Penny the Wonder Hound

I first saw Penny at Crufts 2008, and although I had been desperate for a greyhound for a very long time, Roger kept saying 2 dogs and a cat too much! Too big, too much exercise and so on. However, I was reassured by the Monmore team that she was cat friendly having only raced a very few times and that she would be ideal for us. All the way home to Bristol I moaned on and on to my daughter saying Roger will never agree. Finally in exasperation she said 'Just ask him'.

So I finally did and after a lot of persuasion he agreed that we could reserve her and go back to Wolverhampton the following week to see if the other two dogs would get on with yet another addition. Barney a cross Border Terrier/Shih Tzu, aged 13 was fine, took it all in his stride and in fact was more interested in all the new smells. Pip a cross Cocker/Sheltie, aged 4 on the other hand barked all the time and was not happy at all. Alison, with reservations, said we could take her but if either Pip or Max our 15 year old cat didn't cope we could take her back. So with that challenge off we set down the motorway.

Needless to say, after a few sleepless nights and quite a bit of howling (how do you explain that to the neighbours!) they all settled in and now Penny and Pip are bosom pals. Where one of them goes the other has to go as well in case either is missing out on something. We lost Barney 2 years later but he was happy to be with her and Max just knew to keep high and pat her on the nose if she got too friendly.

Roger is of course, totally smitten. They'll spend ages together having cuddles and he would rather sit on the floor than disturb her sleep on one of the sofas!!!

Sorry this is such an epistle but thought you might appreciate the where and the whyfor’s of how Penny came to own 2 adults, 2 dogs and a cat!!

I had had a hip replacement in the January prior to the to the adoption and Penny got me up and out when all I really wanted to do was sit. Not long after we had her I had to have my other hip replaced and once again she got me going.

She sailed through her kennel club bronze good citizen’s award and only just missed out on silver because she just wouldn't stay for 2 minutes on a slippery floor even though she's perfectly happy to lie on her back on a sofa for hours!!!

We next embarked on a mission to join the charity Pets As Therapy. Needless to say that was easy-peasy. We now are visiting 2 schools for the charity's READ 2 DOGS programme. The children love her, I think because she just lies there (asleep a lot of the time) and lets them tickle and cuddle her. We had a visit from Bel Mooney who wrote a lovely article in her column in the Daily Mail.

More information about Pets As Therapy can be found here: http://www.petsastherapy.org/ . Greyhounds can make excellent P.A.T. dogs and the organisation is always looking for new dogs/volunteers.

She was in the Vale Vets hospital, Dursley for nearly 2 weeks where they all fell in love with her and treated her like a queen. She is now recovered brilliantly and we are back to our charity work with the possibility of visiting our local nursing home as well.

With many thanks for letting us have such a wonderful hound.

Best wishes

Lesley and Roger