Why did we choose Danny? We had decided we would like a dog round about fireworks night my children, kept going on and on as boys do, I thought it would be a good a idea to get us out of the house more as a family.  Still I was unsure about the responsibility of keeping a dog, I'd never owned a dog not even as a child. So we put it off, I told them wait till the fireworks die down, its not fair on a new dog to adjust to both, this kept the boys quiet for a week or so. During this time I kept a look out for adverts about dogs and realised I couldn’t afford to buy a dog from a breeder.

I wasn’t keen on a rescue dog, with having 2 children not knowing what the dogs been through. I'd also heard bad stories about the local dog rescue. But my gut instinct said give it a go you may be surprised...so to cut a long story short I saw the advert in the paper for G.A.G.A.H. along with another, and Diane answered the phone, she was so nice and helpful. They were also a lot cheaper than the other dog homes I'd looked at and didn't like.

There was nothing available to suit our family at the time so we waited, then the phone call came ...we were all so excited because he was a puppy as well, only one hitch, he was in Arbroath. We went to see him and he worked his charms, puppy eyes big and brown, sitting nicely giving a paw to my youngest and licking my oldest. We had fallen in love.

The aftermath

We got him home and he was great for the first week or so then the puppy in him came out, this was great to see but came with the hiccups.  I'd been warned by Freda and Annie, that greyhounds are renowned thieves.  I didn’t take much notice till the kitchen door was left open, with a lovely homemade pizza just out of the oven on the counter. Yep he got it, and by the licking of the lips he enjoyed it too. While we ended up with soup and sandwiches, not quite the same. This was the fastest lesson my kids ever learned. He's had his accidents, some I expected some I didn't .By the first month we had him to the vet twice due to him falling up the stairs in our flat and hurting his paw. He's getting a lot more 'dog wise' now we've been on the greyhound walk a few times, this is the highlight of the children's week they love it. They love to see Danny running and playing with 'his own kind'.

Now we have him we can’t imagine life without him, he is so loving and very protective of Matthew, (Matthew plays with him as soon as I’ve given him into trouble for stealing). One evening I nipped across to my neighbours house (Danny was sulking, and hiding in bed with Matthew), when I came back Danny was on my bed. I thought he'd stopped sulking, I then went to check on the boys, no Matthew. I panicked. I checked the house, then my room again, here was Matthew in my bed, he'd got up to wee and gone to my bed, and here was Danny with a paw over him.

I would never have thought a dog could make such a big difference to the family, we feel complete now. Thank you.