As an active family, Justine and Shane Clark and their two sons appreciate the athleticism of greyhounds.

It is one of the traits that led them to adopt a greyhound from GAP – three year old Indie.

Sam, 16, and Xavier, 14, both run competitively. Sam won the under 18s Boys Handicap 100m Final at the Stawell Gift this year in 10.26 seconds. Held over the Easter long weekend, the Stawell Gift is one of the world’s best-known sprint carnivals, culminating in the prestigious 120m final.

Luckily for Indie, she loves to run over short distances too.  However, Justine wants to dispel a myth that greyhounds need a lot of exercise. “They don’t need a huge amount of exercise, just short spurts.”

Justine is confident that the family has found the right dog for them and recommends that anyone who is thinking about getting a greyhound, or any dog, should spend time to find the right one.

“We did our homework,” Justine said.” “Every day the boys would come home and look at the GAP website to see what greyhounds were available.”

It took about a month, not because they couldn’t find a dog they liked, but because Justine insisted they had to be completely sure and ready to take on the responsibility of looking after a pet.

“It is a commitment and you have to be ready to do it and you have to have the time to love the dog.”

At the end of their research Sam and Xavier were certain they wanted a brindle greyhound and created a short list. Still, Justine wanted to know more about greyhounds. The boys have a school friend who has two greyhounds, so Justine took them for a walk to get acquainted with the breed.

“I thought, that’s it, I was sold!”

Justine mentions the support she has had from GAP which contacted her three days after they took Indie home, again at three weeks, then after three months.

“What more could you want? I would recommend GAP to anyone.”