Hayley Ex-Racer Greyhound DofB 26.08.19 Guildford

[xxlynne]

Current Status: Homed

Hayley's Story: Hayley has been formally retired from Racing. Rescue Remedies offered a Rescue place saving her life. Hayley is neutered, chipped, and fully vaccinated. Hayley came in to our Rescue Centre nr Gatwick whilst awaiting her new family. Hayley was sharing a room with a retired Greyhound male Ethan, then Di Nero

If you are interested in rehoming one of our dogs, the first step is to complete and submit our ONLINE HOMING QUESTIONNAIRE. We do not discuss dogs without a homing questionnaire submission. You must be ready and we will only contact you if we have a suitable dog. For more detailed information, please see our Homing Process.

Please support our work and help our long stay dogs: Our minimum Adoption Donation is £250 (£400 for pup under 1 yr old). This supports our continuing rescue work and is non-refundable. We exist solely due to the goodwill and donations of our supporters and volunteers. Our dogs need supportive families who will offer them patience, time and tolerance whilst they settle in their new homes. Our Rescue offers all our dogs back-up for life.

Please note: Dog laws have changed, with zero public tolerance and prejudice against bull breeds and terriers in particular. Our Rescue asks new owners to keep their dog on a lead in public spaces and manage and support its encounters with new dogs and people, so as not to place the dog's life at risk. Destruction and Control Orders are commonplace nowadays.

Hayley's progress through our Rescue is below.
We work with our dogs, who often reveal an evolving picture and positive skills as they build trust.

Original referral information: We were asked to help Hayley and Faye

Hayley came into RescueRemedies on the 8th November 23

[anne]

[lizanna]

I walked Hayley today on one of my training walks as a new volunteer. She was sweet and calm, and afterwards loved chasing a ball around the paddock, really playful.

[lizanna]

Hayley didn't want to walk very far, but she loved, loved, LOVED playing in the paddock! She and Ethan chased balls - she bounces and flies rather than walking and running! She needed cuddles for reassurance at times during the walk near the kennels, but hopefully she won't be here too long as she will make a wonderful pet.

[lizanna]

Soulful eyes and a fabulous snoot!

I took Hayley for a short trot and then her favourite thing - chasing balls. She even brings them back sometimes! She showed calm interest in another dog outside the field, and isn't reactive at all (although those squirrels are definitely interesting! She's easily distracted though.) After a bit of encouragement to go back in her pen, she was very affectionate and leaned against me for a stroke.

[Claire-Michelle]

Our Miss Hayley was in a funny mood today. She wasn’t keen to walk in the direction I intended preferring a direction with plenty of squirrel activity. I relented and after choosing the muddiest possible path we could have tried we reached a bridge complete with styles which she decided she could not cross (I can’t remember if we’ve done them before but I had a feeling we had without any refusal).

We turned around and retraced our steps and then Hayley agreed to go the original direction I had intended.

We saw other dog walkers ahead in the woods and she was happy to calmly trot and skip along behind. She has an adorable little slip in her step when she’s feeling confident.

As we approached another bridge a horse and rider passed us. She calmly watched on but then refused the fairly steep jump to get onto the bridge ahead of us.

Luckily there was the option to walk over to the road and follow this round to reunite with the dog walkers ahead of us.

As we reached the public footpath back into the woods, there were dog walkers in front and behind us and she again stopped and decided she was unable to progress, seemingly distracted by all that was happening around us. Only after we had allowed all dogs to pass by and I had given into encouragement with a treat from my bag did Miss Hayley suddenly snap out of her frozen stance and agree to move on (without even eating the treat).

After a short distance we caught up with other dog walkers once more and when we reached the third bridge (the easiest - with no large step up or styles) she appeared completely unphased and happy to cross without a second thought.

As we returned to her kennel we had one final stubborn freeze up, which allowed for a pause for some strokes and photos,

then we reunited with kennel mate Ethan at last.

[clairer]

Hayley and I went for a walk today, her kennel friend Ethan had already been out. She was a little reluctant to get going and as the paddock was occupied we made our way to the woods (some treats were used which went down well) She trotted along with a lovely spring in her step, spotted several squirrels and then clearly decided we had gone far enough in that direction so we came back. She needs some calm, quiet words of reassurance and the odd treat but is a very peaceful gentle dog who will make the perfect pet for someone.

[lizanna]

Lovely Hayley

[Claire-Michelle]

Another lovely walk with our Hayley and Ethan today. It was great to have found a fellow walker to be able to take one of my favourite pairs out together.

As we started our walk we came upon a noisy reception area, with plenty of comings and goings and Hayley froze (despite having Ethan for company and reassurance). I’ve been struggling to work out what it is that causes Hayley to freeze (neither seeming frightened, pulling towards anything, avoiding anything or stubbornly sitting down) and I’m starting to wonder if she is just a little nosey (and shy).

Today the busy and noisy entrance had certainly stopped us from making progress earlier than I had ever experienced before (usually it’s just on returning that she has appeared distracted from our walk and frozen on the spot).

With plenty of patience, reassurance and attempts to distract her Hayley eventually decided that the scene was no longer of such interest and she was ready to go for a walk.

When Hayley was ready she walked on without any hesitation and you would never know that she had had a moment of frozen curiosity and perhaps a little stubbornness or uncertainty.

We experienced a few more inexplicable moments like this during our long walk; where the scenery, terrain or surrounding noises and smells changed and Hayley would tense up and stop in her tracks. Or there might be walkers/runners or a park in the distance that perhaps catches her interest and she wants to stop and quietly listen before moving forward (with Ethan’s presence making no difference to how quickly these moments would resolve allowing her to move on).

She never reacts to other dogs or cyclist and isn’t overly interested in wildlife and squirrels. She’s such a quiet and gentle girl never overly excited or worried, usually walking with even tempered confidence. When Hayley does stop in her tracks there is something about those big brown eyes that make you just want to help her in any way you can.

Hayley has a lovely relationship with Ethan (her current kennel mate) but whether walking with him or not it doesn’t not seem to alter these moments where she freezes to asses her situation and surroundings. With time, patients and encouragement (with a little fuss or a distracting smell) the tension abates and when Hayley decides all is OK she will carry on as if nothing happened, trotting along beautifully making her a lovely walking companion.

Perhaps when our next opportunity arises I can come up with a plan to test my new theory that Hayley is just a nosey girl who is simply craving more people time/company. With the right loving home this beautiful girl is going to come further out of her shell I’m sure.

[Claire-Michelle]

I took the beautiful Hayley out for a wander today and we bumped into a couple of male dog walkers on our little outing. She appeared to enjoy their attention greatly and was responsive to a male voice; it made me wonder is she would flourish with a male owner or perhaps her past owner was male.

Hayley didn’t want to go far today so when her kennel mate Ethan joined us we took them to the paddock, where they both enjoyed running around together, chasing each other and a few balls.

It was lovely to see this contrast from our quiet calm girl, enjoying a little race about but still seeking human company and strokes when out of breath.