Roley came to live with Carol and Jeremy after a short period at Greysland, and having had no experience living in a domestic situation.
“He portrayed keenness to meet people very early in his stay, and enjoyed the many outings we took him on in the months he was with us,” said Carol. “We set boundaries straight away, ‘no go’ zones were bedrooms and couches, just in case his forever home did not consider this appropriate. He picked up on these rules quickly and was even respectful of our preference for him not to go into the kitchen, despite us not being able to put up any barrier.”
While Carol and Jeremy initially restricted Roley to quiet parks and streets, he soon showed his preference for particular locations. “Anything with a water view (we live near the beach) clearly delighted him. He was fascinated by seagulls and other dogs walking with their people. And he loved cafes. He would lie down so that we could stay and meet more people. Sometimes he didn’t want to leave! He soon made lots of new friends, as did we!”
“It was a delight seeing Roley react to one of us arrive in a local park to join in on a walk,” said Carol. “He jumped up and did a bouncy dance around on the lead, clearly delighted.”
Eventually it was time for Roley to go to his forever family, and for Carol and Jeremy to head off on their travels after a long break with the pandemic. “Because we (normally) frequently travel to WA and Canada for family reasons, we are not really able to take on a long term
commitment to adopt a hound, hence our attraction to fostering.”
There was of course some sadness and a Roley-shaped hole in their hearts when he moved on. “We have missed him quite a bit but despite that, we feel very happy that we were able to give him some great lessons and experiences for his start to living with people.”
The couple discovered during their foster experience that they learned along with Roley. “We have had experience with other dogs of our own (mainly crossbred dogs) so we thought we were pretty knowledgeable about dog behaviour. However, we soon realised that greyhounds were quite different and special. Since this was our second foster experience with a greyhound we were also able to appreciate that no two greys are the same.
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