Sponsor Dogs

Why Sponsor Hounds?

Sometimes certain Greyhounds and Lurchers come into rescue and due to circumstances or ill health cannot go on to be rehomed.

Usually in these instances the dogs will go on to remain in the care of the rescuers or one of their long term foster homes for the rest of their natural life. Obviously the cost of their care and their medical expenses is an ongoing expenditure.

On the instances this occurs the dogs will become what are known as Sponsor Dogs and members of the general public are invited to pay a yearly subscription and contribute to the dogs' day to day costs.

On this page you will find details of the Sponsor Hounds currently in our care. Their story and how to become one of their sponsors.

Billy

Billy is a four-year-old Lurcher boy who came into Greyhound Gap’s care along with his greyhound friend Bebe.

Bebe was originally rehomed through Greyhound Gap a year before, and went to live with Billy and his owner. Sadly, their owner died and so both dogs came back into the care of Greyhound Gap.

Although unable to put them into a foster home together, they were placed with foster families who lived close to one another and were able to see each other often.

When Billy and Bebe’s owner passed away nobody knew for a period of time and the dogs lay with her. Because of this they got into quite an emotional state both physically and mentally.

Billy has always suffered with a skin condition that his previous owner had battled to keep on top of. With all this emotional distress Billy began to deteriorate again, and Greyhound Gap had a battle on their hands to get Billy back on his feet.

With lots of care Billy’s skin began to clear up and his fur to grow. However, his feet then started to burst open and ooze puss and his joints started to swell, causing him great pain and distress. Many tests were carried and it was finally revealed that Billy had a serious autoimmune deficiency triggered by stress.

Because of Billy’s problems, the decision was made that he could not be put through the stress of moving to another home, and so he became a Greyhound Gap Sponsor Dog, with the organisation continuing to maintain the cost of his care for life.

His foster carers, Karen and Colin, were only too happy for this lovely lad to become part of their family. Bebe was also adopted by her foster family, Judy and Mike, and so both dogs still get to see each other on a regular basis.

If you would like to help towards Billy's care by mean's of Sponsorship please email greyhoundgap@yahoo.co.uk.

Diesel

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This beautiful lad is Diesel. Diesel is a 2 year old blue brindle greyhound lad who made his way into our care in the summer 2006. For a young greyhound Diesel was found to be very calm and laid back, it was soon found that Diesel wasnt at all well, after showing symptoms of swelling in his leg and crustiness on his nose that didnt seem to be clearing tests confirmed that Diesel is suffering from an auto immune condition called discoid lupus this meant that Diesel would require life long vetinary support and treatment to control it, this condition cannot be cured.
After having the offer of a wonderful home with Sue and Jules Diesel has gone off to live with his new family with greyhound gap supporting his continued medical conditions on a sponsor dog basis.
Now settled Diesel and with his condition under control with treatment Diesel has become the young greyhound puppy he should be, with support from sponsorship we hope to keep Diesel stable and happy giving him the life he deserves.

Corky

Meet Corky.

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Corky landed in our care mid August 2008 and is a 6-8ish month whirrier type boy. He is very terrier like but has a bit more tell tail point and leg length.

Corky was in our local pound where it was obvious to the staff that something wasnt quite right. They had him vet checked and everything seemed to be okay so they felt it may be something to do with his co ordination and he would grow out of it. As they were uncertain of what was going on they realised they couldnt home him directly to the public and asked Gap if we would step in.

Once in our care we found a middle ear infection which at first we were sure was the cause of the problems. Sadly though even after treatment it didnt clear up and the behaviour still continued and does to this day. Corky will often have vacant moments, or moments where he goes round in circles and also at times blank episodes where he comes across as being petrified reacting to something that isnt there and gets really fearful. After further vet checks and tests to rule out various conditions its thought that Corky probably has brain damage maybe from a virus during early puppyhood or lack of oxygen from a difficult birth.

After a few days in foster care it also became obvious that there was a problem with Corkys jaw. For some reason the jaw doesnt open as wide as it can and he struggles to eat his meals and has to have his food softened. Again we had him at the vets where he had an anasthetic and x rays. The x rays showed nothing un toward so the vet took biopsies that were sent to America for specialist tests again to rule out certain conditions. Sadly again ALL tests came back clear but to this day Corky still struggles to open his jaw as wide as he should and we have no idea how or if this will progress and things will get more difficult for him.

As Corky has so many problems at a tender age it was decided that Gap would continue to have an input into Corkys well being and that whoever offered him a home would have full support for Corky during the duration of his life. As Corky was so settled in his foster home and Gap would prefer to keep him in the immediate fold and because his foster carers were already use to dealing with him we all decided that it would be in Corkys best interests to remain in their care.

I cant thank Carol and Huey enough for taking this strange but beautiful little man under their wing and not only looking after him so well to date but making a lifetime commitment to him.

Vixen

When Vixen first came into our care she was in a dreadful state
Her nose had been horrifically broken and is twisted right across her face, her teeth were literally walking out of her mouth with huge lumps of muck falling off the. She had a mammory tumour that was huge and has more scars than enough, some that were badly healed and too tight and needed opening back up as they are full to the brim with puss, on top of all this she was in season and a bag of bones bless her.
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Due to the fact that Vixen settled so well at her foster home and bonded so well with the family and resident hounds the decision was made for Vixen to reamisn as a foster dog, she needed several lots of surgery and slowley building up which needed to be done in a stable and familiar loving enviromet. Thanks to the love and courage from both Vixen and her foster family she is a shadow of her former self. The mental scars will always remain but Vixen is a much healthier happier hound.

Your Sponsor Pack

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We ask for a minimum of Ł15 a year and for that you will receive a Certificate of your sponsored dog, Christmas Card, and either a Greyhound Gap Pin Badge or Keyring

GREYHOUND GAP

Sponsor Dogs