Thommo (Wheelhouse) was one of the many Greyhounds that attended our Auckland Adoption Day on November 2023. He was a super chill, sweet and clever boy, more than ready to find his forever home.
Enter Aimee and her partner, who stepped into QPS with a clear goal: to welcome a Greyhound into their lives. Little did they know that fate had already chosen their companion. Thommo's story is a testament to the magic that unfolds when a dog instinctively finds its family right from the start.
"My partner and I (Aimee) have always loved dogs, and we had spoken about getting a retired greyhound for a while when we saw the event ads go up on Facebook for the 2023 adoption day event. I’m dog-mad at the best of times but I’ve a particular soft spot for noodle-horses and we decided (read: I begged) to go along.
We’d sent in a PowerPoint presentation introducing ourselves (lol) a year prior and we re-attached that as well as providing some extra info to the GAP team once we arrived. They named three dogs they thought would fit our needs, let the chaperones know, and gave us post-it notes to wear with the dogs names on (so they’d know who we were here to meet.)
The hounds were in hot demand so we were sticking our palms out at any and all that walked past us as we got the chance, and eventually the first noodle on the list finished her very important meeting and was able to come over to say hi. She was very sweet and gentle, but as I got on my knees to say a proper hello, who should take the “human down low” as the ultimate invitation to barge in but Thommo.
He bounded over and slid his snoot between her ears and my hand wearing his goofy grin (which we now know is his signature expression) and activated his secret (lethal) weapon, his tail. The sweet girl we were meeting was too polite to tell him to go away (bless her.) we were told she had actually just been snapped up by the couple before us, anyway… so onto the next.
Cue the same thing happening with the next dog too, so when we met the third hound on our list, and Thommo had been taken to a break room to rest, we found ourselves looking round expecting a certain someone to barge in and we realized that we were pretty sure the universe had chosen our dog for us.
Telling the GAP team that we may have accidentally fallen in love with a hound not on our list, they deliberated. The only reason they could see it being a problem was he had shown interest in ‘chasing’ and he would need to interact frequently with 3 other dogs, including a sassy elderly chihuahua and a very chaotic Bichon (perhaps the most lure-adjacent pals you could imagine) but we told them we’d like to give it a chance.
A week later, Thommo made the trip up to meet us in Gulf Harbour where we had all our dogs waiting to meet him one by one, and he was entirely unphased by all of them - even with a Bichon trying to climb his back legs to get a better sniff angle!
Since integrating into our little pack, he’s been an absolute gem, and we keep seeing more and more personality starting to emerge. The goofy grin he showed us that first day is never in short supply and we’re pretty sure we could generate unlimited energy for a small town if we attached a generator to his tail.
My Neighbour has a soft spot for greyhounds and hinted to me that he’d like to help us with looking after and exercising him when we’re not home. The first time I decided to give it a go, I texted him my door code and said he could grab him if he fancied, I got a phone call within 10 mins of him excitedly telling me he’s planned a whole day trip with a stop at Raw Essentials where he’d set up an account and Thommo was already in the back seat! Since then, this Neighbour has become his self-appointed “grandad” and spoils him rotten. (He even gets prime beef mince omelettes cooked fresh for his dinners and homemade berry/oatmilk ice creams when he stays over!)
On his walks with “Grandad” Nigel, sometimes they would pop in to visit Nigel’s dad at the retirement village. The nurses noted how friendly and gentle he was and asked if Thommo could visit on a more frequent basis to say hello to all the residents at happy hour. Much to everyone’s delight, including Thommo’s, it was a huge hit and we were busting with pride!
He’s also got all our other Neighbour’s fawning over him on walks and they call out of their car windows to their “gorgeous boy” much to his continued delight. They know for extra attention they just need to pat their chest and instruct “dance” for him to slink over and put his paws up on them for a boogie.
He’s got his quirks, that’s for sure! This summer, he’s earned himself the nickname “Thomato” as he keeps pinching tomatoes! From plates, shopping bags and even straight from the plants! He plays with them for a little bit until they “pop” and then it’s snack time. I’ve never had to hide produce from a dog before so this one’s new to me.
He is a wonderful brother to our old dog, Hugo. A huge part of the reason we wanted another dog was to keep things interesting for Hugo in his old age and keep him active. Hugo loves little dogs but little dogs don’t love him, so it was always going to be an adjustment and the ‘big dog’ addition always needed to be particularly patient as Hugo can be cranky. They’ve adjusted beautifully, a large part thanks to Thommo’s easygoing nature, and though their affection and play styles are really different, they make it work and you can tell they like each other’s company a lot and have worked out a way to communicate. Hugo’s favourite place in the world is the beach where he can swim (and stress us out about future dental bills while finding fun chunks of sandstone to chew…) and Thommo loves nothing more than to sprint after him and splash around in the water too. We were always told greyhounds aren’t big swimmers so this was SUCH a welcome surprise and awesome to practice over the warm months.
At the end of the day, he’s such a joy and he’s brought a lot of love and laughter. I saw a meme once saying that “everyone thinks their dog is the best dog, and every single one of them is right”, but I’m pretty sure I’m extra right, His absolute goofy and affectionate nature wins everyone over and we are just so grateful to finally have our dream noodle."