GAP Walk & Picnic

Hi Readers, after the GAP team's busy year so far, we decided that it was time for a relaxing walk and picnic at the university of Queensland at St Lucia. A greyt time was had by all (except for the guinea fowl who decided they wanted to attack us for walking around the lake!)

We need to charge our batteries as we will be manning the Greyhound Lounge at the Royal National Association's show starting next Saturday. This is our biggest promo of the year and its very tiring being adored by the public for 10 days or so. We hope to see all our Brisbane readers at the "Ekka", drop on in at the dog pavilion and say hi.

Some of the GAP gang.

More of the GAP gang.

The three versions of perfection together - Greyhound, Whippet and Iggy.











Bailey the Whippet.
















Former House of Hound foster Oskar and his mum Kylie.

It was also a milestone birthday for Michelle today. We put a little birthday music in the RHS of this blog to celebrate.





Kylie wonders if she can smuggle Bailey home with her.















Jaydee and her new sister Leela share a cuddle.



Pepe takes a snooze after the walk and picnic lunch.











See you all at the Ekka. Bye for now Readers - Murphy. (No guinea fowl were harmed in making of this blog)

Rocky the Wonder Goat Turns Three

Last Tuesday was Rocky the wonder goat's third birthday.

What's wonderful about eating grass and producing jelly beans I hear you ask? Why do we call him the wonder goat I hear you ask? It is because of the way he came to be a resident at the House of Hound. Rocky's mother Lucy and her herd mates were abandoned and left to die on the property next to ours. By the time Mum & dad found her, a lot of her herd was already dead and Lucy only had hours left before she too went to the bridge.

The RSPCA were called and they asked us to care for Lucy for one night as she couldn't walk and would have been no match for any wild dog or fox that found her. That was over three years ago now and, after a lot of TLC from Mum & Dad and care from our vet at Burpengary, Lucy is now fully mobile and still with us. Anyway, Rocky was born with Dad's help a few weeks after taking Lucy in and needed constant care as his Mum was unable to walk and to feed him. He lived in our walk in robe in a laundry hamper for weeks until he was able to fend for himself outside.

As you can see from the photo, he is now a strapping young goat who still likes a cuddle and a party.

Happy birthday Rocky.

Pet Supersavers Christmas in July

The GAP promo regulars went to Murrumba Downs today for the Pet Supersavers Christmas in July celebration.

Although the greyhounds were the main attraction (of course), there were heaps of other stalls there and a good time was had by all. There were all types of dogs, cats, guinea pigs and the store's own pet python doing the rounds to welcome everybody. There were also a lot of competitions, I came second to Jaydee in the fastest eating competition heat and the greyhounds also won an award for the best synchronised sleeping display!

I hope you enjoy the pics!

Don't tell me you haven't woken up somewhere like this after a big night out.

The north side GAP crew ready to face the crowds.

Pepe charms some prospective greyhound parents.

Homer & Charlie get in some synchronised sleeping practice.

Security was on hand in case the crowds attempted to mob me.










The small fluffy brigade also had a fashion parade. We didn't participate as we were too tired after the synchronised sleeping display.



Bye for now Readers - Murphy.

Samford Show, Day Two

Hi Readers, it was day two of the Samford show for us today and we got to look around at the various activities being conducted around the show grounds. I hope you enjoy the pictures -


Here I am with my friend James and the Samford kindy's weekend take home monkey.














Happy in disgrace after befouling the Christian centre's sweet stall. Well, I thought it was kind of funny - after all, you know who made all creatures great and small.















Reverend Lovejoy was not very amused - "I cast ye out Canis Demonicus". It took a few toffee purchases to get us out of this one.














Relax readers, this fellow makes his living herding these quackers around to show the Boder Collie's skills.



Top steak, er, cattle judging underway.

The local axemen show their style.

Some precision chopping during the heats for the woodcutting competition.

Jaydee proves that size is no restriction on being a lap dog.













All in all a great couple of days with lots of lovin' for the greys. Bye for now Readers - Murphy.

2009 Samford Show

Hi Readers, it was off to the Samford show for the GAP team today. The day started off as very cold but it quickly warmed up for us. There was a great level of enquiry about adopting and fostering greyhounds which was very pleasing. I hope you like the pictures -

Me being officially welcomed to the show.

Casper must have Scottish blood as she loves the pipes (or does she think there are cats in those bags somewhere?)

I can't talk about my time in the special forces but lets just say I haven't always used my stealth skills and dark arts for stealing snacks from counter tops.Here I am giving recruiting for the Seventh Brigade a boost.

Once the word was out that I was at the show my fan club showed up to pamper me.








Me working the crowd.






Here we are doing what we do best.






Pepe gets some lovin' from an admirer.
















Niff, Happy and I enthrall another greyhound fancier with our good looks.















Jaydee's fans decided she needed a "jockey" to complete her outfit.















Casper wins a heart.

Me catching a quick 40 winks in the heat of the day.










An unsuccessful attempt to draw attention away from the greyhounds.











There is nothing like a cold milkshake to fix a dry throat after a snooze.















Bye for now Readers - Murphy.




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Muzzle free Walk @ Newfarm Park

Hi Readers, the day of the walk to celebrate GAP greyhounds being allowed to be muzzle free in Queensland was finally here! What a great day it is as I no longer have to wear that stupid wire cage that scares kids and makes people think I can't be trusted to behave like the responsible canine citizen I am.

GAP had a great turnout at Newfarm Park and I got to see a lot of our old fosters from the House of Hound. My friends Sally and Oskar were there with their forever families and we all got big cuddles. Homer even liked going on the walk through the farmer's markets and checking out the food stalls. Pepe, who earlier in the week had seventeen teeth removed, was in fine form and had a lot of fun with the other Greys and their families. She has earned the nickname of gummy girl which is a little unfair as she still has a lovely smile.

I hope you enjoy the pics of this greyt Queensland day.Down with greyhound muzzling!



Many thanks to aunty Leanne for organising the walk. Bye for now Readers - Murphy.

Muzzle Free Walk & Greyhound Gathering

Hi everybody, I'm so excited about the recent news for Greyhound Adoption Program graduates that I just had to blog this. Unless you have been living under a rock you would have heard about the new Queensland muzzling laws that came into being on the 1st of July 2009 after receiving royal assent last year.

To celebrate our new found freedom, we are holding a muzzle free walk and greyhound gathering at Newfarm park on Saturday 11 July at 09:00 hours. We hope to see you all there. We are expecting the Media to attend so please have your hounds looking their best (blasted paparazzi, going through our bins and then I get the blame for it)

Please remember that only greyhounds who have passed their GAP assessment can go unmuzzled in public. This means that non GAP greyhounds and GAP fosters will still need to be muzzled. If you think I'm making this up, I've had the House of Hound's subsidiary legal firm, Markin, Barkin & Fleetfoot lawyers review the act and they sent me this confirmation-

Program prescribed for decommissioning greyhounds
For section 197(3) of the Act, definition decommissioned
greyhound, paragraph (b), the program prescribed is the
Greyhound Adoption Program of Queensland offered by
Greyhounds Queensland Limited ABN 87 128 067 247.

As you can see, its all true although I'm not sure I like being referred to as "decommissioned". I'm not an old power station or desalination plant! I did however like the movie "Under Siege" with Steven Segal about the decommissioned battleship so I guess I can live with that. I think the likeness between us is uncanny.



















I hope to see everybody at the walk and until then Readers remember "Don't piss off the cook" - Murphy.