neutering operation.

Everything was fine when we got back to the kennels. Thanks to Jo and our volunteers. :))

Xxx

Holly has found herself a home! :) It was great to see her reserved today. She has been very down in the dumps since her kennel mate Hugo went home at the weekend. This was just what she needed. Xx

Hugo's new Dad called this afternoon to let us know Hugo is doing really well. :))

Rose is a lot better...her poo looked great! It really made our day! :)) Four of us stood and studied it! :))

Bounty ate a little better today, which is great news. :) She is such a very sweet little girl. Sharing with Nick who is a very tall lad makes her look even smaller!

It wasn't quite so hot today and we were able to do morning and afternoon walks. I heard Horsey was a really good boy and didn't stop when it was time to come back! He is a very happy lad with real character. Xx

Many thanks to everyone for their help today. :)

Xxx

I am so very happy Ronnie (aka Kado) has gone off to his forever home, such lovely people. Please keep in touch and let us know how he is getting on. Xxxxx

It has been a day of nail cutting, teeth scraping and corn removals!!! It has been so warm again but grateful thanks to all our volunteers for giving up their time to help. I did the paperwork earlier for the lovely Shamus who is off to his new home on Friday and have just waved off Ronnie (aka Kado) with tears of happiness - his new owners came armed with a bag of peanut butter sandwich squares! He is going to have one very wonderful home :-))))

Yesterday was such a busy day as Kate has already mentioned but my night had been busy too with poorly Rose... I had been at the kennels at 10.30 and just after midnight and again at 1.30am to clean her kennel and she was in a state when we opened up... a major kennel clean - the poor lass - however she was very bright with no temperature.

Lisa arrived at the kennels first thing to load up the roadshow equipment as we were off to an event at Shirley park but Lisa was looking ‘green round the gills’ so with a poorly Lisa and Rose and a homing and 2 viewings planned we had to cancel going to Shirley :-(

I can’t wait to see the photos that Vince took yesterday - we will have a hard job deciding which shots will go in our Daybreaks calendar for next year. It was lovely to meet Pat the competition winner who brought her gorgeous two hounds in to be photographed :-)

On looking at the cameras this morning Rose’s kennel isn’t as horrific as yesterday so that’s good news!!! Let’s see what today brings :-)

Rose had a trip to the vet first thing this morning. She has a very upset tum with sickness and diarrhoea. :(. She had an anti sickness injection which seems to have helped. Poor little lass. Hopefully she will feel better tomorrow. Thanks to Lisa for taking her to the vets. Xx

Wonderful to see Hugo go home. He is a lovely but very shy lad. We have everything crossed he will settle well with his new family. X

Saddle and Roy came for a visit this morning. :) They both looked great and had their photos taken to appear in next year's Daybreaks Calendar.

Later this afternoon Kado was reserved! All being well he will be going off to live with a lovely family and their very cute Jack Russell! Kado was brilliant with him. Xxx

Thank you to everyone who helped look after the doggies today! :))

Xxx

When I cannot decide which cream cake to have out of two, I usually find the best solution is to have BOTH ! lol Probably how I ended up with four beautiful Greys in our home at one time. Very different personalities but all so loving and well behaved. Now all of the four gone, but lovely times never forgotten, Great news of Jack may he have many more good years with his great family xxxx

Which 2 boys did the gentleman like, I'm intrigued?! Hopefully one will find their forever sofa! Hope one is horse? Xxx

Helpers galore today meant the boys & girls enjoyed both morning and afternoon walks. Fortunately the forecast storms didn't materialise - although as I type this it is looking very threatening outside!!

Mr Nick spent the day in the kitchen as he really doesn't like being cooped up in his kennel. He was very helpy, supervising the feeding and washing up! He wasn't impressed when the group went out for a walk (he is still on restricted exercise), so we went into the treatment room and I gave him a thorough grooming and massage with Aloe Vera. He is a bright, inquisitive boy who just needs his chance out in a home of his own.

Eillie bounced her way through the day again - and after two more applications of cream, her sore bits are looking much improved.:)

We had a viewing today and the gentleman just couldn't decide between 2 of our lovely boys. He is coming back tomorrow with a decision after a night of thinking things over, so keep your fingers crossed.

We had a visit from the gorgeous Ronnie & Reggie this afternoon, they are looking fantastic. Ruth spent a long time digging 5 corns out of poor Reggie's paw ( I think it was Reggie, apologies if it wasn't but they do look so alike!). Hopefully he will be able to walk a little easier now bless him.

New boy Sam is a stunner, and a real character. I made him such a tidy bed this morning, all corners tucked in neatly and smoothed down. Within 2 seconds of returning to his kennel after breakfast, he had scraped all the covers together to form a heap, which he promptly lay down on! Later on I found him upside down on the bed, legs in the air, looking very contented. What a sweetie. x

Late this afternoon saw the sad return of Bounty - such a shame but things have got to be right for everyone concerned. I am sure that with her glowing report she will find a new forever sofa very soon.

We have viewings booked again for tomorrow so fingers crossed.

Thanks to everyone for their help today - and have a great weekend one and all.

Angie xx

Mandy had a visit from her new Mom and Dad this morning. She went for a short walk with them and had lots of cuddles. They can't wait to take her home. :) x

Poor Eillie has a sore bottom. The vet thinks she may have burnt it lying on the hot concrete in one of the runs. Sadly she hasn't got any hair on her bottom at the moment so she has very little protection from the heat. She is having Sudocrem applied to the area. Anyone who has met Eillie knows she is a very happy and bouncy girl and her sore bottom hasn't affected her at all! She would really be so much fun to have around and she is very pretty too! Xxx

Thank you to everyone for the donations of bedding and towels. So kind of you.

It started off lovely and cool this morning, the dogs enjoyed a lovely walk along the lane. :))

Thanks to everyone for your help today.

Fans of Saddle and Roy will be happy to know they are doing great! :))))

Xxx

I dropped our latest new arrival Rose off at the vets for her neutering operation this morning. Ruth collected her later this afternoon. :)

Sal, the Cocker Spaniel came in for a visit again this morning. She met some more of our residents. Sully was a real star and great with her.
Thanks to James, Sal's owner for bringing her in. She is a very sweet little girl. :)

Nick spent the day in the office again. He seems very at home there! Hope he doesn't have to wait too long for his forever home. He would be a fantastic friend. Xx

Jo was in today it was lovely to see her. Hope we haven't put her off yet! :)) x

Lots of walkers today and slightly cooler, so everyone enjoyed two walks today.

Many thanks to everyone who brought bedding and towels. So kind of you.

We have a new lad arriving tomorrow. :))

Xxx

Nick went to see the vet today for a check up on his poorly paw. He was very excited to get in the car and enjoyed looking out of the window. He met a lovely Doberman puppy in the waiting room and was a good lad. His injury is healing nicely, but I haven't told him he has to rest it for another two weeks! :( xx

Such a shame Sully is no longer reserved but I'm sure the perfect home is out there for him. He is a smashing lad xx

New arrival Rose is s very pretty and friendly girl. Yvonne and Olivia bathed her in the small run, she soon dried out in the warm sunshine. She is off to the vets tomorrow for her neutering operation.xx

The photos of Saddle and Roy in their new home are great. I understand last night Saddle slept with his new Mom and Dad while Roy snuggled up with their son! :)))

Not too many volunteers today, so we got all the dogs out for a nice cool wash down in the small runs. They all seemed to enjoy it. :)

Lots of sad news around today....sending lots of love to Jack's family and praying Jack will be ok. Thinking of Billy's family and thanking them for giving him such a lovely home. He achieved such a lot in his time with them. Bless him. Xxx

Xxxx

Jack, hoping there is a change for the better very soon. Hang in there mate. Xxx

We would just like to say thank you for everybody's kind thoughts and wishes for Jack, there is no change at the moment but we are praying he will respond to treatment soon. His stroke was massive and the blood clot is at the top of his spine near his neck which is not good, it is just so awful to see our big strong boy like this but we have to give him 2 weeks before we make any decisions. Thank you Ruth for your calming, wise words today, you really made me see that there is still hope, what a wonderful person you are. Xxxxxxxx

So pleased the boys are doing well, fantastic news xxxx

Fab news - so far so good - Roy and Saddle are doing really well and we have had plenty of photos to prove it YAY!

Shanishoo I’m thinking about you.... give me a call at the kennels tomorrow - Foxy had his spinal surgery at Dovecote and they were fantastic. I’ve also helped with the recovery of a friends grey who had a suspected spinal stroke who was paralysed for over a week and the dog recovered and went on to live a good many quality years xx Ruth

So sorry to hear about Jack. We have used the services at
Dovecote hospital with Alfie, whilst there expertise is good make sure that they communicate with you thoroughly and provide you with post operative care as this was lacking with Alfie. Wishing you and Jack well, you are in our thoughts at this difficult time. Xxx

Keeping Jack and you all in our thoughts and prayers. Xx

Shanishoo I was so shocked to read what has happened to your boy Jack. It must have been so distressing for all of you. Sending positive thoughts that he is able to recover from what has happened. Stay strong ...we are all with you in spirit xxx

So sorry to hear about Jack shanishoo I really hope he makes a speedy recovery xxc

:( So sad to read about Jack Sending positive thoughts to you and wishing Jack well soon It's heartbreaking to see our hounds so poorly X X

So sorry to here about your Jack - Archive our big lad had had a spinal stroke or blood clot in the spine at the beginning of dec it’s been a long hard and scary time but he is much better he has recovered nearly all, his back right leg will never be right again but every day he manages a little better.
Remember that you know your dog -you know what is best. We’re we had a fantastic vet at Langford in Bristol but we also had an idiot who I fought every day to keep him alive. Sending love. If you want to talk post a message on Breeze or Jatos page and I will ring the kennel and leave my number. Xxxxx

Thinking of you all and sending lots of love to Jack. Do hope the vets will be able to help him. Xxx

our big full of life Jack was struck down in the early hours of Thursday Morning (around 4 A.M) started off with him in our bedroom pacing around followed rapidly by him becoming unsteady on his legs, panting and trembling, Ken (my husband) had to support him as he could no longer stand on his own. We carried him to the car in a duvet and off to the vet. The vet thought he had a spinal injury so we had to leave him there and return home, to wait until we heard from him after he had referred him to the vet hospital, Dovecotes at Castle Donnington. We went back to the vets and took our boy to the hospital for them to carry on the investigation into the cause. The hospital rang at 1and told us that he had suffered a spinal stroke. We visited yesterday and today. We are devastated as Jack has always been the liveliest dog we know. Would love to hear from anyone that has experience of the same thing. We want to do the best by our boy but it is heart breaking to see him like this.

Wow. What a busy day for all. So happy Jerry has got a foster home (please, fail, fail, fail), and get yourself a FFP t-shirt, they are on sale at the kennels!!! X

Oh my – what a day!!! It has been soooo hot and soooo busy!!!!
As soon as we had finished cleaning (which was a breeze as all of them were really clean except for poor Holly who has an upset tummy) we had our first visitor – nervy Titch who came for nail trimming and plaque removal!

We then dealt with Jerry – his owner is sadly unable to keep him however we have found a foster home for him to go straight to so transfer and foster paperwork was today signed by both parties today and we are keeping everything crossed that all works out for Jerry.

Then poor Winnie was returned and Roy and Saddle went off to their foster home – everything is is crossed well and truly with them and I have already had photos to show they are settling in nicely!!!

Winnie was collected to go on a shady canal walk with Elizabeth and we had a party of different breeds use the sand run this afternoon – the good thing about the run is that there is a large area that is shaded so they didn’t overheat.

Poor Rory was brought in as he was limping and he went off with a big bandage to protect him paw after I had dug out a nice piece of grit!

Mandy had her new owners come along to visit her and we had 2 viewings – one has resulted in Bounty being reserved and the other the gorgeous Shamus!

Naughty pants Nick spent most of the day sprawled out in the office as he is just so fed up in his kennel but it is now bed time – their tummys are full, the fans are on and we just have to wash up and clean down while they chill!

What a fabulous day!

What a very unusual Saturday! It was so quiet this afternoon...can't think why! :) Sara kept us informed of the score; the doggies were far more interested in their dinners than watching a ball they couldn't play with being kicked around! :)))

We managed to do two walks as it clouded over this afternoon and the cool coats did their job. We only have one more cool coat left for sale, they were very popular today!

We had a visit from Seren this morning. She looked very happy and relaxed with her new family. Came into the office and made herself comfy in the dog bed. :) She was even happier to leave with a pigs ear! Xx

Jess had a client for a pamper Who was not impressed with having her nails cut. Bless her.

Let's hope Barney is celebrating with his family again next Wednesday evening! :))

Xxxx

Well, since Wednesday I have felt that my lifeline had been cut! Our internet went down and we only just have it back. So I have not been able to post or like comments, so I like all the comments and the fab news that the twins and Mandy are reserved. Well done sweeties. I would also like to thank Kate for messaging me after my 1st full 'proper' day on Wednesday, so very kind and lovely of her. Thanks to Denise and Ruth for all their help and support, really means a lot. Xxx

Another scorcher of a day - we really are having a proper Summer this year!

It was an early start for Ruth who was on the Vet run taking Hugo and Mandy in for their neutering ops this morning.

It was a typically quiet Friday, so I enjoyed another morning of ambling around the sand run with the boys & girls.

This morning saw pretty little Maggie off to her new home, wishing her and her new family many happy years ahead.

It was very warm this afternoon, so I think the Greys were very happy there was no one to walk them!! We had lots of grooming and cuddles - but they did enjoy lying on the cool tile floors of their kennels best!!!

Many thanks for the donations of duvets & bedding which arrived late this afternoon - we are very well stocked at the moment and the fabulous weather means we can dry the washing on the line. Our Greys particularly like the cool cotton sheets we are putting on their beds at the minute.

As I left this evening, Ruth was about to brave the Friday traffic to go and collect Hugo & Mandy from the Vet.

Well, another weekend is upon us yet again. Fingers crossed that there are some more red signs by the time it is over.

Enjoy your weekend one and all, keep yourselves and your doggies cool! Don't forget we have cool coats in stock, they really are good and last for years so are a great investment.

Angie xx

I have to say to the lady who's fiance is a bit scared of a big boy. Every big black boy I have had has been a big teddy bear and very loving and for that matter the big black girl I had was the sweetest happy Grey and such a daddies girl. I do understand him though and the main thing is that hopefully another hound will be given a home by them. Best to have the one who is meant for you. Nina my little lady is Finn's "Domanatrix" LOL definatley in control but he just ignores her. Food is still the most driving force. In fact I thought I had made a breakthrough with him yesterday. He came over when I called him and I went to kiss him on his head, he ducked out of the kiss and had just come over to sniff my mouth to see if I had any goodies eating .Some men may think he has his priorities right lol Love him!

Seeing the red signs appear over the photos of Saddle, Roy and Mandy was a great way to start the day! :))

It was another very hot day but the dogs enjoyed their walks in the shady lane this morning, wearing their cool coats. The coats really do help in the hot weather. My three all have cool coats. I bought the first one four years ago and it's still in great condition. :)

Carol, one of our long time volunteers popped in especially to see Hugo today. She sat with him in his kennel and by the time she left he was taking treats from her and quite relaxed in her company. He is such a lovely boy and when he is in the right home I'm sure his true character will emerge. Xx

Thanks to everyone who helped out today....it was hot!!

Xxx

Wonderful news for Roy and Saddle. xx

Yesterday evening was a busy one firstly with a viewing for Mandy. She proved how good she was with Tyke and Socks our resident cats and because of this she secured herself a new home!

We then had Marty and his foster Mum come up to use the sand run... as it has been so hot this is the best time of day so if you want to book the run out of hours, just let us know.

Finally the news you have been waiting for with Roy and Saddle is they are reserved and going out on trial on Sunday. I am over the moon for them and hope all goes well... we will keep you posted. X

Fingers crossed for the very handsome pair, Saddle and Roy. Would be brilliant if they could find that forever sofa. Xx

Good luck saddle and roy! Be good boys xxx

Hope all goes well for Saddle & Roy xxxxxxx

Yesterday evening I brought Annie back from the vets following her spey - she settled straight down and this morning she was bouncing around as soon as breakfast came along!

We have had an early delivery as the Cool Coats have arrived!!!!! We already have some reserved, so if you would like one, please let me know - 0121 782 7702.

Ok everyone...... keep your fingers and toes crossed as this evening we have a viewing for Roy and Saddle!!!!! If they get on with the 2 greys in the family - they will go out on trial!!!! I will keep you posted x

I took Annie to the vets for her neutering operation this morning. When we went to collect her this afternoon, the vet decided she would rather keep Annie there for an extra couple of hours as she was rather hot and bothered. :( Ruth picked her up early evening. Sure she will be feel better tomorrow. Xxx

One of our volunteers brought his lovely Cocker Spaniel, Sal in this morning to do some meet and greets with our Greyhounds. Several of them met her in the sand run under the shade of the pine tree. There were a couple who were very excited to meet her! Bounty, Hugo and Kado were all brilliant. :)))

We have extra help at the kennels this week. We have two students from local schools carrying out a week's work experience. We hope they enjoy their time with us and learn something about these wonderful dogs. :))

Xxx

Happy Birthday Daybreaks x

When we delivered the FFPs yesterday once again we where reminded of what a wonderful haven it is for the retired Greys and how dedicated Ruth and all you guys who support her are, and I know that all the reward she and all the volunteers want, is to see the hounds go off to a new life as a beloved pet (something most of them could never imagine when they finish racing) However they arrive at Daybreaks they get the chance of that life. Love and patience is what the crew have in abundance and it works wonders. The two brothers are a good proof of this and I hope someone can give them a forever home so that they will never be parted or at least foster them (FFP tee shirts now available LOL). I have to avoid looking into their eyes or I think it could be a choice between hubby or them and good men are hard to find at my age LOL. Anyway fingers crossed for all of the beautiful Greys, and once again Daybreaks take a bow xx

Well Fat neck Finn had his check up at the vet's and as the scale registered 35k ! I gingerly told the vet "he may have a little post adoption weight problem" to which she said "He looks fine to me" and promptly gave him a Bonio! and as Nina wouldn't accept her treat, he scoffed that as well!!!!!!The vet is now his hero!
We would have used him on the FFP tee-shirt logo but there wouldn't have been much room left for the words LOL
I look at it this way there is just more of him to love x
PS If Ruth gives her approval I will be working on a SAP Tee
shirt. hope she does well with the FFPs and the 12th Birthday is a big success. Fingers crossed many of the hounds will find a new forever home Sundayxx

It was two things today - very hot and very quiet!!!!

Fortunately the lack of volunteers wasn't a problem as walks were not on the cards, so I enjoyed a lovely morning taking the boys & girls for a gentle stroll around the sand run. It is really shady and cool in parts and we had a lovely time just ambling around.

The afternoon was even hotter, so it was health checks and grooming and paddling pool time!

The new arrivals are all gorgeous, Hugo is a very handsome but very nervy boy who is being looked after by Holly at the moment. Kado and Annie are lovely, and little Mandy is a little bit shy but has a real cheeky personality just waiting to come out!

Ruth spent lots of time standing up on chairs wielding a hammer - don't panic, she was only fixing up more drapes to provide shade in the runs!

I have taken a photo of Horse as promised, and he is now my current phone screensaver - here's hoping!

The weather looks set to stay across the weekend, so lets hope we have a great turnout at the birthday garden party on Sunday - and that some of our boys & girls find themselves a forever home. Hope to see lots of you there.

Stay cool!

Angie
xx

We had two lovely new arrivals this morning. Annie and Kado. Kado wasn't very impressed with having a bath and had to be rinsed off in one of the runs. As it was so warm it didn't take long for him to dry off. Both he and Annie are delightful. :))

Ruth took Shamus off to the vet this morning for his neutering operation and I picked him up this afternoon. He was quite bright and awake :) He enjoyed a nice bowl of Burns and sardines on his return. He is a really lovely lad, the nurses at the vets were quite taken with him. Xxx

Nick's wrist is looking ok, but as he can't go on walks at the moment he has had to find other things to do with his time; I think he has been taking lessons from Ellie on how to "acquire" extra snacks! While in the kitchen run he took advantage of the window being open and managed to swipe a tasty cheese and ham baguette from the worktop belonging to Wayne one of our volunteers....Oops! He ate the whole lot before he was spotted, Sorry Wayne! I'm sure Ellie must have been watching and nodding with approval. :))

Xxx

Hot hot hot - not complaining as the washing is drying nicely and with all the fans on with and mist being sprayed, cool coats on standby and the black out blinds down, we are managing to keep our inmates happy so they are not too hot and bothered. I put up a big sheet in roof of the feeding runs to block the sun and this has helped loads too.

I had a trip to Fivelands with the gorgeous Bounty and she has healed really well following her neutering and dental last week. She had the first part of her vaccination course and will be back there in a couple of weeks for the second part. She travelled well and wasn't phased by a very unhappy cat in a carrier in the waiting room at the vets. She also got to meet Auntie Kate (Lady Victoria) who was there with Lyra.

I had a trip to Poundland to buy lengths of washing line with Simon who came to finish the sand run 'jump zone'. The safety height around the sand run has been raised by an extra foot and we haven't got to worry about escapees now as the run is being booked by so many different and very busy breeds!

Well, we are all finished so I'm off home for now but back later to let all the kids out for a toilet break..... no jumbone treats have been given today as cleaning out this morning was not good!!!! That will teach me to have a day off ha ha x

Phew! It's hot...it's so hard trying to keep the dogs cool :((

They all went for walks this morning, the walkers said it was quite cool in lane under the shade of the trees. A few went for a short walk with their cool coats on this afternoon but most came out into the small runs for a break from their kennels and a groom.

Nick enjoyed a stroll around Bobs garden and Bob enjoyed a cup of tea! :) x

Thank you to everyone who has donated things for our Birthday party on Sunday. We are very grateful. If you are coming along on Sunday, if you could spare a tin of fish our residents would be very grateful. :))

Thanks so much to our volunteers who braved the heat to help out today.

Xxx

What an incredibly hot day! We managed to take the dogs out for a walk this Morning but by lunchtime it was just too hot. Some of them had a little time in the run, while others enjoyed a groom and play in the small runs.

Ruth had to take Nick to see the emergency vet last night as he was in considerable discomfort with his leg. They gave him some pain relief and advised us to take him to our own vet this morning. Fortunately he seemed a little better and was able to walk on it. He was a really good boy at the vets met a former Daybreaks resident, Sally and a Labrador and was the perfect gentleman with them both. :) He now has more pain relief and has a review appointment in a couple of weeks.....He isn't able to go for walks so won't be very impressed!! :((

Lovely little Sky went home today. Do hope all goes well for her and her new Mom and Dad. Xx

Don't forget our 12th Birthday party on Sunday! :)))

Yesterday was nuts - and that is putting it politely!!! It was great to see Kate back and throw her back in at the deep end! I left at 2pm to head to Rugby, firstly to pick up some bottles for our open day drinks hamper, then onto destination 2 to check on Diddy and collect some donations for car booting, then destination 3 to check on Ray/Jay who was homed last week. We took Foxy with us and we came back with a van full of goodies.

Today has been very quiet... think it might be something to do with the football!!!! I am nursing a poorly Nick who developed a limp this morning and a swelling has appeared on the back of his wrist. He is extremely uncomfortable and crying out but I am anxious not to whip him off to the emergency vets due to the cost..... Agggghhhhh :-((((

What a lovely warm and sunny day today. Very quiet for volunteers, so we chained Ruth to the office and phone!!lol, whilst James and I did all the morning walks down the very shady lane. It was actually very pleasant indeed and I enjoyed the walks - just wonder how far in total I have walked today!! You can't beat being out in the fresh air getting some exercise in the company of these beauties.

After walks I decided to strip and spring clean the back kitchen kennel. Nick had been using the kitchen run during the morning as he is much happier seeing what is happening around him and interacting with you. Well, he decided to be very "helpy" as I was trying to get a clean cover on the duvet - jumping up onto the bed and sitting down on the cover - then looking at me as if to say "well, this is a bit flat and hard!!" He is very inquisitive and very intelligent, the training Ruth has been doing with him is really showing results. She took him to visit the chickens again this afternoon and after an initial show of interest he responded well and came straight away when called. He is doing so well - just needs his chance on his own sofa now.

Our new arrivals Shamus and Maggie are lovely - especially the dainty little Maggie who was as bright as a button today following her spey. Her tail goes round like a propeller, and she so reminds me of the lovely Vera both in looks and temperament.

Ruth had a dash to the Vets this afternoon with Saddle, who came back in from his play in the sand run with blood coming from his mouth. His poor gums are in a bit of a state and he has a course of antibiotics to help, hopefully he will be feeling better very soon.

I did some health checks this afternoon and must say the boys and girls were excellent whilst being weighed, having teeth cleaned and nails clipped. Sully was especially helpful by walking into the treatment room and standing straight on the scales!!

We had a visit from Rory and his new Dad, who has decided he needs more nail clipping practice! and Sid's family came to visit him again and spend more time with him.

Well, yet another weekend is upon us. I know that some of those red signs will be turning green and I am keeping fingers crossed that some new red signs appear.

Have a great weekend one and all

Angie
xx

Thank goodness I don't watch Emmerdale religiously as by the time I finished at the kennels yesterday the end credits were playing... ha ha - it was a looooonnnnggg very busy day but productive!

Maggie was speyed and we had visits from many people including the new owners of Seren who took her in the sand run and Sid's new owners where we did some lead training as the big handsome fella pulls on his lead sometimes. We also worked with Eric who is going to be adopted directly from his racing owners who also needed some lessons on how to not pull on the lead.... all owners did really well and responded to their training ;-)

Massive thanks go to Simon who spent several hours putting up the sand run fence security bars to increase the safety for those using the run and in return I did Bo and Amber's nails - I think I got the easier end of the deal!

It has been really busy day today so far with just myself, Angie and James but I am off to the vets in a bit with Mr Saddle who has got sore gums and I think a course of antibiotics will do the trick!

Rory's dad has just been to visit and to practice clipping nails with a view to buying some.... erm..... he decided not to buy clippers after all after his attempt and Rory had a treat after I had finished rinsing the blood away!!!!

Come back Kate soon...... I'm missing you and would quite like a day off!!!!! :-) xxx

A great photo of Saddle, Roy and our French girls. They really were very nice and worked very hard! I do hope they enjoyed their time with us and I'm so sorry my French was so rubbish! Xxx

Lovely photo of Saddle & Roy with the French Students, really wish these boys had a home to call their own xxxxxxx

We have cool coats in stock due to demand. RRP is £56 but we are selling them for £45. If you would like one, please let me know!

We are saying goodbye to our three French students Tifenn, Manuella and Lauraline today who have been with us since the 28th May. They are pictured with Roy and Saddle in the sand run who they love playing with. They have been a pleasure to have and we wish them well.

I am off to the vets this morning with Sky to have her bloods re-checked following her bleed a few weeks ago. I did her home visit last Wednesday evening and she is going to live on a canal boat with a cat and is off to her home next week.

Yesterday I met Seren's new owners when they came to take her for a walk and we signed all the paperwork in preparation for her going off to her new home on Saturday - exciting!!!

I am appealing for anyone with a drill and a couple of hours spare!!!!!! I have purchased angled brackets to add to each post in the sand run to increase the security for the dogs (so we have no escapees over the 6 foot fence (we have had one!!!) so if you can help, please give me a call ASAP!!!! Many thanks - Ruth 0121 782 7702.

Mr Creosote is fine but we will skip the bucket and cleaning lady bit! So many lovely hounds at the moment and all such characters :-D xx

Hey what about an "eat off" with Nick and our Finn as a fund raiser lol I think Nick might need to train up to Finn's level of gluttony though. I sometimes think he wouldn't recognize my face as he only ever looks at my hands to see if I have anything in them for him to eat ! Even when he is wagging his tail at me as I come into the room my hands are the focus of his eyes. Last week he had his dinner (or two) and then I found him in the garden crunching up a coconut shell the squirrel had dropped with great joy, no doubt his version of a "wafer thin mint" lol

I think Nick should be called Mr Creosote from now on.

I have been already doing some training with naughty pants Nick this morning.... he is one heck of a food monster and even with a slow feeder bowl he is an animal! So he has joined me in the kitchen this morning and to start with, he constantly had his paws up on the counters - well who wouldn't?! It was so exciting for him!!! It turned into an 'all-you-can-eat' breakfast - as his bowl has emptied, it was re-filled.... and then, eventually he just stood and looked at me! For those Monty Python fans out there - 'wafer thin mint' springs to mind!!!!

Yesterday evening, I was invited over to view a kitchen that is being updated and I am excited to say, it will be installed into our kitchen at Daybreaks in the next few months - we will be going up in the world with fabulous updated worktops, cupboards etc etc! It was a good end to a very sad day because of various reasons.

Right, it's time for a coffee.......

Today has brought several pieces of very heartbreaking news and it reminds me how lucky I am to be healthy and also to make the most of my gorgeous Foxy....

So awesome to see little Winny off to a new home today :-)
We have had a great day with 2 new arrivals, lots of people using the sand run and visiting and more donations of bottles for our open day and...... the kennel blocks have new drain covers!!!!! Ha ha - most of you who know me know I really am very excited over things like this!!!! The metal ones were getting tired and we have black plastic covers which look really quite smart!!!! ;-)

Brilliant to see Sid reserved today. :). He is a very handsome and happy lad.

Molly came for a visit and a bath :) Thanks so much to her new family for giving her a lovely home. Xxx

Elsa (Tiny) came in too. She modelled a few coats for us and decided on a very smart red raincoat. Xx

Thanks to Mary and John for the bottles to add to the bottle hamper for the Birthday Party on the 1st July. :))

The new photos of the Daybreaks residents are great! Thanks to Sara for taking them. :)

Xxx

Another early start to the Daybreaks day saw Ruth off to the Vet to take Bounty and Eillie to be speyed.

It was a lovely warm day and the boys & girls were able to go out on walks both this morning and this afternoon.

It was a big day for Susie - Ruth removed the stitches from the wound on her face which has healed nicely, and then her new family arrived to sign on the dotted line and take her off to her new forever home.

Although we are all delighted she has a lovely new home, there were a few tears shed as this special little lady left the premises. Wishing her and her new family many happy years ahead.

Skip found himself the next lucky hound to start a new life today. The family that came to view instantly fell for him and so did their existing Greyhound. We always say that it's the dog that really chooses their family and in Skip's case it was so true. Other boys were looked at, but none had that instant bond with both dog & people.

As we walked back to the kennels from the sand run after the meet & greet, Skip jumped into the family's open van and was very reluctant to get out! I think the deal was sealed at this point! Wishing them all a great new life together.

I left a line of washing drying in the afternoon sun - but looking out of the window as I type this I am hoping those ominous black clouds keep on the move and don't deposit their load over the kennels!

It's the weekend again, where is the time going to? I'll sign off with my usual weekend wish of more red signs for our beautiful boys & girls.

Angie
xx

A massive thank you to Burns... a fabulous pallet of sponsorship food arrived in Wednesday - we are so lucky to be supported by Burns and their continuous telephone support on the nutrition helpline too.

Seeing Seren reserved today was the very best news! :) A lovely family came along and fell in love with her. :)))). I know Lorraine will be very happy with Seren's choice. Xx

We had a lot of helpers today :). So all the dogs enjoyed morning and afternoon walks. There were several visitors at the kennels when Sully came back from his walk and he made a point of introducing himself to everyone. :) He is a really great lad!

It was a lovely warm and sunny day and we have our fingers crossed we get the same on Sunday 1st July, Daybreaks 12th Birthday Party. Please come along and help us to celebrate. :) We are hoping to have a nice big "booze" hamper for a raffle prize so would be so grateful if anyone can spare a bottle of something to add to the basket! If you do please just drop it in to the kennels. Thanks so much. :)))

Xxx

I do love a failed foster story. So pleased for you Buddy, and for your brother's and your lovely new failure family(in the best way of course). Do so love a happy ending. X

Busy busy day and a fabulous end with Brandy's failed foster parents signing the adoption forms!!!! He has a new name Buddy and he is pictured with his new greyhound brothers Sonny and Aston xxxxx

A really busy day today! The Pet Blood Bank came for the day to take donations from the kennel dogs and pet dogs. Well done to Horse, Petal, Sully and Jingle who all became blood donors. They have a bandana, collar tag and certificate to take with them when they go off to their forever homes. Xx

It was great to see lots of previous Daybreaks residents come in to help the cause too. Welcome to new donors including the lovely Ashley and Carla. I think there were sixteen donations today which is brilliant. Every donation taken can help save the life of up to four other dogs.

My lad Fletcher gave blood for the 5th time today and got a special gift and an extra helping of Chappie! :)

If you are interested in your Greyhound becoming a Blood donor please contact the Pet Blood Bank on 01509 232 222

Xxx

Ruth took Sid and Skip to be neutered this morning. Poor Skip was so very sleepy when he came back this afternoon. We had to carry him back to his kennel in a duvet. Do hope he will feel much better after a good nights sleep. Xx

Sky also went to see the vet for a check up. Thankfully all seems ok with her and nothing serious to worry about. :))

We left tonight leaving two of our new girls paired together in the kitchen kennel and run. They were a little unsettled last night. I have just checked them on the cameras and they are snuggled up together. :)

Xxx

Hope sky is ok! They are such worries. But I love how you call them ' the kids'...That's the 1st thing always say to my husband if he's home and I'm not...how's the kids? ! Xxx

HELP PLEASE! We are building an extension for our on site cat lounge and wondered if you have any of the following you could donate.... even if it is a couple of bricks etc.... it will all help. If you have, please call Ruth on 0121 782 7702 between 10am and 6pm
Concrete blocks
Red engineering bricks
Building sand
Cement
Ballast
Timber - 3 x 3, 4 x 2 and 6 x 2
Plywood - 12mm 8 x 4
Roofing felt
Polycarbonate roof panels

Thank you so much - Socks and Tyke will love you!

It was an early start yesterday to get all the Daybreaks kids fed and cleaned so they could go out to the walk at Brueton Park. It was a strange feeling having all the inmates out but they had a great time and it resulted in Mr Brandy going out to foster following the walk!

Still on site to keep us company was Susie who had fun wandering around the kennels with Foxy whilst we attacked the cobwebs, blitzed the kitchen and other tasks.

It all went nuts as soon as the kids started to return from their walk and at the same time we had the 3 new arrivals who needed to be bathed, photographed and settled in.

I popped up late on the evening to check on the newbies and to remove their food bowls and this is when I found blood all over the floor of Sky's kennel..... her temperature was fine and whilst in the run she toileted again a large amount of blood. I therefore took her home and kept a close eye on her last night.

Many years ago whilst on holiday one of my greys did a wee which looked just like pure blood. Not being a worrier at all I immediately thought she had ruptured something and was going to DIE!!!! Now.... many years of experience under my belt, I am guessing firstly (without the attempt to panic) it is a UTI and therefore a sample taken this morning was taken to the vets when I dropped off Sid and Skip for their castrates. The sample was checked and due to the intensity of blood in her urine she has an appointment this afternoon to be checked over..... better to be safe than sorry. We will keep you posted.... coffee time I think..... :-)

I had the pleasure of bringing a couple of past Daybreaks residents to the kennels for a pamper session with Jess today. Steffie and Bobby are both very handsome black lads and it was brilliant to see how happy they are and how much their respective owners love them. Homes such as theirs are what we dream of for every retired Greyhound. Xxx

Sid and Brandy both had a day out from kennels today and went to help at the Leamington Spa Roadshow with Shirley, Richard and Norman. They both had a great time and were brilliant ambassadors for the rest of the kennel residents. They were both very tired and ready for their dinner when they came back this afternoon. :)

Skip arrived at the kennels this morning. He had a bath and a photo shoot with our other new arrival to the kennels, Jo! Hope we didn't put you off today! :)) Skip went out for his first walk this afternoon. He is a happy lad and very friendly. Xx

Little Tiny went home and now has a new name, Elsa :)) She was such a good girl and enjoyed trying on new coats :) Wishing her a very happy new life. Xx

During Elsa's homing a lovely family arrived to look for a playmate for their existing Greyhound. It was a difficult decision as their lad is so sweet and got on with everyone but they finally decided to offer Susie a great new life with them! Thanks so much to them for their patience today as it was really busy...they just got on with all the meet and greets :))

It was great to see recently home Duke and his owner, he is a very happy lad and looked so good. x

Thanks to Adam and Amy for walking all the dogs this afternoon and to Sara for balancing food bowls whilst still on crutches! :))

Xxx

Sounds like a great day at Daybreaks, hounds off to new homes and bookings for the weekend, fingers crossed. Think maybe a "Home one, get one free" weekend may be a success, Grey's are used to a kennel mate so makes good sense LOL. Finlay and Nina are off to the seaside for a few days to our place in Bude. As soon as he saw their beds and bag of treats loaded into people (hound) carrier he suddenly became enthusiastic. Think he will like the break. Nina loves it there.He is quite chilled at the moment as spent a long time today on the patio fixated on obtaining one of the coconuts filled with fat hanging on the fence for the blue tits. Looked like he was meditating,and lining up his chakras !!! Pity he reverted to his keen hound mode when the squirrel came a calling along the fence, scattered his meridians straight away lol

Another busy, busy day at Daybreaks today.

I took the lovely Brandy to the Vets this morning for his vaccination, leaving Ruth ensconced in the office to do the first of today's trio of homings!

I only just had time to say hello to Oscar before his new Mum and Greyhound sister came to see him and take him home.

It was Ray's turn next to vacate his kennel and start his new life - he has a lovely new name too, Jay.

I did let Ruth out of the office at lunchtime to have a walk round in the fresh air, lol!!! but then it was back to it, as it was Rory's turn to take the first steps to his new life. I managed to have some very lovely cuddles with him before his new Dad whisked him off, looking very handsome in his Batman collar and coordinating yellow muzzle.

Wishing all our newly homed hounds and their families many happy years ahead.

Susie spent the day in the kitchen with Foxy, she is healing well and is still her playful, happy self. She is such a sweetheart, who does like to lie in the most inconvenient of places!! She was blocking the kitchen door with her legs and had her bum under the fire extinguisher!! Still, she was comfy. xx

Lots of help today meant the boys & girls had 2 walks and some playtime in the run too.

A big thank you for the generous donations of duvets and bedding today, most welcome.

Another weekend is upon us, and there are some more viewings booked so fingers crossed the red sign trend continues.

It is the Great Global Greyhound Walk on Sunday and some of our residents will be taking part in the walk through Brueton Park, hopefully raising awareness of what amazing pets this beautiful breed make and maybe generating some interest and a new home or two.

Happy weekend one and all.

Angie xx

What absolutely glorious weather today!!! The French students continued their fabulous work with Brandy - I am sure they will go back with great stories about how they removed black heads from a greyhounds underside!!!!! Photos have been added!!!

Susie went for a walk this morning with the volunteers and then spent the afternoon at mine and each time we popped down to peak through the window to see what she was up to..... she was checking the back of her eyelids! She is such a chilled out lass - I still can't believe how different she was to the personality she displayed at the kennels. I will add photos of her also - she is healing well and soooo good!

Apologies for no update yesterday - it was a busy day and yesterday evening was taken up with rehearsals for our show in November!
I was over the moon to have Rory and Sky reserved and to see Molly off to her new home.
Our French Students have been working well with all the dogs and undertake the health checks, stitch removals and even managed to clip Foxy's nails!!!!
I still have Susie at home with me and what a dream she is! She is totally different to how she is at the kennels - quiet, calm, relaxed and just such a joy to have. She is healing well and will have her stitches removed the end of next week. If you think you would like to foster her until she is healed, or would consider giving this amazing little girl a home - you won't regret it! Give the kennels a call.... what are you waiting for?! Ruth x

Tiny went off to the vets first thing this morning for her neutering operation. She was such a good girl in the car and was very interested in everything around her. She sat like a "real" dog to look out of the window :) She was a little quieter when I picked her up this afternoon. Bless her. Xx

Ruth popped in with Susie, her beautiful little face has some very fetching purple stitches! She really is a super girl....I'm sure there must be someone who has space on their sofa for a very pretty and lovely girl! Xx

Stella went home today! :) She was such a patient girl while we sorted out her paperwork and when it was time to get in the car, she couldn't get in quick enough! Really hope all goes well for her and her great new family. :)

Xxx

What an emotional few days it has been with the loss of many of our precious greys..... it was truly emotional when I went out to Helen and Andy to fetch their precious Shaun - he looked so very peaceful and although an immense shock - what a way to go..... to lay down in the garden where you are happy and pass away.....

Yesterday afternoon I sadly had to get Susie to the vets as an emergency - she was bitten by her kennel mate sadly whilst playing. For those with a strong stomach, there are photos. The bite just missed her eye and the main artery in her face so it could have been a lot worse. The vet bill for this was £640 - so if you think you could help towards it, please click the donation button - we are so grateful for any help towards this.

Susie therefore came home with me...... most of you will know that she is one of our resident diva's! She doesn't sell herself as she barks and bosses her kennel mates and can come across as a proper grump! She is TOTALLY DIFFERENT outside of a kennel! She has been playing with toys, been clean overnight and has settled really well. I guess as I haven't got a spare kennel to put her in as we are absolutely full to bursting, she will be stopping with me until she gets a home. She gets my hug today! Ruth xx

Jill and Paul, I am so sorry to hear about Bobby. Each one is so special and so precious. I am thinking of you, Carol and Moe xx

Keeping Jill and Paul and Shaun's family in our thoughts and prayers. Xxx

Oh Jill and Paul, I am so sorry, I did not know your gorgeous Bobby had crossed the bridge. Thinking of you. Jo. Xxxx

It certainly was Jill I was so glad to be a part of it and walk in Bobbys name.
As usual greys were impeccabley behaved
X

What a pleasure it was today to walk through Birmingham city centre with other volunteers from Solihull and Hall Green. It was the lift I needed after losing my darling Bobby on Wednesday.

Well today some of our volunteers and dogs joined Hall Green Branch and walked in a Greyhound Parade in Birmingham City Centre on behalf of "Greyhound Day" .. With Jill & Paul's, rainbow bridge Bobby being remembered. Please see link below for the live video. X

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1542934415829335&id=135199229936201

Many congratulations Jo! Sending lots of love. Florence and Klaire xxx

Well done on your new job jo! Xxx

What a contrast from last Friday - we had to get the cool coats out for the Greys and we've all been perspiring somewhat!!!

Ruth had an early start taking Ray off to the Vets for his castrate. Many thanks to Rosie for picking him up this afternoon and returning a rather wobbly boy back to the kennels in time for his dinner.

Our 3 lovely French students have slotted right into the kennels routine and happily get on with any task that needs doing. They were also keen observers as Ruth removed a corn from a visiting Grey, and removed Sully's stitches. I have been trying to dredge up my O Level French from the depths of my memory! and the girls are also practising their English, so between us we manage to be understood!

Thanks to Norman who took the gorgeous Sid out on a trip to the park this morning - he gave him a good report and it was good for Sid to have a change of scene. During the morning the lovely Winny was sadly returned, so Norman and his grandson kindly took her out to the park as well . She too had a glowing report so lets hope she is soon back out on her very own sofa.

We are full to bursting with gorgeous Greys at the minute, there are some viewings booked for the weekend so fingers crossed that they will result in some red signs.

I'm delighted for Jo, our new Assistant Manager, and am looking forward to welcoming her to the kennels.

After a busy and warm day, I'm now going to put my feet up with a glass of chilled white wine - have a great weekend one and all.

Angie xx

Congratulation Jo, what a fabulous job to have, good luck and we'll done xx

Welcome to the team x

I am very sorry it has taken me a couple of days to put on a post, but I am still reeling and in shock and almost speechless from the shock of being given the opportunity of becoming a member of the Daybreaks team. I am really so very excited and extremely honored to have been chosen. I would like to say a huge thanks to Ruth, Kate and Pam for believing in me. Can't wait to start. See you all soon. Thanks again. Jo xx

A very busy day....The very handsome Ray arrived this morning and found himself reserved just a couple of hours later! :) His trainer called to check how he was doing this afternoon and was so happy to hear Ray has hopefully found his forever home so quickly. x

The Canine Massage Therapy Group were with us for the day. I saw them at work on Sid, he looked very relaxed and was obviously enjoying himself!

Ruth was kept busy with several clients needing corns looking at!

Sara came in today and was able to take the new photos of our current residents. Thank you. Xx

Thank you to those who gave a donation of duvets, towels and Pilchards.

Thank you to everyone for their help today...it was great to see Gail back at the kennels after her recent house move! :) Xx

Alan, thanks so much for the Thursday doughnuts! Xx

Xxx

It will be great to have Jo join us all at the kennels. :)) Xxx

We have exciting news that following interviews yesterday I am pleased to say that Jo will be joining myself and Kate as assistant manager at the beginning of July. Most of you will know Jo who is the owner of greyhounds and we look forward working with her :-)

We had a lot of help today so everyone got to go out for nice long walks.

Brandy enjoyed a lovely grooming session with Clive one of our volunteers this morning. Brandy adored all the extra attention and would have happily stayed with Clive all day. He just loves company. Xx

Sky is still a nervous little girl, but she ate better today. :)

Declan came in today so we had no trouble taking Horsey out for his walks! :))

Our French students carried out health checks on some of the dogs this afternoon. Rory thought it was great to have three lovely young ladies giving him all their attention! :))

Thanks to everyone for their help today.

Xxx

We had a new arrival this morning. A very pretty girl called Tiny. She is a happy girl and so friendly. Bella gave her a bath, she had a spot of lunch and then settled into her kennel for a snooze. :)

Brilliant to see Ashley again today. He was such a good boy while waiting for his new Mom and Dad to sign his adoption paperwork. :) Thanks again to Myra and Alan for giving him a lovely new home. Xx

We have three French students helping at the kennels for the next four weeks. It was their first day today. Ruth got them involved with helping with nail cutting and bathings this morning and this afternoon they helped with the walks and feeding. Many thanks to Bella for looking after them and trying out her French....! :)

Thank you to everyone who came in on a Bank Holiday to help look after our super boys and girls.

Xxx

Well what a funny day... Andy got in early as some of our residents were a little worried about the thunder... So by the time I got in, top block was nearly clean....
Whilst Andy went to check on the fur boss, Foxy and crew, I carried on cleaning..
It was then time to get ready for the Brueton Walk, with 6 of our residents (one of which was our current longest stayer Rory) getting there feet ready for a lovely hour walk... All behaved extremely well with Roy and Saddle not reacting much at all to small dogs running loose, well done Jess, you really are a calming influence on them.
The residents left at the kennels all went on a lovely walk and had grooms afterwards.
On our return, all hounds were happy of a lie down, surprisingly that also included Saddle and Roy who decided that Andy needed to go give them a cuddle so they could go to sleep across his lap...
Due to the weather, we couldn't do afternoon walks but managed to give them some time in the run.....
After dinner all the residents happily went straight to sleep, here's hoping the thunder stays away, so Ruth and Andy don't have to calm 16 stressed dogs down... Poor babies, it isn't nice seeing them like that.
Sleep tight all, hope everyone gets a rest full sleep. X

A damp morning which changed into a very pleasent afternoon. :)

Shirley came in to tidy up the plants in the kennels, she got distracted several times by a certain young man call Brandy who was sitting out in one of the runs. After a lovely groom she took him into the sand run for a play. :) Needless to say she didn't get her planting finished!

Thanks to everyone who came in to help today. :))

It was great to see Seren/Jingle today. She is such a sweet girl. It you would like to meet her or any of our fabulous boys and girls please pop into the kennels.

If anyone is looking for the boomerang that was in the sand run, I have a confession to make...I threw it and sadly it didn't come back! I will go and look for it on the other side of the fence next week, sorry! :)

Xxx

Where did that day come from?!?!?! The rain was of monsoon proportions and we got drenched cleaning and feeding this morning. Ruth then battled the traffic and downpours to take little Sky off to the Vets to be speyed.

The rain deterred visitors and volunteers alike, so thanks to James for braving the elements to help us out today. Even if there had been plenty of bodies today, there was no way the doggies were going out on walks - so we did plenty of grooming and health checks and generally spending quality time with the boys & girls. Sadly it was too wet and chilly for Brandy & Stella to take up their usual positions in the runs - poor Brandy really doesn't like being in his kennel and says he would prefer a big, comfy sofa please!

There was a brief respite from the rain for a couple of hours this afternoon, so all the Greys had some play time in the sand run, all except Rory who had a poorly paw. Susie is such a playful girl who loves to throw the toys around and chase them, Horse also has great fun chasing after the toys. Brandy had a lovely play in the run and was as good as gold coming when called when his turn was over, he obviously thrives on human company.

I washed all their feet after they had finished in the run with some lovely warm water, and I suspect they enjoyed that almost as much as they did playtime! They just love to lean and have a fuss, bless them.

This afternoon saw the lovely Biza off to her new home with a lovely big brother for company. Wishing them all many happy times ahead.

During feeding time this afternoon the gorgeous Sid arrived from his trainer's kennels. My what a stunner he is, he bounced through the gate, polished off 2 bowls of dinner and wagged his tail a lot!! He is a huge handsome brindle boy who seems very friendly.

We looked at Rory's paw after we had closed and Ruth dug a huge piece of grit out of his pad - no wonder the poor boy was limping! He was a very brave boy during the procedure and enjoyed his treats afterwards.

Another weekend is upon us and I sincerely hope the weather improves in time for the walk in Brueton Park on Sunday.

Have a great Bank Holiday one and all.

Angie xx

Congratulations to Alan who won £60 on our Daybreaks Lottery!!!!

Brandy spent most of today in one of the runs. He was quite settled and watched all that was going on from a nice cosy bed. He had another session in the Magnotheraoy unit this morning, which seemed to help calm him. He was very quiet when we left him this afternoon. He does like to be around people. :)

In the run next to him was little Stella. She also had a comfy bed from which to watch the world go by. :)

Horsey walked really well on his walk today....we have decided our young work experience lad, Declan should take him home as Horse was happy to walk with him without stopping! :))

Thank you so much to everyone for their help with looking after our fabulous doggies today. Ellie once again showed us that you can't leave anything edible around not even for a second where she is concerned...twice she tried her luck with the lovely homemade cake Lucy had brought in :))

Xxx

What a warm day! My heart goes out to Brandy who is still quite stressed. In between spending time in the run and having the volunteers groom him, today he spent a period in the magnotherapy unit and it seemed to settle him but in his kennel he is quite stressed. We have tried to pair him with several kennel mates but it is not working..... we are desperate for a foster home for this very loving boy who just needs a bit of TLC and hopefully a sample of home life and assessment would help him find his forever home. If you think you could help.... please call us at the kennels.

Stella had a few lumps on her head so today I set to with a needle and cleared them! She is settling so well but unfortunately this morning there was blood on her bed = she has come into season agggghhhhhh!!!!! Her spey booked for Friday has therefore been transferred to Sky, one of the new arrivals from the weekend.

I took Sky to the vets today for her vaccination and she met a parrot in the waiting room as well as a small fluffy and she didn't react to either. She is adorable albeit a bit nervous so we are going to give her a couple more days to settle and then see how she reacts to the cats. She travelled well in the van and is very very clean in her kennel.

I have added some photos from yesterday from the Blythe Valley employee walk!

We are getting so close to being able to complete the final section of our sand run! If you would like to make a donation - I am so grateful.... just log on to the link: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/rainbowbridgers

Our Daybreaks Lottery sheet is nearly complete! We have just 9 numbers left before we do the draw - if you would like to be in with a chance of winning £60, please give us a call - you can pay over the phone by card or pop into the kennels.... as soon as the numbers are all taken, the draw will be done!

Ruth and Norman took Saddle, Roy, Susie, Rory, Biza and Nick to Blythe Valley Business Park today for lunchtime walks with some of the employees. I believe it was part of a keep fit at work exercise. It was a warm day so all came back rather hot and tired, including Ruth and Norman! All the dogs seemed to have enjoyed themselves, nice for them to have a change of scene.

As there were only a few dogs left to walk back at the kennels they had an extra long walk. Horsey seemed to enjoy the walk as it was a circular route and he didn't have to turn back to return to Daybreaks, bless him!

Brilliant news for Tony, now called Finlay. Once again a big thank you to his new family for failing miserably and joining the FFP club! :))

Lucy was back helping at the kennels after being poorly with Pneumonia, it was so good to have her and lovely Ellie back. Had forgotten what a food maniac Ellie is!! :)) Great to see Sara and Louis again today too.

Thanks so much to everyone for their help today.

Xxx

We had lots of lovely helpers today :)) Thanks everyone.

Ruth and Shirley took for his neutering operation and Stella for her vaccination booster first thing this morning. Stella is a really lovely girl. :) Brandy was very lively on his return to the kennels and really enjoyed his dinner! :))

New girls Biza and Sky are very pretty, they are both getting used to their new surroundings. They were a little nervous of the heavy traffic on the Coventry Road when they went out for walks.

Lorna bathed a beautiful Golden Retriever this afternoon, very hairy compared to her usual Greyhound clients! :))

Many thanks to the visitors who came along to the kennels with donations of bedding today, very kind of you. x

Xxx

Oh WOW!!!!! What a Day! I started at 7am to get the inmates out for a early morning toilet session... it stops the twins - Roy and Saddle toileting and then dancing in it! They had a great time in the sand run - such a joy to see them play and run so happily.... I absolutely adore 'my boys'.....

Winnie and Annie went off to their new homes and with the canine massage team teaching in the sand run this meant all the the kennel dogs alternated with both a massage session or a walk.

Elizabeth kindly took Saddle to the park for some training whilst Roy had a massage - he loved it!

It was a busy day with lots of nail trimming and a few corn removals and then we had the arrival of Sky and Biza - OMG - beautiful girls.....

My Foxy boy also had a session with the canine massage team and he is currently crashed out in the office bless him!!!!

I think my stack of paperwork to attack is going to remain on the floor until tomorrow......

I have had an absolutely fantastic day - when the kennels are so busy it is a wonderful feeling. Massive thanks to all the volunteers and our supporters.... you are all wonderful xxx

So sorry for the delay in the diary update...fell asleep on the sofa and have been woken up by Fletcher's snoring! :))

A quiet morning, sure it was due to a wedding going on somewhere! However our two lovely Duke of Edinburgh lads were happy to come to the kennels to walk the dogs...they were certainly not intested in watching Harry and Megan walk down the aisle! :) Wouldn't it be great if we could get the Happy couple to adopt a Greyhound or two!!

Susie, Rory and my little Lyra went off to Melbicks to help with a roadshow for the morning with Jill, Paul, Sarah and Steve. It was Puppy Class day and I was told they all did really well with the many different breeds of dogs around. :) If you are interested in helping out at roadshows please give us a call at the kennels 0121 782 7702 for more information.

Fantastic news for Ashley! Thanks you so much to Myra and Alan for offering him a wonderful new home with them. We really must get those FFP t-shirts sorted or have an annual FFP Day!

We had a visit from Jack and his lovely family this morning. Jack had a good time in the run, but not so happy about having his nails trimmed. Xx He looked great and it was obvious how much he is loved. :)

We are expecting two new arrivals tomorrow. Sadly our waiting list grows ever longer, we have over SEVENTY Greyhounds now waiting to come into the kennels, please, please consider giving a home to one our beautiful boys and girls. Xx

Wishing Ruth a very happy Birthday for today and to Jess whose Birthdsy was earlier in the week. :)))

Xxx

What a nice day that was - cleaning and feeding was done in a trice thanks to Richard & Shirley and the early arrival of volunteers from HSBC.

Plenty of help meant morning and afternoon walks, as well as health checks, grooming and playing - our boys & girls were well and truly spoiled today!!

It was great to see the change in the lovely Stella since her arrival last week - she is a happy, friendly girl and I'm so happy she has been reserved already.

Seren spent the day in the office, what a treasure she is, she is such a pretty little girl and so good.

With so much help I was able to tackle the drains and gulleys in the kennel blocks. It is very satisfying to have a real good spring clean and leave everything fresh and smelling of relaxing lavender (yes, perhaps I am just a little bit strange, lol!!!).

Brandy & Petal seem to be getting on fine, although he is still a little stressed. Hopefully with time he will relax and realise all is well and he's in a safe place.

Was good to see Ruth this morning, although she is still in considerable pain - I finally persuaded her to go home this afternoon and try to rest, not easy when you're in pain, here's hoping she starts to feel much better soon.

Well yet another week has flown by, I really don't know where the time is going! There are viewings booked for the weekend, so keep your fingers crossed.

Enjoy your weekend everyone.

Angie xx

I do hope that both Foxy and Ruth are feeling better soon. Thinking of you. xxx

A busy day....with lots of help we made good time with feeding and cleaning. :) Even had time for tea (hot chocolate for me!) before walks!

Sue popped in with her gorgeous Deerhound Lizzie. Our first walkers were just returning to the kennels, so we took the opportunity to do a little meet and greet with Lizzie. She is such a calm and gentle girl, met all our residents one by one. They were all great with her with only Petal reacting. She was quite apprehensive, but with some help from Ruth was soon responding well. :))

Brandy has been quite stressed since his arrival with us. We have paired him up with Petal tonight to see if having the company of a pretty girl will help him. :)

A lovely couple came to meet the dogs this afternoon and fell in love with Stella. :) Such brilliant news for her! She is a tremendous little girl. :))

Sending big hugs to Foxy. We all know how it feels when our babies are not well. Xxx

Thanks to everyone who helped out today. Sara and Louis came in again :) Lyra sends her apologies for disembowelling Louis's new toy!!

Xxx

Poor Foxy and you Ruth
Lots of love
Xxxx

Ruth, so sorry to hear Foxy is unwell and pray that he receives all the care he needs to make a recovery. The same goes for you my love, you really must rest!
To Seren - you are loved and a new forever sofa will come soon. To your mom, I hope the cause of Daisy's aggression can be found and sorted.
To everyone who has lost their special furry friend recently, you gave them all the love in the world and they gave it back to you. You are the heroes of greyhound rescue along with all the staff and volunteers at Daybreaks. Xxx

Hope foxy is ok, but couldn't be in better hands than with a mommy like you! Xxx

Keeping my fingers crossed for a positive outcome for Foxy, it's heartbreaking when our babies are not well, hopefully a forever home will come along soon for Seren bless her xxx

I had a really busy day yesterday at the kennels with the Wednesday crew however I did manage to escape for a couple of hours to have a lovely treat lunch with Pam (Maisie and Monty's mum) and take Foxy to the vets. He is sadly struggling at the moment and he has had blood tests and I am taking a urine sample in later as Christian thinks he has kidney problems as well as his worsening back problems.... it is breaking my heart.

Also making me tearful was the return of Seren yesterday evening. I feel so sad for her family who are in a very difficult situation but I reassured them that Seren would not be staying in a kennel but at mine. She is such a beautiful girl - an absolute spitting image of Wispa my precious who I lost in 2015. I am appealing for a foster home or if possible a forever home desperately for her and if you think you could help, please give us a call at the kennels on 0121 782 7702.

I am slowly getting better but work beckons!!!! :-)

Huge cuddle for the lovely Belle. I do hope she's ok.xxx

Well yesterday afternoon we had a visit from Belle who was homed recently... unfortunately in a collapsed state in the back of the car!! She had been for a walk and started panting and become very lethargic. A cold towel was put over her and I took her temperature which was normal and after about half hour she was becoming a little more responsive and even ate some chicken! She was taken to the vets to be checked and we are hopeful she is doing well... I will keep you posted....

Just to allay fears with the advertisements of a post at Daybreaks, it is in addition to myself and Kate :-)

This morning I took the twins into the run and I have been teaching Saddle the 'wait' command..... he is doing fantastic and it stops his circling. I also took Stella into the run - she is in the isolation kennel away from the Daybreaks greys due to a cough she has. This appears to just happen when she has a lead on or is held by her collar so we have a harness to prevent this. She is immaculately clean every morning and absolutely loves the run. I had feedback from the greyhound board that her previous owner was not able to be contacted..... anyhow - whatever has happened..... she is in safe hands now and we hope she can find a great home soon. She is off to the vets next week for the second part of her vaccination and then her spey is to be arranged.

I am attacking the paperwork pile from home today whilst I keep popping the pills and hope to be back to 100% very soon - thanks for all the messages I have been receiving x

It was a beautiful day again today. :)

Rosie took Nick and Sully off to the vets first thing for their neutering operations. They were both quite wobbly when they returned late this afternoon, but it didn't stop them from enjoying their evening meal. :) I had to help Sully get onto his bed; but he looked quite comfy when I checked on him before going home. Xx

As we didn't have enough Volunteers to walk the dogs this this morning, Yvonne and I took them all in the run whilst Clive gave everyone a lovely groom. They all loved the extra attention especially Molly, Saddle and Roy. I'm sure they would have stayed with Clive all day! :)

Ashley came in to visit us with Alan and Myra this afternoon. It's great to hear he is doing so well now. :)) We are so grateful to them for all the help, time and patience they are giving to him. x

Thanks to Yvonne, Adam, Alan and Myra for taking the lads and lasses for walks this afternoon. :))

Xxx

Well today was very mixed.... I was greated with happy waggy tails by Rory and Susie who were so happy.

Andy and myself cleaned kennels slightly earlier than normal, leaving Ruth to her much needed rest... She is in so much pain.... This meant we were half done by the time our younger volunteers arrived...

All dogs enjoyed morning walkies, with Susie taking up her normal position of legs in the air, on her back in the run.. She is so comical...

Then the day went quite quiet for a while, with only a few people using the run, buying food etc... Which meant we could give all the boys and girls some grooming..

The afternoon saw the unexpected homing of Petal Bloom, she was so happy to go home...
Then it was Noodle turn... Aka Nancy who's human parents decided to pick her up early... Yay... Two girls now happily in forever homes....

The afternoon also saw Saddle go off to the park for some more training... Thanks Elizabeth x

Thanks to everyone's help today.... We all hope Ruth gets well soon. X

It was great to see Sara and Louis today :)) Sara did look well! She was finally able to see the bench she bought in memory of her lovely lad Charlie. I know she is so grateful to everyone who made a donation towards it. :))

Laura brought her lovely Labrador, Arlo in again today. This time he met Nick and Rory. They were both great with him. :)

Stella is a very sweet girl. A little bewildered at the moment but she ate her breakfast and dinner and Andy gave her a bath this afternoon.

Angies painting job looks great! A coat of white paint certainly brightens things up! :)

Lovely to see Jo and Willow today. It seemed strange to see Jo with only one Greyhound on her arm! :))) We also had a visit from Gorgeous Sandy, who is now called Isla. She looked great!

Thank you so much to everyone for all your help today. Sending big hugs to Ruth and to Lucy tonight, hoping they both feel better soon. Xxx

Hi all we popped in today and met Sara who was looking so well and refreshed from her hospital stay..We had a good play with Kates greys and Lyra loved playing with the tennis ball... Soe beuatiful greys in the kennels at the moment looking for that elisive forever home....xxx

I started this morning with a loving head butt from Sully! He is such a happy boy boy but I saw stars and if you see me with a black eye... I haven’t been fighting!!! A blitz of the kennels out the back which usually holds all our bedding etc meant we could accommodate little Stella and grateful thanks to Angie wielding the paint roller. Earlier she had sloshed some disinfectant down her cleavage so she has been having fun!!!!
I’ve been feeling particularly rotten this week and tonight I’ve been diagnosed with shingles so I will be keeping a low profile until I’m a bit better:-(((

Another quiet Friday at Daybreaks! No volunteers meant no walkies again today, but this, together with some much cooler weather, meant the boys and girls could have a romp around in the sand run!

Some, especially the new boys, just appreciated the chance to mooch around off lead and have a good old sniff at everything. Others took great delight in racing around like loons, playing with the toys and having a high old time. My current favourites Rory and Susie had such fun playing together, but were as good as gold when called when play time was over. It was so funny to see Rory trying to stay awake back in his kennel, his head kept nodding! Bless him he is such a character and the delightful Susie is so sweet -although she does like to sleep squashed up against the kennel door with her back legs in the air and her front legs thrust underneath the bars!!

We had a viewing this morning which resulted in the cute little Winny being reserved. Ruby Rebel paid us a visit this morning too, his Mum says he has settled so well and is being just perfect - he looks great.

Huge thanks to Jess for taking "the boys" (Roy & Saddle) out to the park this morning as part of their ongoing socialisation training. They also enjoyed a play in the sand run this afternoon - but we still can't wear them out!!

We have been blitzing out the back again, and I have been wielding a paint roller on the walls!! Not such a good idea as I think there is more paint on me and my t-shirt than on the walls!! You see - you need to be very flexible to work at Daybreaks!!!

This afternoon saw the arrival of sweet little Stella, who was picked up as a stray. She was understandably a little stressed on arrival but tucked into her supper of Burns and sardines and polished it all off.

Many thanks for the very kind donation of tinned fish received today, our boys and girls will certainly enjoy those in the weeks to come.

I just cant believe how quickly the time is flying by - another weekend is upon us so lets keep fingers crossed that some more of our lovely boys and girls will soon be on their very own forever sofas.

I think a glass of wine is called for now! Enjoy your weekend one and all.

Angie xx

There is a vacancy for Assistant Manager at Daybreaks Kennels

We are looking for a friendly person to join our team.
The position, which can be physically and emotionally challenging, is for 3 days a week on a variable rota which would include weekends and bank holidays.

Applicants must be able to drive, be involved with basic training and management of students and able to assist our volunteers with special needs.
A good knowledge of greyhounds and their needs is preferable.

For more information please contact
Ruth on 077606 17287

To be considered for this position, please forward your CV for the attention of Pam Dewar c/o Daybreaks Kennels by 25th May 2018

I have created Daybreaks Daily Diary as a dog so please don't think you can adopt this one! The photo is of Tara, my first greyhound when she was at the Dogs Home. The date of birth is actually the date we opened Daybreaks :-)
This means we can add comments as well as photos - I hope you think this is a good idea!!!!