Edie's Story

Edie was picked up as a stray in Cardiff early 2008. She was very underweight and generally in quite poor condition. We think she is a Whippet x Saluki. The pound thought she was around 8 years old. She was taken out of the pound and put into a small sighthound rescue in Cardiff. They estimated she was more likely to be 4 or 5. When she was fit enough to be spayed the vet thought she could be as young as 3!

At the time she had gone into rescue I had decided that I wanted a 4 th dog. A small whippety type Lurcher bitch who was good with dogs and cat friendly. As if by magic Edie appeared! I contacted the rescue, who I have known for many years, and after some communication it was decided that she would come to live here on 15 March. At that time I had no idea Jack was ill. Unfortunately he passed away suddenly on 12 March leaving me devastated. The rescue who held Edie kindly agreed to hold onto her for another month for me while I had some time to grieve.

Finally on Saturday 12 April we drove down to meet Edie. I’d admired her photograph for weeks but they did not do her justice. She was even more beautiful in reality, and such a warm and friendly little dog. We brought her home and I wondered how she would find life here with us in London. She took everything into her stride pretty much immediately.

Our first proper walk the next morning saw her racing around Hampstead Heath, she charmed everyone she met and was spectacular to watch in full flight! I had wondered if she would take to Jake as most dogs find him a little odd and either ignore him or dislike him. She took to him straight away and they are already firm friends. She is so kind to him, loves to cuddle up with him on the sofa and watching them play together is wonderful as he has never had a proper friend before.

I can’t fault this little dog, she has really brought some joy back into this house. Her smiley face and love of cuddles makes her extremely charming to be around. She has a huge run across the heath every morning and then sleeps away the next few hours till we go and walk again in the afternoon. It took Oscar a while to warm to Edie but they are also now firm friends and there are many wrestling games between them each day.

She loves playing with her toys (usually first thing in the morning with Jake!) and just generally seems to love life. I can’t help but wonder where this little angel came from, she seems such a well rounded dog, so easy to live with. Thank you to Wendy for keeping her for me at such a difficult time, and for trusting me with her. Thank you to Edie for making us all smile again.

For Edie's first few months in pictures with us click here

Edie's first holiday - Sept 2008 (written by Edie)

Well life was going along as normal at home when one morning in mid September we didnt pick up the usual dogs for a walk in the morning but just went for a walk on our own. That was fine, we still went to the heath and I still got to run like mad. But when we got home, mum packed up the car and after breakfast we all got in and headed off out again. That was strange, normally I like to have at least 5 hours sleep after breakfast!

Imagine my delight when a couple of hours later we arrived at the home of two of my boyfriends, Hector and Rupert (I have lots of boyfriends by the way!). They are two very handsome Lurchers that live with Molly the Greyhound, Henry the Sloughi and lovely Paul and Gina who let us have sleepovers at their house in Wiltshire!

We went and sat in their lovely garden (I didnt fall in the pond this time - which I did the first time we went there!), Paul and Gina told me how pretty I was again (they have very good taste!), and I enjoyed flirting with my handsome boyfriends again!

Then we went for a lovely walk in their local fields, I did lots of running - especially with Hector who is my favourite. Mum says we are very alike, we do like playing the same games and we also love meeting other dogs and asking them to play with us.

We had a sleepover and in the morning we went off to somewhere called Cornwall fo a few days (which you can read about on Oscar's page). When we left Cornwall we drove for quite a long time. I was so happy when we finally stopped and I realised we were back with Hector and Rupert again! I was hoping that we might now be living between Wiltshire and Cornwall as it was so much fun having all these lovely dogs to play with and different walks to go on!

In the morning mum took us to the fields again with the boys and we had another good run. Hector and Rupert love running through the long grass and Jake and I enjoyed chasing them. Finally we did have to go home though, which wasnt so bad as I do love Hampstead Heath. But I hope we will be visiting my Wiltshire boyfriends again soon! Thank you Gina and Paul for putting us up for those 2 nights, we had a lovely time!

Edie Goes Lure Coursing

Lurcher Link, one of the UK's largest Lurcher Rescue Organisations, holds an annual Lure Coursing event to raise funds for the rescue Lurchers they take in. This year it was held on 11th October at the East of England Showground in Peterborough. I decided that I'd enter Edie. She has a tremendous amount of stamina and a pretty high prey drive but I wondered how she would take to the artificial lure and also all the people and other dogs as she can become a little overwhelmed sometimes with too much going on.

Many of the other dogs at the event had already been before so there was much excitement from them as they watched the other dogs participate. Edie just sat quietly and didnt take much notice of what was going on.

I didnt think she was very interested. When her turn was called I told the guy who was slipping her that she didnt appear to be very keen so not to expect too much. Boy was I wrong! The lure went and she was off like the clappers after it! Apparently at the end of the course she was quite intent that it was her prize and had to be shooed firmly away from it!

I was really proud of my little girl, and more importantly she absolutely loved it. When I whistled her to come back down the field to me she came charging back with her little eyes shining. She got down to the last 16 out of 64 and was respectfully knocked out by last years champion so we were very happy with that placing. Another first with Edie and thoroughly enjoyed by us both!

Written by Caroline Mathews, October 2008
Photos taken by Gareth Evans

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