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Greyhounds prove a calming influence at the Royal Melbourne Show

Greyhounds are known to be a calming influence on people, and that was certainly evident at the Royal Melbourne Show during the school holidays.

The Greyhound Adoption Program stand, located in Channel 7’s Family Fun Pavilion, was a centre of peace despite the elevated sugar levels of many young showgoers.

The greyhounds spent most of the time laying quietly on their mats with children happily sitting beside them and asking volunteers questions about this docile breed.

“People think about kids and dogs being together and it being a crazy combination, but it was the exact opposite of that,” said primary school teacher and greyhound adopter, Pia Lindner, who spent four days volunteering at the Show.

“The greyhounds were so calm which, in turn, calmed down the kids.”

Pia, who teaches Grade 4 students at St. Augustine’s Primary School in Frankston, spent four days volunteering at the Show with her boyfriend James Coley (pictured) and their greyhound, Charlie, whom they adopted 12 months ago.

She said having a stand at the Show provided an opportunity to dispel misconceptions about greyhounds.

“We got talking to a number of people at the Show who had made assumptions about greyhounds and it was great to be able to tell them the truth.”

“For instance, people would say they must need a lot of exercise and we were able to say that they are actually very lazy and only need a short walk each day.”

“Others said they assumed that greyhounds were dangerous because they’d seen them wearing a  muzzle. We just explained that GAP greyhounds didn’t need to be muzzled, and they could see for themselves from the greyhounds at the Show that they weren’t dangerous at all.”

The Royal Melbourne Show is one of the Greyhound Adoption Program’s greatest promotional drivers for adoptions, and was only helped by a visit from GAP ambassador, AFL star Bernie Vince, who appears in many of the images below.

 

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