10th Great Global Greyhound Walk in Vienna, 2019

Team Hundereise joined the 10th Great Global Greyhound Walk in Vienna last Sunday. We met at the Lusthaus in the Prater at 10 o'clock sharp, to raise awareness with a solidarity walk for the fate of greyhounds, and of so many other sighthounds.

23 Greyhounds & Galgos, 2 Frenchies, a poodle and their can-openers walk together along the Hauptallee. The walk is meant to show how sociable sighthounds are and that they are very well suited as pets. You can read last year's report here. There you'll find out more about the Greyhounds and the Lobau.

Today I'd like to let Anna tell you the personal story of Chloe and Fionn. The photos of the two were kindly provided to me by Anna. The other pictures show the 10th GGGW Vienna.

Chloe, the Spirited Greyhound Girl (black and white)

Chloe came to us a year and three months ago. She was one and a half years old at the time and, although she had performed quite well in the two races she ran, she was discarded. The organisation Greyhoundforever placed her with us. Sadly she was rather ill when we got her, and it took us quite some time to get her kennel cough under control.

From the very beginning she was an incredibly open-natured and spirited girl who settled in well. At first, though, she didn't know anything at all. Climbing stairs or jumping into the car were things she first had to learn. We teamed up with a trainer to make the settling-in process easier. Now Chloe is such a part of us that I can't imagine life without her anymore.

Fionn, the Anxious Coursing Greyhound (brindle)

Fionn came to us 4 months ago and was unfortunately not entirely healthy either. He had worms and giardia. Poor thing — completely unlike Chloe — he was utterly terrified when he arrived. At first he didn't want to enter the house at all and didn't dare move around the flat. The lift and the stairs caused him great fear on top of everything else.

Fionn was very closed off and it took us a while before he could build trust with us. At first it was barely possible for us to calm him down — he was basically stressed all the time. We also arranged an appointment with the chiropractor fairly soon, because he was clearly in pain when walking. In the meantime he unfortunately fell ill again: extremely painful inflammations developed on his paw pads for no apparent reason. He was really in a sorry state during that period, especially because vet visits frightened him terribly.

By now he is fit again, but we continue to take him to the chiropractor. He has also shed his massive anxiety and everything is already so much easier with him. You can still tell that he is rather reserved, and I often have the feeling that what he experienced still weighs heavily on his shoulders. But we very much hope that he will come out of his shell even more and that his joy for life will awaken again.

He is, by the way, a coursing Greyhound who was given up at the age of one and a half because he didn't measure up. After several months in a rescue shelter we adopted him. At first it wasn't easy with him, given his severe anxiety and because going in and out was a challenging undertaking. But with a great deal of patience we managed to get him used to our everyday routine.

Chloe & Fionn — A Dream Team from the Start

Chloe and Fionn get along brilliantly! From the very beginning he oriented himself closely to her, and without her the settling-in period would certainly have been even harder. The two are like brother and sister and are genuinely fond of each other. I can't imagine life without Fionn either, and I'm so glad he's with us now ????

Facts about the 10th Great Global Greyhound Walk

This year set records with walks taking place together all around the world. From the UK to the USA, via New Zealand and the Philippines all the way to Europe, Canada and Australia ⇒ everywhere awareness was raised for the fate of greyhounds and sighthounds.