Stories

We adopted Mel from The Dogs Trust at Evesham on 18th March 2007 – Mothering Sunday – and what a lovely day to collect such a lovely dog.

We came across Mel at the centre and we knew absolutely nothing about Trailhounds and have been on a crash course ever since – I couldn’t thank Eileen Robinson of the Trailhound Trust enough for all her advice, help, support and guidance.

During the past two months Mel has proved to be an absolute treasure. She is just lovely to have around and has fitted so well into our family. I take her on a good long walk everyday (often resulting in me suffering a few heart stopping moments when I lose sight of her!) and then she spends the rest of the time travelling around with me or lounging on a bed somewhere warm.

As we all come to realise, very quickly, there is not much a Trailhound doesn’t like in the way of food so our kitchen has become exceptionally tidy and efficient because without doubt Mel won’t miss an opportunity to pinch toast (with or without butter, jam or lemon curd she’s not fussy), scrambled egg, omelette, cereals, cake, stir fry or anything else you are daft enough to leave within her very, very capable and far reaching nose and paws!

To date we have taken her to the pub, on a picnic (quite entertaining having a Trailhound on a picnic but there you go – it worked in a sort of frenetic kind of way), out for afternoon tea – couldn’t help herself this time the lemon curd cake was just too tempting and my hubby was ‘persuaded’ to share – (actually

Mel in her racing days in 2005

Mel snaffled the bottom half before we knew what had happened!). She and I have met up with my friends and their dogs for walks and we have just started Obedience Classes.

I suspect like all new Trailhound owners we have had our share of surprises and antics but all have ended well and most have been quite amusing and let’s be honest they are such lovely dogs you could forgive them pretty much anything.

Mel is genuine, loving, comic, intelligent, fun, sensitive, and always up for a cuddle and fuss and she never fails to spot if you need extra attention because you are feeling under the weather.

I think we are exceptionally lucky to have Mel as part of our family and I also have absolutely no doubt we are going to have some fun times along the way but that’s fine for us – Trailhounds Rule OK!

I would like to thank you at Trailhound Welfare for all the work you do and for sending Danni to my local Dogs Trust. I adopted Danni in April 2008 and I cannot believe how clever and loving he is, not just to me but to everybody else, this includes children of all ages and babies and other dogs. Danni is house trained and has got comfortable with all the sounds in the house, is good on lead, sits on command even for his food, and I am just at present getting him to come in the field off lead when called, he also presents and finish on command. Small in size but big in stature.Danni is really clever and with such a good nature and heart, a true delight to have as a friend. April 2008 Danni and I were involved in a head on car crash on the 18th April.I was doing about 55 miles an hour when a car came across the central island and hit us head on doing over seventy miles an hour. I sustained neck and all down my left side muscle and nerve damage but glad to say am well on the mend at last. Danni was in his safety harness and got covered in oil and could not not breath, I kept blowing up his nose and pushing on his chest to keep him going. when the ambulances arrived they put him on oxygen and managed to get him breathing normally. My only concern was to get Danni to my vet and have a full examination done, Today he is doing so well health wise, I am pleased to say but any sudden noise scares him. I hope with time he will grow out of this. I owe that lad so much. I had trouble walking and I was only able to use my left arm with him, he helped me get well so much quicker by the amount of walking I have done with him. I live on my own and Danni has been more than just my dog he has been a true friend in every meaning of the word – always by my side and happy and playful with me but in such a gentle manner I cant believe it. As I get stronger he has started to pull me faster. This is a truly happy time for me and the lad as this is telling me we are both on the way back to a normal life. July 2008 Danni made me so proud of him. He won ten awards at the dog show, not bad for his first time in a show ring! 1 first, 1 third, 4 fourth and four specials, I was surprised when a rep of P.A.T. dogs (Pets as Therapy) approached me and asked if i would like to enlist him into their organisation, after much thought I have decided that as Danni loves meeting people especially children and babies we are going for it. I will let you all know how he gets on. I cannot thank you and all the other people for what you have done for Danni, but all the other dogs as well. Well, its that time of day again for his and mine third walk come rain or shine – it brings us alive and after what has happened to us life will always be good as we have one another. To live on your own is not much fun but to to have my Danni waiting at home or at my side, my life is great.

March 2010 Danni and I represented Pets As Therapy at the 02 Arena and Wembley this month. Danni was a smash hit, what a trailhound he is, we walked onto the stage in front of twenty thousand people and he just brought the place alive. I took Danni into the audiance for them to stroke him. I have never seen so many people trying to stroke one dog, but being Danni he just loved every minute of it. He is a true ambassador for trailhounds and Pets as Therapy. Danni has what I call magic time, he just loves meeting people of all ages and always brings smiles and laughter out of them. Danni is by nature a shy and timid dog but never lets this get in his way. I was worried that with so many people and the loud noises it would get to him. But Danni being the lad he is when we walked onto the stage he is such a different dog he just comes alive and full of confidence you would think he owned the place, so lovely to see him doing what he does the best and to see so many smiling people and hear the laughter – a true reward for what he has been through. Itproves that trailhounds are just as worthy as any other breed of dogs to be accepted into family life, in my opinion more so. They also can make great PAT dogs.  It was a long day, 14hrs but such fun for us both.

It was love at first sight! What a handsome charming chap he was, he came up to me and licked my hand and that was it really, I had made up my mind (and that of Graham my husband) that Buzz was the dog for us. Since we collected him in March 2007 we have you could say, never had a dull moment! At first we did wonder ‘what had we done’ as Buzz or Buzzkins as he is now also known was rather a handful i.e. he just wanted to jump up and lick everyone and got very excited. However, he has now calmed down.

Like most trailhounds he just loves all food, especially that which is not his! From the start Buzz slept all through the night from 10pm until 7am when I get up. He is a very loving and gentle dog who has fitted in our home and family from day one. At the moment he his asleep on his own sofa with our 14 year old cat, Toffee.

Buzz loves nothing more than spending time in the garden especially sun bathing. He also loves going for walks, these have often been a challenge to say the least! Off the lead he has visited the Mill House Hotel (I had always wondered what the grounds were like!), joined in a football match, helped a lady lambing and interfered with a man who was quietly watching sport on his TV in his cottage and Graham had to retrieve him from the brook at Broughton Castle, and finally we fetched him from a lady’s house in a rain storm after he went walk about, so off lead is eventful to say the least. However, we have had some success with the whistle off the lead and he has been much better.

Buzz  attended dog training classes, first week not so bad, second week terrible but third week much better and he was told by the trainer he had improved 100%, that’s my boy! We really love Buzz and are so pleased to have found him.
All the family love Buzz as he is so friendly and so so gentle and loves nothing more than giving a you a great big kiss when he can.

In 2004 my family and I decided we would love to offer a home to another dog, preferably a rescue. Our new addition would have to be good with children, we have three,  would need to get on with cats, also have three, and lastly, but very importantly, would have to get along with our 8yr old springer spaniel, Finn.I was quite keen on a greyhound but finding one that was cat friendly wasn’t going to be easy. After a couple of months visiting local rescues and not finding any suitable dogs I was on the internet where I was introduced to “The Trailie”. Beautiful dogs, excellent with kids, cats and other dogs.

I was pointed in the direction of a young lady, in Kent, who just happened to be fostering an 8 week old Trailie pup on behalf of Trailhound Welfare (formerly Trust), he was one of four pups that had been born the wrong time of the year to race. We went to meet Dylan in August of last year and immediately fell in love, a mischievous face with big brown eyes and huge silky ears, who could resist? He came home with us there and then. He gets on well with Finn and the cats, absolutely loves the children and has been a joy to have around from day one. He is very vocal, and has everyone in hysterics when he tries to “talk” to you. I have been pleasantly surprised at how intelligent these hounds are, he is very quick to learn. Would definitely point anyone looking for a dog in the direction of the Trailie, a great all-rounder.