The day Melon the gorgeous Galgo got his large slice of happiness

I'm happy to say that nearly all of the time all does go well and our galgos settle very well in their new homes. Now and again, sometimes for reasons that are not always obvious a galgo may not be happy and unfortunately this was the case for Melon. He had become very anxious and reactive when meeting other dogs and the adopter was struggling.

We are always happy to provide continuing support for every adopter but despite a visit and assessment by our trustee Sam who is a qualified dog trainer and behaviourist, Melon didn't improve and after some discussion it was agreed that he should return to us.

We were of course quite concerned about how he would cope in kennels as he'd been in his home for nearly 9 months. Well the day came for his return and instead of being scared and worried he stepped out of the van and trotted into the kennels as calm as you please! I must just say that the kennels we use have some wonderful staff who really love looking after the galgos whilst they are waiting to be adopted and I think Melon must have remembered as he seemed to be at home almost straight away.

Dogs love a routine and the one thing about kennels is there is definitely a set routine every day so the dogs know what's coming. I think this helped Melon relax and we gave him plenty of time to do so. He showed no reactivity to any of the other dogs so we were a bit surprised but happy to see this. With no immediate offers of a new home we started to take him out to a local park to assess how he reacted to being away from the kennels and to see how he was coping with meeting other dogs. He jumped into the back of my car happily every time and each time we went he grew more confident. We saw that he was comfortable with other dogs as long as he had space and gradually he grew confident enough to not react when another polite dog wanted to say hello.

OK we thought he's ready to try again so we duly started to promote his need for a new home and shortly after we received an application from a local lady, living on her own, no other dogs and interestingly she was also Spanish!

She had seen his photo and read about him when she applied so was already very keen to offer him a home but we wanted to make sure it was the right place for him. After a home visit we arranged their first meet up and it went so well we set up a home visit so Melon could visit her at home and sure enough after a walk out and a few minutes exploring he was settled on the sofa. She was confident and of course by this point completely smitten and I was happy to see him relaxed so we agreed it could work and a date was set for his adoption.

That special day came and although normally adopters will come to the kennels to take their dog home I decided that I would take Melon myself just to make sure he was OK. I was a little concerned he would have a wobble when his safety blanket, i.e. me, would leave to come away so as a distraction I suggested we go for a walk then I would slip away quietly. Well I needn't have worried, we walked a few yards, I turned to go, and smiled to myself as he trotted along beside her, not even a backward glance... success!

Sue, GIN Homing officer

Melon & I

Monday the 9th of March 2026 is a date marked in my heart forever, the day Melon moved in with me.

It's been such a journey, that I can only describe as a continuous learning process which has brought huge gratification.

Melon's sweetness and intelligence has made the process very easy, I just need to pay attention to the signals. On the first day even though everything was new to him he showed that he was willing to get to know me and to show me how to help him adapt.

He likes and appreciates cuddles so on the first two nights I noticed that he was having nightmares that I calmed down with hugs and soft loving words. I can tell that it worked as he quickly started coming out of his shell.

On one of our first walks together, we crossed paths with a man walking a husky and Melon's reaction was to hide behind me as soon as he noticed his presence. However, two days later, nearly on the same spot, we crossed paths again with them. As I noticed them before Melon, I lead him out of the path into the grass and to my surprise when they were passing by Melon jumped ready to stand his ground... You may think that's bad but to me it showed that he was winning back his confidence.

He's still scared of unknown men (though he's becoming confident around both my partner and my friends, men and women) and he still gets scared by sudden noises or movements. But just today, after over a week of trying to stop him from eating whatever is left on the street (poo, bread, etc.) I saw him trying to eat something and I said "No!" he dropped it straight away and kept walking like nothing had happened, when only 4 days ago, he got upset with me because I removed poo from his mouth.

I'm looking forward to what the future holds in store for us.

Cecilia

If you are interested in offering a home to a galgo contact us on 01784 483206 to ask for a homing pack, please complete and send the questionnaire in the pack to us at Greyhounds in Need, 5A, 80 High Street, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9HE, or email it to info@greyhoundsinneed.co.uk

The questionnaire is also available on our website to complete.

Greyhounds in Need CIO
Registered charity in England and Wales No. 1174351
Registered UK Office: 5A, 80 High Street, Egham, Surrey, TW20 9HE, UK
Tel: 00 44 (0) 1784 483206
Email: info@greyhoundsinneed.co.uk
Website: www.greyhoundsinneed.co.uk