Tanya

Greyhound · Female · Adult · 8 years

Location: Harvel Greyhound Trust Tanya is now 7 years old and is our longest stay dog. She has been with us since September 2022; that’s a whopping 1215 days and counting. Whilst we do get people ask about her from time to time, her biggest hang-up is that she is a ‘Spook’* and anything small that upsets her can set her back again for weeks. In September 2025, typically the day after she had officially been with us 3 yrs, she suffered another setback. This is something that we haven’t shared widely yet as she’s still in the initial treatment stages. Over the course of a day Tanya had several cluster seizures resulting in two emergency vet visits and an overnight stay for monitoring and initial treatment. She is currently being treated for Epilepsy and has just had her 3-month check. The outcome of her visit is that she needs to remain on the medicine for another 3 months (6mths total). If she remains seizure free, then at that point the vet will consider slowly reducing her dosage. So far, the tablets she is on are working and she luckily hasn’t suffered anymore seizures, but this is just another setback for her. The first week on her epilepsy medication she was clumsy on her feet and panicked whilst trying to do things at top speed. The scariest part for us was that she didn’t recognise the staff for those first few days which is not good for our Tanya, especially as this was combined with her unsteady on her feet and panicked. Currently she is stable on her medication which MUST be given 12hrs apart to be effective. She gets her medication at 8am and 8pm every day. Our chunky monkey is enjoying her late evening snack with her medication, although the snack is not good for her waistline! She has however lost 1kg in weight since her last check-up. Slow progress but progress. Despite these setbacks she has vastly improved in a variety of ways since her first year with us. She trusts the staff but that trust still has its limits. The dirty looks we get after a nail clipping or when she must go to the vets for her check-ups. You usually get snubbed for at least half a day! She now allows some of our visitors/walkers to give her a fuss and a cheeky treat. With certain dog walkers she’ll demand treats when she sees them. She still barks at most strangers, but she is more comfortable walking passed them to go out to toilet, stretch her legs for a bit (or if there’s any sun, she’ll top up her tan) and walk past them to get back to her kennel. This last year, Tanya will now wait at the kennel door every day when you put her back in to have a stroke and some head scratches and has turned into an affectionate dog with the staff. Since her seizures in September 2025, she has become playful in the mornings and evenings and initiates a game of chase in the paddock, followed by cuddles before bed and first thing in the mornings. Tanya doesn’t go out for walks at all right now. She’d previously been fine going out on quiet days with staff. Currently she finds the prospect of leaving the kennel grounds a bit frightening and refuses to walk out the front gates. However, she is perfectly happy to have a mooch and a sunbathe out in our paddocks and have a wander on lead around our fields with one of the staff. When she is happy for a walk, she does like having the chance to stretch her legs and investigate new smells. As a Spook, Tanya very much likes a strict routine and anything out of routine means she will plonk her backside in the corner of her bed and refuse to come out until we are back on schedule. Food is a big motivator for Tanya in making friends but if she doesn’t want to do anything no bribery will get her to move. She will need a calm and patient owner who can walk her in really quiet areas when she's ready and walk her on a harness plus collar/lead set. She will need a fully fence garden ideally over 6ft in height. When panicked Tanya can jump 6ft from standing. So far, she's not gone over our 6ft fences, but she is always monitored when in the paddocks.** Tanya cannot live with children, cats, small animals, other breeds of dog or other greyhounds. She is best suited as an only pet in a quiet all adult household. Realistically we know Tanya may spend her entire life in kennels. Despite what some people may think of the kennel environment, this is the place that Tanya feels safe to be herself, this is comfort for her. She has a steady routine and knows exactly what is expected of her and what to expect every day. We do live in hope though that a special person will come along with the right home environment for her, a willingness to give her all the time and space that she needs to be comfortable away from where she feels safest. *Spook refers to idiopathic fear and withdrawal syndrome. It is a genetic/hereditary issue, it is not due to any bad experiences prior to coming into homing kennels. A Spook is basically a dog that is terrified of anything and anyone that they aren’t familiar with, and it can take a long time to gain a Spooks trust and to build a relationship. Building a relationship with them does happen but you are looking at a year or more to build that relationship and not a few weeks. **Due to Tanya’s temperament any potential adopter will be subject to a physical home visit as well as our virtual home visit and other pre-adoption checks. Tanya will need to go to a home local to the kennels only.

Listed 1 week ago