Reader, we kept him

Yogi chillaxing....

So you know we fostered little Yogi the Saluki X, just over Christmas, just to keep him safe from harm and to let him experience a little home life before he went on to a more permanent home?

Well from the moment that little sod set paw in our house he was on a charm offensive the like of which I've never seen before. He made every dog and every person he met fall completely under his spell. He even charmed Mark's mum to the extent that she suggested we keep him! But it was Sheba our snooty Saluki that he charmed most thoroughly. He is her BFF, her partner in crime, her little brother for blaming things on and her big brother for hiding behind. They are quite simply inseparable. And while we initially tried to tell ourselves that having a wee mate might cure her of her worst habits, we now accept that all he does is exacerbate them. But sod it, they are having a great time.

With Sheba, playing "bitey face"

Poor little Yogi had a rotten start in life; he was underweight and terrified of people when he was found. By the time we got him he was still a bit underweight but had decided he loved people; he always has to have at least a paw touching you and ideally prefers full body contact.

We are putting weight on him with the time honoured pilchard porridge diet - cheap, delicious (apparently) and digestible. After 4 weeks his ribs and spine still show a little but his pin bones are covered and he's starting to build up some muscles. Give him a few more months and he'll be the handsomest little pup in Belfast and a fitting escort for Sheba (the Greta Garbo of dogs).

I'll keep you posted on his progress but he's another great example of what brilliant pets sighthounds make. Big thanks to Kildare & West Wicklow SPCA for rescuing him in the first place and to Kildare Animal Foundation and Sighthound Strolls for organising the foster and subsequent adoption.

Pilchard porridge (for putting weight on rescue dogs) 
1 mug porridge oats
1 mug goats milk
1 mug water
3 tinned pilchards ( half a 400g tin)
Grated cheese (optional)
 Make porridge with the first three ingredients, cool a little, mix with pilchards and cheese, cool. Makes 2 breakfasts for a hungry dog to supplement their dinner of Chappie wet & dry.

I lied, I lied. I got another foster.

No, I don't know what I was thinking of either. I only posted Dearg off to Sligo a week ago. Sheba's spay went successfully but she was an incredibly bad patient; I had to sit up with her all night stroking her head and paw (this is no exaggeration-the minute I stopped an unearthly wailing kicked off. I got to bed at 7am). Mark and I had plenty on our plates and sure Christmas is only a few weeks away.

Then Jane from Sighthound Strolls posted an urgent request to foster a little whippety lurcher for Christmas. I have a massive weakness for whippets and they are only tiny.....I persuaded the ever amenable Mark that we should take him in as we would hardly notice one more little one. Fortunately the whippet got rescue space that day, but Jane said if I was willing to foster she had the sweetest little Saluki X.......

To cut a long story short, next Saturday we were back down the road to Newry to pick up little Bono (so named for his extravagant vocal style) whom we promptly renamed Yogi as we both hate U2 and he is a darling little bear of a dog.

Sheba speaks!



Sheba recently gave an interview to Sighthound Strolls, a group which aims to show what excellent pets greyhounds and lurchers make. Here's what she said:

Tell us how you ended up as a ‘Happily Homed Hound’?
My mum saw me on “A Dog’s Life” Facebook page. Michelle Griffin takes pictures of all the strays and surrenders in Dunboyne Pound near Dublin and then Martina writes a lovely description and puts them on the page. My mum made my dad come with her the whole way from Belfast to Dublin first thing on Saturday morning to get me, even though he had a stinking hangover and four hours sleep. I slept on my dad’s knee on the back seat the whole way home. When they got me home they had to cut tats out from between my toes and cut out a big lump of chewing gum from the fur on my side so I had a baldy spot there for a few months. I was very skinny when I arrived so I ate pilchards and hotdogs and porridge and cheese and pasta and eggs and after a few months my coat went shiny and I didn’t have a pointy bum any more. At the start I wouldn’t look anyone in the eye and I swore at my brother and sister when they came near me. Mum made me a camp bed in the hall and she slept downstairs in case there were fights. On the third night mum woke up with chest pains and pins and needles and she couldn’t move her legs. She thought she was having a heart attack but it was just me sleeping on top of her, haha! After that me and mum were inseparable, I go everywhere with her apart from work.

We’d love to hear about your new family, both human and canine...
I live with my brother Jasper and my sister Juneau. They are Siberian huskies and they are a lot older than me. Juneau glares at me a lot and won’t let me sleep in the bedroom at night. Jasper is good fun, he does a lot of silly stuff even though he’s old. Sometimes Jasper and I go for walks together but Juneau always has to walk on her own because she pulls even harder on the lead when there are other dogs around and mum says she’s sick of going to physio. If it’s cold I have to wear a coat but they never do. They have so much coat they leave it in big lumps round the house. I might get mum to knit me a coat out of their leftovers. Because Jasper & Juneau are huskies they don’t really listen to anything mum and dad say to them, unless it’s about food or walks. They like to howl sometimes, and I like to join in with them. For some reason everyone thinks this is hilarious. I get a bit offended to be honest as I have a beautiful singing voice. It’s been likened to Bjork crossed with Janis Joplin and I’m heavily influenced by Yoko Ono’s early work, particularly her “Screeching Period”. Mum and dad seem to mostly like feeding us and walking us and buying me new collars and coats. They seem to spend most of their day doing stuff for us. Between you and me if it wasn’t for us I think they’d be bored.

Tell us a little about what you get up to on an average day?
About 7am I like to go upstairs and stick my nose in dad’s ear. He likes that a lot, I always give him a big smile when he wakes up so he knows it was me. Then when he gets out of bed I hop in and snuggle up to mum till the tea arrives. When mum goes to work dad takes us all for separate walks and then we sleep till mum gets home. Then we all run around like loons for a bit because we’re so happy to see her, go for more walks, eat our dinner and sleep until bedtime. If mum or dad have to take the car anywhere I love to go with them. I like the car a lot, you can sit in the back and look out for seagulls and sometimes we go to the pet shop and the girls there make a fuss of me. They try to give me treats but what I really want is a pet rabbit. They have loads of them at the pet shop but they never let me anywhere near them.

Now for some quick fire questions!

Favourite food?
Chappie! It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever eaten! It comes in two flavours and it makes me jump around like a loon every time I see it! Tinned hotdogs are nice too and every Saturday mum gets us each a meaty bone from the butchers.

Favourite place to sleep?
Sofas are best, but at a pinch I’ll settle for bed. I like to lie about on the landing rug sometimes so I can watch out for dogs walking past outside and roar at them.

Favourite place to walk?
Sir Thomas & Lady Dixon Park is a massive sighthound theme park near Belfast. It has rabbits AND squirrels and a walled garden where mum sometimes lets me off the lead if there’s no one else about.

Favourite toy?
Mr Handiquack the squeaky duck.

Favourite pastimes?
Chewing bones, playing with my family, roaring at other dogs, following my mum everywhere and stealing things.

Which celebrity do you most resemble in looks?
Mum says Greta Garbo, Dad says Twiggy, my sister says I look like a gypsy. I think she means it nicely.

Which celebrity do you most resemble in personality?
I think it would be Kate Moss. Apparently she likes a laugh and she enjoys trying on new clothes and so do I. I’m not sure she likes Chappie as much as I do. But I read that her ex husband’s first words to her were “You smell of wee” and that was the first thing my mum said when she met me! Coincidence or what?

Most embarrassing moment since being a ‘Happily Homed Hound’?
When I went to Michelle’s studio to get my photo taken for “A Dog’s Life” I got confused and mistook her floor tiles for a pavement. I’m afraid I laid a massive egg in the middle of the studio floor. Michelle and my mum stared at it for a very long time without saying anything. I took a massive reddener.

Best moment so far since being a ‘Happily Homed Hound’?
Being chosen to appear on a Christmas card to raise funds for “A Dog’s Life”. You can buy them from their Facebook page you know! Only €5 for 8 and all the money goes to help other dogs like me who end up in Dunboyne Pound.

And finally, is there any advice you would give to someone who is considering adopting a sighthound from a pound/rescue?
Just that it really is normal for us to sleep that much!

Fasolakia ladera (Braised runner beans)

Sheba modelling her new woolly jumper.

It's getting cold, but I don't want to give up on summer foods just yet. There's a great collection of recipes at Symi Visitor and their Fasolakia recipe was just the ticket for using up 1lb of runner beans and feeling a bit more cheerful about having to button little Sheba into her winter woollies for the first time this year.

For those of you who have an interest in such things, Sheba's jumper was made by a lady called Valerie Charman at Greyhounds4me.

This recipe is a ladera, which is just a generic Greek term for vegetables braised in olive oil. You can do any wintery vegetables like carrots, peas, spuds and beans in a ladera and any herbs such as parsley, mint, thyme or dill. Your constants are sauteed onion, tomato, garlic, good olive oil and a looooooooong slow cook. Fasolakia ladera is the perfect dish to remind you of Greek summers but it will also insulate you against a Belfast autumn evening.

Fasolakia Ladera (inspired by Symi Visitor)

1lb runner beans, topped, tailed and cut into 1" chunks.
1 tin flageolet beans, drained and rinsed
2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks.
3-4 ripe tomatoes, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp dried thyme
2-3 finely chopped onions,
1 ½ cups olive oil
Salt and pepper

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan and add the onions. Cook gently until soft, around 20 minutes. Add the runner beans and cook for 5 minutes. Finally add the flageolet beans, potatoes, tomato, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and a scant mug of water. Simmer over medium heat for 15 mins and then turn right down low until the beans are tender. I took the husband and the dog to the pub for two hours and that was perfect timing. It should all be velvety and unctuous, you are not looking for bite here. Traditionally served warm or at room temperature with feta cheese, bread and a squeeze of lemon to taste. I had mine with pork chops, wheaten bread and overripe brie and it was great.

PS I did this again without the flageolet beans and potatoes and it was extremely good with a cheesy mushroom, ham & tomato omelette!