Devon Meadows greyhound trainer Michelle Westerveld is giving her not-so-speedy dogs a chance at life as a household pet.By Glen Atwell
DEVON Meadows greyhound breeders and trainers Michelle and Paul Westerveld are giving their not-so-speedy dogs a chance at life as a household pet.
Michelle and Paul have bred and trained a number of group winning stars such as Path To Power, Star Witch, Witch Magic and Meticulous.
Their bread winning greyhounds showed enough brilliance on the racetrack to be kept for breeding, but of course, not all greyhounds experience such a destiny.
That’s where the Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) comes in.
It allows retired and injured greyhounds to be adopted out as household pets.
Over the years the Westervelds have placed several of their greyhounds into GAP, to give them a chance to be a cuddly family pooch.
However, knowing that the wait to get greyhounds into GAP can be several months, Michelle decided to take up the recent offer by the GAP to attend the first pre-assessment day, held on 18 August.
Michelle was one of six industry participants, and took a total of 15 greyhounds to attend the session, which involved having the greyhounds’ temperament tested in a controlled environment with the GAP’s resident testing dog, a Jack Russell named Stumpy and a cat named Alice.
“The pre-assessment days are there to test the level of interest greyhounds have in small dogs and cats,” said Larissa Darragh, manager of GAP,
“Most pass the dog test, meaning they are suitable for adoption, but only about 10 per cent pass the cat test.”
Amazingly, all four of Michelle’s greyhounds passed the cat test and have been moved up the pecking order to be accepted into GAP in a couple of weeks.
“We have a big demand for GAP dogs that are cat friendly,” Ms Darragh said.
“Michelle’s dogs were presented in magnificent condition and it was obvious that they had received a lot of handling and attention from a young age,” Larissa added.
Michelle hinted that another reason her greyhounds showed little interest in the testing animals was because it wasn’t something that was new to them.
“We have a couple of little fluffy dogs at home and a couple of cats,” Michelle said.
“As a rule, we keep the dogs away from the greyhounds and the cats know to stay away. However, in the situation where we feel that one of our greyhounds would make a good pet, we introduce them to our fluffy dogs and the cats in a controlled situation.”
It may take a couple of tries, but their interest generally wavers pretty quickly,” Michelle said.
Upcoming dates for the monthly pre-assessment days are Saturday 13 September and Monday 13 October.
Bookings can be made by phoning Larissa or Melanie on 5799 0166.
