INTRODUCING OUR TIMARU VOLUNTEER EVENT COORDINATOR - CLAIRE WILKINS

I'm Claire, mother to two daughters and a menagerie of small animals, small business owner and most importantly - doting slave to Gem the greyhound.

For the longest time I have wanted a greyhound. I remember reading about the breed in a novel in my early '20s and the way the author described them, I knew I had to have one in my life. But then life happened and it wasn't until many years later, life had happened again and I ran into a freshly-adopted hound at the park and the spark was reignited. I went home and started looking into GAP and adopting.   I am sure that my application must haunt the team at GAP, I required a hound that could not only live with children and cats but also chickens and one rather large and obnoxious free-running rabbit. Oh, and if it could be black, that would also be ideal as the rest of the herd were black. Only a few short months later we were heading to collect our unicorn hound, Gemma.    It wasn't long until we realized that 'Gemma' wasn't going to suit her, she was a Gem through and through. She co-habitates beautifully with our cats and has never so much as looked at the rabbit, despite him continually trying to eat her whiskers while she naps. She spends her days snoozing in the office, she has mastered stairs and how to convince her dad to give her all the bacon. She accompanies us hiking up mountains, crossing rivers and sleeping in the tent - a true Gem!

Since adopting Gem I started to get more involved with the local greyhound owners, chatting about our shared obsession with our hounds, taking them for runs at the dog park and beaches, and lunches at dog-friendly places. Greyhounds always turn heads and I always enjoy talking to people about the misconceptions of hounds, so when the role for event coordinator came up, it seemed like the perfect role for me - talking to people about greyhounds!   I'm looking forward to getting more events and walks planned in the new year so others in the community can find out about the wonderful breed that is the greyhound and hopefully look at getting their very own 'speed noodle.'