When assessing the greyhounds while they are in Foster care, one of the hardest things to assess for is dogs that will be happy enough living in a home where they are the only dog in the house.  We call this "Only" dog testing and we just love our "Only" dog testers!

The majority of the foster carers tend to already have another dog in the house and most of the people putting in their applications don't have any other pets and particularly have no other dogs to keep their hound company.  Although people often say "there's generally someone home most of the time" or "but I work from home too" there is still always the instances where people need to go shopping or go out dinner and their dog will be on their own! So making sure we "only" test the dogs is really important to ensure that the dogs aren't stressed living in a house on their own.

So we have to say that our "Only" testers are another group of absolute GAP Champions - so far the have all resisted the temptations to keep many of their gorgeous foster hounds so that they can remain "only" dog testers. Love your work!

To our "Only" dog testers -

• Belinda and Callan Gault
• Kathy Humphrey and Dave Wallmeyer
• Tara Valentine and family
• Megan Thornton-Smith
• Brenda Chew
• Avril Adamson
• Janet and Jayden Saw
• Jill McDonald
• Steve, Lyn, Kate and Bec Mountford - well technically they just failed by adopting their foster dog this weekend!
• Doreen and Terrence Sequeira and family
• Wendy Jenkins
• Analeigh Hassett and family
• Nihara Gunawardene

The walking groups are really gaining momentum - well done to all you fit and healthy GAP greyhound owners!

The May walking group will be held on the fifth Sunday in May, which is Sunday 30th May at Garvey Park in Belmont at 10am.

The June walk will be held on Sunday 20th June at Tomato Lake in Kewdale. Meet at 3pm at the car park off the roundabout at President and Jeffery Streets.

If you would like more details please give Elizabeth a call on 0427 012 172.

The Australian Greyhound Veterinary Association has completed the initial stages of the older greyhound hip study. The response from GAP owners in Melbourne was magnificent and the AGVA is very appreciative of this.

There are some plans to expand the study later in the year.

Dr Ray Ferguson from Monash Vet Clinic in Melbourne will present the initial findings at the 2010 Australian Veterinary Association Conference in May 2010 in Brisbane.

At this stage the study shows that older greyhounds whether they are raced or not do not develop hip arthritis.

Another great reason to own a GAP dog!

As part of our plan to to purchase a brand new airconditioned, 6 berth trailer for Greyhounds As Pets we are running a Cadbury® Fundraiser Drive.

Fundraising activities such as this make a vital contribution towards improving the facilities we use for the benefit of our greyhounds. We are on track so far to raise our target of $12,000, with nearly $3000 raised in the first month! Well done - keep it coming!

We have our next lot of chocolates delivered and ready for collection by the end of the week. We have mixed boxes of $1.20 items including the popular Freddo Frogs and Caramello Koala for sale.

You will be able to collect your special Cadbury® Fundraiser carry boxes from Greyhounds WA Cannington as of Friday 28 May. You will also be provided with an envelope to collect the money raised. We ask that you please collect the chocolates but can attempt to drop them off to you or someone in a nearby suburb if necessary.

We suggest you sell to family members, colleagues in the workplace, friends or neighbours. We do not recommend involving children in selling, but if they are involved, they should do so under adult supervision, especially if selling door to door.

We ask that all orders and money collected be returned to Tammara in the envelope provided, or you can transfer the money electronically (just send me an email and I will provide bank details) once you have sold the contents of the box. If you sell them quickly, please let me know so we can give you another box!

If you are willing to sell a box or two of chocolates for us, will you please let us know by emailing tammara@greyhoundswa.com.au with the subject heading "Chocolate". That's certainly bound to get my attention!

Hills HeartBeat Festival
What a terrific weekend this was - the setting and environment were just lovely! We had a great time and the crowd over the two days were suitably attentive to our hounds. The baby farmyard animal petting zoo opposite us provided some entertainment with some of our uninterested GAP greyhounds seen nose to nose with the chickens and rabbits through their fences, wondering what all the fuss was! We've even had a few enquiries about adoption as a result of the display. Thanks so much to those who attended with their hounds.

GAP Goes to Mandurah

There was a wonderful turnout of people at the Greyhounds WA Mandurah Puppy Club meeting - kids everywhere and tons of activities for them and the GAP Greyhounds received plenty of attention pats and cuddles. Thanks so much to the people who attended as GAP Volunteers and to the hounds who loved every minute of it!

Million Paws Walk

Another great year at the Million Paws Walk for Greyhounds As Pets. Lovely weather and a terrific turnout of 93 people in the GAP team.  Once again greyhounds did appear to be one of the best represented of any one particular breed thanks to so many of you great GAP owners attending the event with your beloved pooches. Similarly they were notably the best behaved dogs!!

Robyn Brennan must be congratulated on winning the Best Dressed prize with her greyhound Pepper and Dora (the WAG) in wonderful navy uniforms.

For those of you who had difficulty finding us, sorry we weren't as visible as previous years. In past years we had our flags and banners up to provide a strong visual meeting point, however we haven't ever "had a stand" and this year the RSPCA requested that we buy a stand to be able to do what we had done last year. As much as we'd love to be able to support them in that issue, the $2000 fee for a stand was simply more than we could afford.

Thanks must also go to Perth Vet Emergency who were happy to have us hang around outside their display!  They also displayed our GAP brochures and included them in their promotional packs.

And yet another update on the current state of things regarding our lobbying to get the Muzzle laws changed for our GAP Greyhounds. This has been a long process as the suggested review started in 2002.

However it sounds like the issue may be close to receiving some more attention as Minister for Local Government, Mr John Castrilli, is on record in Hansard (6th May) as saying "the dog legislation is a priority for me. Any legislation concerning companion animals must be carefully considered. It can become an emotive issue, .. It has to be handled right. We must ensure that a broad range of views are canvassed."

He then goes on to say "I want to canvass a broad range of views and make sure that the consultation is current, up to date and relevant".

After speaking with the Department of Local Government they suggested that a Green Bill is likely to be drafted based on all of the submissions received to date. They will then go to a period of consultation on that draft and consideration will be given to this feedback before the new Act is drafted and presented to Parliament.

We'll continue to be keeping our eye on the situation and will let you all know how we go as soon as we see the Green Bill.

For more information on the conversation in Parliament visit the website and check out the Dog Act information from Pages 3-5.

After adopting Neil through Greyhounds As Pets, we've had many a conversation with Dr Caroline Jacobson about her work as a lecturer at Murdoch Uni in the Vet School.  Caroline came up with the idea of GAP participating in a workshop with 2nd year vet students.

The workshop had 4 basic aims:

• To give the students a chance to meet some retired greyhounds and learn about greyhounds as pets
• To give the students a chance to get some nutrition revision in a relaxed informal environment in the lead up to their mid-year exams!
• To give GAP volunteers a chance to have a look at the Murdoch Veterinary School and meet our Vet School staff and students
• To give our 2nd year vet science students a chance to start practicing their "consultation" techniques by talking to "real life" dog owners and their dogs

It was such a sensational day and I know all of the GAP volunteers gained so much from the sessions with the students answering our questions about what things were "good nutrients", about bones, homemade diets, raw food, how to keep weight on skinny hounds, lose it from over-weight hounds, deal with dietary intolerances, senior hounds, younger hounds and so much more! 

Everyone attending was really impressed with the day and we all left on a real buzz after spending such a great time with the students and the staff. 

Submissions for 2011 are still being accepted now and we're working on the layout. Keep clicking and emailing your good photos in.

See our website for details on image quality, size and naming requirements.