Action-packed Saturday

Yesterday was such a busy day.

You KNOW how excited I was about going to the annual Great Greyhound Gathering in Nottingham? Well, first I had to wait for the Boy Of The House to do his football training, then we loaded into the car.

But SHOCK! HORROR!! We stopped and got out at the vets in the village!! I shook like you wouldn't believe because I HATE going there. But a very nice lady vet just looked into my left eye which  has got a bit of a red, swollen lump under the lid at the bottom. (We think I might have stuck something into it when I snuffle in the hedgerows on my walks). She prescribed some eye drops and anti-inflammatory tablets and I have to go back Tuesday morning to see if it's improving.

Anyway, after that unpleasant surprise we really DID head off the to Great Greyhound Gathering at Colwick racecourse. There was sunshine and showers on and off all day and it took longer to get there than we thought because we got caught up in football traffic because Derby County were playing Nottingham Forest at the City Ground which is very close to Colwick racecourse.

There was lots of food, and interesting stalls and interesting dogs. I was much more sociable than I was last year and said hello to lots of dogs.

I got stroked a lot - and recognised quite a bit from this blog and my Facebook page which was really cool. I felt like quite the celebrity.

When we had just arrived I met my 'cousin' Alice who found me on Facebook. She was with her people Mandy and John and it was lovely to meet them in the flesh. Sadly, the Lady Of The House hasn't got herself organised and didn't think to get a picture of us all until they had moved on. She was too busy talking. I've had a word. Tsk tsk.

Anyway, here's a few pix to give you a flavour of the day:

I didn't enter any classes, but here are some of the contenders for rescue greyhound of the year. They had to be judged in the big paddocks where racehorses usually stand.

I was happy to just meet everyone and walk around with my people. We also met Janet, who we know from Facebook, who organises the Great British Greyhound Walk.

We met the lovely Donna who runs the Huggy Houndz business and makes the cutest toy greyhounds and greyhound-related gifts.

The LOTH couldn't resist bringing home this little fella who is just too cute to save until Christmas.

I thought he MUST be for me..... but apparently not! Huh!!

"Not every toy brought into this house is yours, Winnie," said the LOTH and the BOTH. "Just MOST of them."

I was also very proud of the BOTH who wanted to buy this tshirt from the GGG. 

Although we know it is natural that greyhounds WANT to run, over the last year we have heard a lot about the abuses that go on in the sport and we think that on the whole we subscribe to the idea that we should race cars not greyhounds. That's our personal view.

Anyway, I was worn out after all that. But the LOTH and three of her girlfriends had a night out at a genuine 1950s American diner that was shipped over here some years ago and now lives just outside the town of Swadlincote. 

Here's a picture of her main course which she thought she'd share with you food lovers out there. It's called a Humphrey Bogart (her joint favourite actor along with Alan Rickman, she says).

Am off to hang about in the kitchen now while she cooks Sunday dinner.

Have a lovely week everyone.

Everyone needs a hug - sometimes

I know that not all hounds like being hugged - and you need to respect their feelings. But I'm one of those hounds who LOVES a good hug.

So I was quite excited to find this lovely little company called HuggyHoundz and find out that as well as selling directly to the public they also also supply their lovely creations to charities and rescues across the UK and even abroad so that they can raise funds by selling the toys and gifts.

In case you wondered, I'm NOT on commission or getting a fee for promoting them - although they have very kindly added a link to my blog from their website - I just thought they were really great hounds to hug if you don't have a real flesh-and-blood hound like ME to hug.

I got lots of extra hugs round my big old shoulders last week when the Lady Of The House heard that a very special greyhound that lived near us had died at the age of 12. We know it's still very raw for his family - so we won't name them here. In a terrible twist of fate their cat had died just a few days earlier and that seemed to be the last straw for this brave old greyhound man who just sort of gave up. The two pets had lived together for ten years - and maybe he felt he needed to go and look after his cat pal. I'd like to think they are together somewhere -but my heart goes out to their family who I know miss them both very, very much.