We adopted Lottie, our brindle rocket, in March 2013. As many greyhound owners have found, one is simply not enough. By November, we were thinking about the fact that we had room for another retired racer. We had to get a different car to accommodate two hounds, but once we had that in train, I flicked off a quick email to Sonja and Irene in Sanson with the subject line "We would like to adopt another greyhound...€ We didn't pick a particular hound - when we looked at the "we need homes€ page we just wanted to take them all home. We said the main thing was to get a hound that would get on with Lottie. We were conscious that a lot of greyhounds are black and that black dogs can sometimes take a little longer to get adopted out, so we did make the point that we would be particularly happy to have a black dog - we both think black dogs are glorious and gorgeous.
Irene got in touch with us very quickly and told us she thought Bomber would be a good match for us. A lovely big black attractive boy. We made arrangements to come up that weekend with Lottie to pick him up and played Bomber's video about 25 times a day in the intervening days.
We went up to collect Bomber that Saturday. Irene bought Bomber in. Our first impression was, crikey, he's half Labrador. He was a little on the chunky side, with a broad face and broad shoulders. Our second impression was Bomber bouncing up to us confidently wagging his tail and coming for pats - what a friendly affectionate dog. Our third impression was him peeing on the pot plant in the office.
We took Bomber back to Wellington. About four minutes before the end of the two hour trip, Bomber stood up and puked all over our car of three days.
Much of Bomber's first day at home was spent in the garden. Bomber and Lottie bonded completely over the mutual discovery that our neighbours had obtained some free range chickens the day prior which were excitingly visible through the hedge. In one swoop (or rather, several excited barks), they were a pack. They are often seen sharing the same sofa or with Bomber's head on Lottie and Lottie is much happier being left at home when Bomber is with her. Sonja and Irene are inspired when it comes to matching hounds!
Bomber settled in very quickly, learning his way from Lottie. He's not puked in the car since, despite a road trip to Tauranga - so we put that down to the first day nerves. He initially peed in the house 2 or 3 times in his first week or two, but that also hasn't happened since. He's a confident, friendly, large boy who was on the sofa on his first day and hasn't really got off since. He picked up stairs easily and loves to sunbathe. He attended obedience; initially we thought he was going to be quite difficult to train as he isn't as food motivated as Lottie (admittedly, I am not sure many hounds are as food motivated as Lottie). However, he suddenly started to get it and Lottie assisted with mutual training sessions, even going so far as to place her paw over his leg to get him to stay. He passed his grade one and drops like a stone every time to sit for his meals now. With walks and another hound to keep pace with he's now a striking handsome greyhound and has lost his Labrador curves.
Bomber has settled down from his initial exuberance and is now quite grown up - except when it comes to a walk, when he bounces up and down, bounds in circles, and can't keep still from sheer excitement and happiness. He makes us laugh doing this every day.
It's been fascinating having two hounds - they are quite different from each other. Bombie is a lovely, confident, responsible, eager to please, hugely affectionate boy. Lottie is an adorable, sneaky, needy, beautiful fink. When we took them to the Better Home and Living Show to be on the GAP stand, they were both very good, especially given that we stayed nearly four hours. Bomber was an absolute trouper - affectionate towards everyone, happy to meet, greet and lean on people and to demonstrate just what great pets greyhounds are. I don't know how many times I looked over at him to see him with a small child with their arms thrown around him. Pat said more than one person wanted to take him home with them then and there, and not all of them were aged under 10.
I got in touch with Bomber's trainer recently to give him an update on how Bomber was going and got a lovely response back. He commented that Bomber was a terrific race dog who never stopped trying once he reached the top. This is the epitome of Bomber - he never stops trying and has taken that from his racing career into his life as a pet.
We are so happy we made the decision to get a second hound. There is not much more work (although obviously twice as much food!) but having two is just wonderful - as well as the joys of each dog as an individual family member, there is the huge fun of watching them interact with each other. We often refer to them as "two dogs, one brain€ as they follow each other's lead almost automatically. I now see why greyhounds are described as addictive, collectible, and like chips - it is indeed very difficult to stop at one! We're so pleased we didn't.