Racing to Retirement: Graham’s Next Chapter

Hi my name is Graham and I am a four-year-old black greyhound! I currently live in the rolling countryside of England. Even though I was originally born in Ireland, I moved over to England when I was 16 months old. When I was little, I enjoyed living with my brothers and sisters and playing tug of war with them... even if I did get scratched sometimes!  

Once I was old enough, I moved to England and met my trainer, Ruth, and I’ve lived here ever since. I decided to start up my own blog because lately I am looking for things to do. I don’t seem to be going out racing now, so I’ve got a lot of free time in between my daily walks, grooms and snoozing to do some writing. Things have changed recently... Ruth took me to the vets and I had a health check. He even commented on how pearly white my teefs were, but I must admit I couldn’t pay the compliment back as he had coffee breath! I went for a snooze and woke up in a strange cage, but it wasn’t all bad because the kind nurses fed me chicn and rice... Yum! Once we got back to the kennels, some of the other dogs were laughing at me saying I had some bits missing whatever that means? I ignored them and enjoyed playing with the kennel staff here, we enjoy playing with some bouncy balls (ironic, apparently). 

Skip forward a few weeks and that brings you up to date. Guess what happened today! I went on the greyhound bus with Ruth and just thought we were going on a walk or to the track. However, once we arrived I could hear lots of barking. I must admit I stayed quite close to Ruth as I had no clue what was going on. We met this nice lady called Linda and she gave me a big cuddle. She was nice she smelt like custard creams... my favourite. Ruth and Linda had a chat, mostly about me... I can’t believe Ruth told this stranger that I sleep with a night light... how embarrassing?

Once they finished chatting, Ruth passed my lead over to Linda. Ruth crouched down with tears in her eyes and gave me lots of kisses saying she's going to miss me and she can’t wait to hear about my new adventures. She gave me a beige teddy with a red bow tie on to remember her by, I like it as it smells like home. I am going to call it, Ted. Ruth got back into the greyhound bus and left. Why didn’t she take me with her? 

Linda took me to a paddock to empty and kept saying “It’ll be alright poppet”. I don’t think she knows my name is Graham. I had a sniff around the paddock and could smell other dogs and hear them, but I couldn't see them. Linda came into the paddock and gave me a custard cream, I think I might like her and have decided I’m going to call her Linda Biscuits from now on. We had a bit of a play in the paddock but truthfully, I wasn’t in the mood. Ruth wasn’t there and I didn’t really know what was going on. 

Linda Biscuits took me into a kennel. It was clean and had comfy duvets inside. There was also music playing just like at home which helped me feel a bit more at ease. Plus, my new buddy Ted was on my bed waiting for me. There was a bowl of food on a raised feeder in my kennel, but I wasn’t feeling up to eating as I didn’t really know what was going on. This isn’t the time I usually get fed at home, when Ruth comes back for me, I can eat my food later.

The day stayed quiet and I cuddled Ted for comfort. Some people came and let me out to the toilet, and I enjoyed an evening stroll with this friendly person called Luke. I do wonder if he is THE Luke Sky-Barker who Ruth always talked about from Star Wars, her favourite film? He enjoys stroking me and talking about a ‘house’ when walking. Luke Sky-Barker tucked me up in bed and said he would see me tomorrow. He even turned on the night light for me. It looks like I am staying here after all. At least I have Ted with me and Ruth can read my blog to see all my adventures. Look forward to updating you soon, love and licks, Graham.