Welcome to Edition Thirteen of the GAP newsletter! We hope you’ll find it an informative and enjoyable read.

GAP PROPERTY  OPEN DAY

The Open Day will be held on Sunday 10th August from 12pm till 3pm. Lots of entertainment for the children (jumping castle, face painting etc), hot food and coffe van, live musician, Advance nutrition information and lots of dogs to adopt! Come and see our new kennels and administration building. Everyone welcome, dogs included!

GAP RACE NIGHT

Numbers were down a little this year for the GAP race night but those who attended had a great night! We'd like your feedback about this event to see if it is worth holding again in the future. If you didn't attend could you please let us know why: is the price, location, time not suitable? If you did attend and can tell us how we can make the event better, we'd love to hear from you too! Please email feedback to gap@grv.org.au.

MELBOURNE INTERNATIONAL THREE DAY EVENT

Thank you to the volunteers who attended this very successful promotion! Our next "horse" event will be Equitana in late November - this is an enormous festival of the horse and this, combined with the Royal Melbourne Show, will keep us very busy later in the year.

ROYAL MELBOURNE SHOW

We are now seeking volunteers for our display at the 2008 Royal Melbourne Show. This event runs from Thursday 18th September until Sunday 28th. We need people who are willing to work a total of two full days (this can be split over four shifts), and have greyhounds that are confident, friendly and outgoing. Timid, shy or nervous dogs are not suitable for this busy event.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

6th July - Park Orchards Playgroup. 1.00pm - 3.00pm. Stintons Reserve, Stintons Rd, Park Orchards. Melways ref 35 B8. Everyone is welcome but only greyhounds are allowed to run on the track.

6th July - Greyhound Walking Club gathering. Wattle Park, Melways ref 60 J3. Meet at 10.30am at the main car park next to the chalet. Enter the park from Riversdale Road. There are BBQs and picnic facilities in the park. There is also a cafe in the golf course club house which is around 100m from the car park. If you are running late or lost, please phone Steve on 0432 873 821.

13th July - Ballarat Playgroup. 2.00pm - 4.00pm. Ballarat Greyhound Track, Rubicon St, Ballarat. Everyone is welcome but only greyhounds are allowed to run on the track.

20th July - Tootgarook Playgroup. 1.00pm - 3.00pm. Truemans Road Reserve, Truemans Rd, Rosebud West. Melways ref 169 E6. Everyone is welcome but only greyhounds are allowed to run on the track.

20th July - Greyhound Walking Club gathering. Federation Square, Melbourne CBD, Melways ref 1B P11. We will meet at 10.30am on the Yarra River side of Fed Square, just near where the walkway goes down to the cafe on the river. If you are running late or lost, please phone Steve on 0432 873 821.

3rd August - Park Orchards Playgroup. 1.00pm - 3.00pm. Stintons Reserve, Stintons Rd, Park Orchards. Melways ref 35 B8. Everyone is welcome but only greyhounds are allowed to run on the track.

10th August - GAP PROPERTY OPEN DAY . 12.00pm - 3.00pm. Everyone welcome! Directions to the GAP kennels can be found on the GAP website.

10th August - Ballarat Playgroup. 2.00pm - 4.00pm. Ballarat Greyhound Track, Rubicon St, Ballarat. Everyone is welcome but only greyhounds are allowed to run on the track.

17th August - Tootgarook Playgroup. 1.00pm - 3.00pm. Truemans Road Reserve, Truemans Rd, Rosebud West. Melways ref 169 E6. Everyone is welcome but only greyhounds are allowed to run on the track.

GAP always has lots of fantastic greyhounds that are available for adoption. Each month we will choose one special dog to profile. If you are interested in this greyhound, or any of our other wonderful dogs that are ready to adopt, further information can be found on our website. Just click on the link below to check out all of the dogs currently available.

GREYHOUND PUPPIES
GAP is currently working in conjunction with the RSPCA to rehome 11 eight week old greyhound puppies and one six month old greyhound puppy. These dogs will all be available for viewing at the GAP kennels from Tuesday 1st July. All are desexed, vaccinated, microchipped, wormed etc. If you are interested in offering a home to one of these little cuties please contact GAP to arrange a meeting.

Oscar is being a temperamental terrier and refusing to write a column this month as no-one has sent him any letters! I thought I'd make use of his space to share a little secret with you - on the 7th of July I will be celebrating my tenth anniversary with GAP.

I've been spending a bit of time thinking about the last ten years as this date approaches. Working at GAP has had an enormous influence on my life and I've had so many wonderful experiences as a result. I met my husband through GAP... I can remember the first time I met him when he appeared at the counter at the old GRV offices in William Street wanting to do volunteer work for GAP. He said that he had got a lot out of the dogs, so now it was time for him to give something back.

I have had many wonderful dogs wonder through my life over the last ten years - some are still with me, some I've lost along the way. I can remember attending a Million Paws Walk with my first greyhound, Tippy, and being so embarrassed as everyone had typically well-mannered greyhounds and here I was with a snarling, barking, growling dog who was ready to take on everyone! Tip was affectionately known by those who loved her as a "grumpy old bag". We've had nearly 4000 greyhounds come through GAP and while I'm pretty good at remembering the early dogs, I have to admit that I do struggle a bit with the later ones! 

When I started with GAP I was only part-time, and we had just a small handful of foster carers and were adopting around thirty dogs a year. How wonderful to see where we are now! I have realised my dream of having our own kennel facility for the hounds. We now adopt over 350 dogs a year and this number is growing all the time. We have three full time staff and four part time casual staff. We've gone from six foster carers in 1998 to over one hundred in 2008. The growth we have achieved is remarkable, and something of which I am extremely proud. There have been some fantastic people who are no longer with GAP who have helped along the way - Jenny Maslen, Jennifer Fuller, Pauline Bailey and Rohan Clark. 

Some amazing things have happened to me because of GAP - I've been on the cover of a magazine (never, in my wildest dreams, did I ever expect to see myself on the cover of a magazine... walking into a newsagency and seeing it there was a truly bizarre experience!), and I've been on lots of TV shows (at my first, the Good Friday Appeal, I was beside myself with nerves. When the presenter came to me and asked me to say a few words, all I could think of to say was "Adopt greyhounds!" I was very embarrassed to later realise that I was actually supposed to encourage people to ring up and donate!). Last year I was amazingly lucky enough to not only meet one of my favourite bands (Crowded House) but to have our greyhounds take part in their concert, and to be kissed on the cheek by Nick Seymour! None of this would have happened to me if I hadn't stuck up my hand for this job all those years ago.

I feel so fortunate that working for GAP isn't just a job for me, it's a passion. I look back over the last ten years with much joy, and look forward to seeing what the next ten will hold.

Larissa Darragh
Manager, Greyhound Adoption Program

To avoid reading any further sentimental ramblings from the GAP Manager please send Oscar some letters!

Dear Oscar
c/o GAP
PO Box 785
Seymour
VIC 3661

MUDDY PAWS SEASON

Every winter the number of people wanting to adopt and foster our dogs drops markedly. At first we couldn't figure out the reason why. It wasn't that people were going away on holidays, couldn't afford a dog or simply didn't want one - it was because winter is muddy paws season.

Apparently many shelters experience the same decline in adoptions over winter. It appears that people aren't too keen on having muddy pawprints or smelly, wet dogs in their house, or having to dry dogs off or take them for a walk in the dark/cold/rain. It's much easier to wait until the weather gets better. True-but where does that leave the dogs needing homes over winter?

Unfortunately, the number of dogs needing homes doesn't drop over winter. If anything, the need becomes greater as kennels are full to overflowing with dogs who, in better weather, would have long since been rehomed.

When you sit down tonight by your warm heater, open fire or snuggle under your electric blanket, spare a thought for all the dogs who would love nothing more than to be snuggled up beside you. Unfortunately many of them will spend their winter outdoors in a kennel, hoping that somebody out there will forgive them for needing a home during muddy paws season.

Hi GAP crew,

After having completed our second RSPCA Million Paws Walk today with our gorgeous GAP greyhound Monty (racename Frozjean) I wanted to drop you a line and congratulate you on the work you are doing with re-homing this amazing breed all over Australia. We saw so many greyhounds today proudly walking in support of not only the RSPCA, but a stand against animal cruelty, it made us proud to have a GAP dog.

Monty is a big handsome man who we have nicknamed "Monty Suave" due to his very cool, and a bit quirky temperament which gives us so many laughs and makes us love him so much. He lives in harmony with his Staffy brother Oscar, and the pair of them always draw attention as they look totally opposite but get along like blood brothers. They walked proudly together today in the RSPCA walk.

Everywhere I go I rave about the greyhound breed and all they have to offer. They are the most beautiful breed and I consistently hear people say "I have heard greyhounds make really lovely pets"... this leads me to believe that the work you are doing is having a very positive impact on the reputation of this fantastic breed - well done!

We will have more greyhounds in the future as Monty has proven to us what a great breed they are. He is lovely with other dogs, kids, my horse, visitors to our home... and of course with us. (We did have an incident with a chook, however we don't talk about that).

Thanks GAP for the work you do... and thank you for bringing Monty into our family. Two years down the track and all is well, after a rocky start struggling to accept a young Staffy pup (he was freaked out by Oscar but we had good advice from Larissa at GAP about how to handle it... and we got through it). Monty and Oscar are now the best of friends.

Keep up the great work!

Amy, David, Monty Suave and Oscar

A huge thank you to Bayer Australia and Advance for your continued support during 2008. With your assistance our hounds are parasite free and well fed!