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My Story

My name is Buttons. I am an eight year old retired racing greyhound and have lived in kennels all of my life. I had always shared a kennel with my brother Bertie (Novelty Joker) until sadly he died in January 2002. Everyone was very worried about how I would cope, as Bertie and I had never been apart except on the evenings that we raced. Thankfully I accepted a new kennel mate called Sally and lived with her until a few weeks ago when I was finally picked to go home! I now live with three other greyhounds (Jack, George and Tegan) and my Mum and Dad.

Walking in the lane

It all started a few months ago when a new lady started coming to visit me in the kennels. As I am very shy I don’t get many visitors, so at first I was quite scared of her, but she always had lots of yummy treats and it can be hard to resist hot dogs and cheese. She also always bought her other greyhounds with her, and after I had eaten some treats she would take me out of the kennels to where her van was parked and get the other dogs out. I was always pleased to see them, and liked walking along the lane with them.

She visited me a lot, and then one day she bought another person to meet me. When she led me outside she told me it was very important to look sad and scared so this man would feel sorry for me and say I could come at live at their house. I didn’t understand much of this, but the man seemed kind and I even let him stroke me.

Not long afterwards everyone at the kennels got very excited and kept going on about my big chance. Again I wasn’t sure what this meant, but a few days later I came out of my kennel and saw the same lady waiting. I knew something different was going on as this time everyone who had taken care of me in kennels hugged me and told me to be a good boy (I think some of them were even crying). It was all very confusing and made me quite frightened, but we went outside and Tegan was waiting in he van for me. We set off up the lane as usual, but when we got back to kennels we didn’t go inside, and I was allowed to hop in the back of the van with Tegan. At first I was quite pleased about this, but then the doors shut and we started to drive away and I got very scared. We drove for a long time and I kept pacing around and looking out of the windows (but I was careful not to tread on Tegan though, who was curled up sound asleep).

I can't see you, so you can't see me

Finally the car stopped and we were in a strange place with lots of things I had never seen before, so I was very frightened. We went into a place called a house (which is very different to a kennel), and then outside to the back of the house where there was a nice grassy turnout paddock (called a garden) with two other greyhounds in it. I had met Jack and George at the kennels before, and I felt a little better surrounded by all these greyhounds. After a short time the other three went back inside and lay down on their beds, but I wasn’t too sure at all so I wandered around just sniffing everything and looking at the lady who was my new Mum. It also took a while to work out how to walk on all these new surfaces—carpet was easy, but the things they call tiles are rather scary. The beds were also different to the type I was used to, and they made a funny noise when I touched them. When I finally settled down I chose a place right in the corner and curled up very small.

Later that afternoon we went out on a walk. The place we went to was far more exciting that the lane at the kennels, as it was a huge space with open fields and woods. Jack, George and Tegan all ran around off lead, and I was very excited watching them chase each other so I bounced up and down. It was quite a long walk and I was tired when we got back to the car.

Back at home it was dinner time, but I was too frightened to eat very much and I spent the rest of the evening making myself very small in the corner just watching everyone and getting used to the new sounds and smells. Finally when my new Mum and Dad went upstairs to bed, I fell straight asleep as I was exhausted after my very long and exciting day.

I later found out that I was only visiting this place on something called a ‘trial period’. This means if it works out and you are good them you get to stay forever, and if you don’t seem to like it much you can go back to the kennels. Thankfully after the three day trial Mum and Dad decided that I could stay for good, and they didn’t take me back to kennels.

Buttons struggles to adjust to life outside kennels

Since then I have really started to enjoy my new life. The food here is good, and the beds are nice and soft once you get used to the noise they make. I love my new brothers and sister, and Mum and Dad give me lots of fuss and treats. I even ask them to pat me now and my favourite place for a rub is just behind my ears. We go on lots of exciting walks and the best one is to the woods where I can see lots of squirrels. It is a bit frustrating, as I have to stay on a lead and can’t chase them, but I do like watching all the others run and Mum says if I am good maybe one day I can chase them too.

Mum calls me Buttons the Brave because I am trying so hard to learn about all these new things that I haven’t ever seen before. I want to say a big thank you to everyone who took such good care of me while I was living at Wimbledon Greyhound Rescue. I also wanted to thank everyone who sponsored me, visited, or sent me treats while I was living in kennels. I hope now I am gone you will choose another greyhound to sponsor, as even though sometimes we might be in kennels for a long, long, time it is worth the wait when you finally find your very own home.

To see the other dogs looking for a sponsor visit Wimbledon Greyhound Rescue.

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