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What an adorable dark brindle boy. Congratulations!

I am so sorry to hear the news about Nell. She was obviously so loved and couldn't have had better guardians. Run with the wind now sweet Nell.

Sorry to hear about your kitty. We had to put our labrador to sleep a few months ago (hemangiosarcoma) and I would say Jess definitely mourned him. She was very mopey for quite a while, lost all interest in walks and also lost a lot of confidence (Murphy was always the one to lead the way and check out any new dogs first to make sure they were 'safe' for Jess to approach). It has taken her probably about 2 months to start to get back to her usual happy, goofy self and she and Murphy only lived together about 10 months before he died. So, yes, it does sound like totally normal behavior to me. I think keeping up the usually routine is important and just giving her time to adapt to the change in her pack. And Jess hates water too, always jumps back if a wave at the beach touches one of her dainty toes!

What a lovely update and photo. You go, Nell!

No criticism here PipDG, you have to do what is right for you and your resident animals. Donny is so beautiful I think he will be highly sought after and will hopefully go to a more suitable situation - whether that is back with his trainer or not.

Just chiming in as another New Zealander who didn't have the easiest transition with her GAP dog either. Some dogs seem to settle right in with no hassles (jealous!) but others do take a little longer. Our Jess was much the same as Donny the first few weeks (and she came in to a home with another dog too). We found what helped most was making sure she was exhausted - lots and lots of walks and obedience classes to tire her brain when she had been with us a bit longer. She also had relatively bad sleep startle which certainly freaked us out the first few times it happened. Anyway, fast forward almost a year and the sleep startle has almost completely disappeared and she is a totally different dog, she can barely be bothered with one walk a day now! She is still a talker and will do a fair bit of whining at times but this has also subsided - the first few weeks she would stand at the front door panting and whining continuously. Like you, we just ignored this behaviour or tried to redirect. We persevered with a crate at night for a couple of weeks (as our other dog was crate trained) but soon realised she was a lot more settled on her bed in our room at night. We did leave her in the crate during the day when we were out as we weren't entirely sure how she would go with our other dog (or with potentially destroying the house) but once we did leave her out to free range there were no problems. We set up a camera though so we could keep an eye on her and slowly extended the time alone (she never did anything but sleep when we checked the camera). No experience with cats sorry - Jess is definitely not one of those cat trainable greyhounds! Anyway, as you say it is obviously too early to say how Donny will turn out but he has had his whole world turned upside down so it is no wonder he is very unsettled - that is a lot of travelling and a lot of new situations for him to adapt to. I'm sure he'll be a very different dog in a month's time. And he is gorgeous by the way - have been stalking him on the GAP website for a while! He and Emmie must turn a lot of heads when they're out together.

I am so sorry for your loss. RIP sweet Dylan.

Aww, beautiful girl and you guys have just done so amazingly well with her. So glad to hear she is making such great progress.

My labrador did exactly the same sort of vomiting on and off over a year or so and the vet also had problems diagnosing (thought a food allergy so we tried many different types of novel protein etc). His first ultrasound showed nothing too much (bit of extra fluid and delayed gastric emptying). Bloods and urine were all fine. Fast forward almost a year and another ultrasound showed up hemangiosarcoma in his spleen and liver. It had also spread to his heart and lungs by then. So, yes, cancer can be one possibility but vomiting can result from so many things that I wouldn't rush to that conclusion just yet. We don't even really know if the initial vomiting was an early sign of the cancer or something unrelated. Unfortunately, hemangiosarcoma spreads very quickly so even regular ultrasounds and blood tests might not pick it up in time. I really hope that's not what you're dealing with.

Love the videos, both your hounds are gorgeous girls. Thanks for sharing :-).

Yay, so glad she is home - both you and her must be feeling so much happier. Hope the recovery continues well and thank you for the continued updates.

That's great news, I'm sure she'll feel so much better once she's back at home too. Those photos are gorgeous - I must try harder on the photography front obviously!

Thanks for the update and photos, what a brave and beautiful girl. I hope her recovery continues well and she will be home with you soon.

No suggestions sorry, but I'm following any suggestions with interest as Jess does almost exactly the same thing - right down to the strange growling/rooing noises that accompany the barking. Maybe it's not such unusual behavior for greyhounds?

Welcome Jenna and Stan from New Zealand. I love the photo, Stan has such a happy expression in his eyes and an awesome big grin!

Bit teary-eyed after reading that! You guys are awesome for taking on Jack and it sounds like your patience and kindness with him is starting to heal the damage. Dogs are remarkable in their capacity to forgive and you must have been so happy and proud when you got the first nose nudge from him. I imagine more and more of his sweet personality will start to show through over the coming weeks and months as he settles in and realises he is now in a loving home for good.

I'm so sorry. Your photos of Gracie are beautiful and you've written a lovely tribute to her.

Jess has been much the same with the morning whining, although her internal alarm clock wakes her around 6am when my preferred wake up time is more like 7am. I have tried giving her a snack before she goes to bed but not sure that has helped much as she looooves her food and is always looking for the next meal even if she ate only 5 minutes ago (I think she's learnt the behaviour of our labrador!). Telling her to quieten down only works briefly, like Tosh. Jess also sleeps in a separate room to us (with our other dog) but if she can hear us stirring (rolling over too loudly, breathing changes, etc), then the whining starts. We've found shutting our bedroom door so she can't hear us as well has helped. We do have a camera with sound on it set up in the dogs' bedroom though so we can listen out if either dog needs us in the night (I am a very light sleeper so any slight dog noise and I'm wide awake!). Things have improved a bit and I think her wake up time is getting a little later, it does take some time though. Also, Jess is a real talker anyway and will whine to communicate or just because sometimes. Is Tosh a whiner at other times? Might be something that will hopefully lessen but never really totally disappear.

Yes, Piha has the lion rock and isn't far away from Bethell's Beach. Both beaches are great places to take the dogs for a big run. I think it was Jess' first visit to a big surf beach - she certainly went a little crazy for the first 5 minutes or so before her ears started working again. Definitely wasn't letting that water get anywhere near her precious toes though!

Wow, that's impressive! I do like how you can trace a greyhound pedigree right back and find all the connections - even among dogs in different countries!

And a few more of Jess...

Finally figured out photos! Here is Jess and Murphy on Bethells Beach in Auckland.

Another newbie here, from Auckland in New Zealand. I have been reading the forum since we adopted our greyhound about 2 months ago and have got heaps of useful information already so thought it time I sign up properly. We adopted Jess (Okuku Star) from the New Zealand greyhound rehoming organization GAP (Greyhounds as Pets) back in May. She is 5 years old and a dark brindle. She has been doing great with the whole settling in process and it astounds me what adaptable creatures dogs are when you think of her background and the complete change in circumstances she has had to get used to! It probably helps that she has moved into a home with another dog, our 9 year old chocolate labrador called Murphy. They get on pretty well, although I think Jess would prefer we had something speedier than a labrador for her to race against! Anyway, hope to "meet" you all and contribute where I can.