If the absolutely gorgeous face you see in the photo below looks familiar, it’s likely you saw our fundraising campaign earlier this year to help us save Rüben’s life. Rüben was formerly known as Pemulwuy, and came into Greyhound Rescue by chance when a caring veterinary team called about this beautiful grey who was about to be euthanised. Thankfully, that day Greysland had a vacancy, and this beautiful boy was saved.
Enter Stephen and Vanessa, who would adopt Rüben a short time later.
While his life with Stephen and Vanessa is his second chance, he still had a lot of firsts.
“As we live in an apartment and there’s no access to a backyard, we bought a potty tray so Ruben could relieve himself at any time during the day,” explains Vanessa. “Well, that was our initial expectation. Turns out that the potty tray looked like a nice grassy outdoor bed, a perfect spot for a snooze in the sun!”
Living in a lively suburb of Newcastle, near light rail and heavy traffic, Vanessa and Stephen were worried the noise might bother Rüben. Thankfully, none of it did.
“He’s definitely a quick learner,” says Vanessa. “He managed to learn going up and down the stairs very quickly, earning him the title of Stairs Master.”
“He’s still reactive to other dogs and doesn’t know how to socialise properly, which is something that we’ve started working on with a trainer and he’s been responding really well.”
A curious boy, Rüben had no qualms about exploring Vanessa and Stephen’s apartment, suburb, or even introducing himself to friends and family.
“One can say that he’s too extroverted,” laughs Vanessa, ”since he’s more than comfortable to greet another human by sniffing their crotch”.
“We also call him the Customs Officer in our house. Every time we come back from the supermarket or somewhere else, we are only allowed to go upstairs once he finishes sniffing each one of us, literally from hand to toe.”
While being a typical grey in all the best ways, from his beautiful character and resilient spirit to his love for sleeping, roaching and doing zoomies, he also had some unexpected behaviours – that is, zero interest in the couch or bed!
“Legend says that once you get a greyhound you will lose your couch. Well, that doesn’t apply to us…at least for now.”
When adopting Rüben, it was clear to Vanessa and Stephen how much Greyhound Rescue care about greyhound welfare.
“Greyhound rescue really cares about the greyhound’s welfare and we could see that throughout the adoption process. The support given by the volunteers has been so valuable and I could not recommend a better organisation if you’re looking to adopt a greyhound.”
“Greyhounds are so loving, sweet, gentle and so much fun! It’s been such a rewarding experience and we are loving each moment of our journey with Rüben.”
“He was a lucky boy for sure,” says Vanessa. “And we are even luckier for having him in our lives”.
*PSA: While at the time of collating this article Rüben had not discovered the joys of a couch or bed, we can announce that he has since discovered how good a hooman bed can be! No word yet on the couch…
