In golfing terms, a “mulligan” is a second chance to perform an action, after the first chance went wrong through bad luck or a blunder. Pawrents Ashleigh & Dylan believe it is the perfect name for their beloved Mulligan, who is now getting his second chance at a better life!
“Mulligan is the goodest boy we have ever met”, says Ashleigh. “He is very curious and is always investigating the many smells around the house and neighbourhood. As he has become more comfortable in his new home he has shown more of his cheeky side and is becoming more and more affectionate as time has gone on – which is absolutely melting our hearts.” He can also be a little bit of a weirdo… which always makes us laugh!”
Like all good houndie boys and girls, Mulligan loves his walks, food and zoomies. He also loves his toys, so much so they often explode!
Mulligan has become a landscaper in his new home, only too happy to help his dad create their new outdoor space.
“We moved into our house just over a year ago and Mulligan’s dad has been busy doing lots of jobs to fix up our new home,” Ashleigh explains.
“One of those jobs has been to fix the back lawn, which entailed digging up lots of weeds. Mulligan was never really interested in digging until then. Now he is chief landscaper of the house, digging up weeds daily (and maybe other parts of the lawn that he’s not supposed to).”
Mulligan has fit into pet life with his new family seamlessly.
“He spends most of his days moving from lounge to lounge around the house, enjoying all the comforts that come with being adopted. He is very spoilt and sometimes we call him King Mulligan.”
“He loves food so much that we have had to put a baby gate in the kitchen to make sure he doesn’t get access to any food he is not supposed to have. Though he still tries to sneak in every day!”
“He is very popular around our neighbourhood and every time we go for a walk he gets a compliment from a stranger telling him how beautiful he is.”
Ashleigh and Dylan have no regrets about adopting Mulligan.
“If anyone is thinking about adopting a greyhound – do it! They are the most gentle, kind-natured dogs we have ever come across,” says Dylan.
“Mulligan’s mum has always been a bit unsure about having a dog as a pet. But now, she is the biggest dog mum out there and is an advocate for rescue greyhounds. Our experience has been amazing and the transition from working dog to pet was much easier than we expected. In our experience, greyhounds are awesome company and very easy to look after.”
With Mulligan displaying some resource guarding tendencies early on, Ashleigh and Dylan found the support from their adoption coordinator extremely helpful.
“… Mulligan loves laying on all of the soft surfaces in the house but in the beginning he was trying to resource guard them and would growl at anyone who tried to sit on any of the lounges (even mum and dad). The guidance and support we have received from Greyhound Rescue has been above and beyond,” says Ashleigh.
Their adoption coordinator talked them through some strategies to help, and Mulligan was able to learn that sharing is fun!
“Yes, Mulligan needed us to rescue him but it turns out we needed him just as much as he needed us. He has changed our life for the better in so many ways.”
If there is a hound-shaped hole in your life, why not apply to adopt one of our kennel kids? You can find out more here.