Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare Calendar 2018
As I say on the back cover of the calendar, there’s an awful lot of eating, sleeping and falling down in nursery rhymes. Fortunately, greyhounds are quite good at these things – so pulling together the pictures for the 2018 calendar has been a breeze!
Here are a few that got away…
January
Gorgeous Tigger – the hound who went home came back again and then went home again – made his first venture into the outside world in this shoot at Downside Livery, Cobham. His gentle sniffing of the other yard dogs and very patient standing around looking handsome had Janie and me falling in love with Tigger… 
February
Prada was never going to be very good at standing still – but she actually learnt recall over a bamboo jump to create her Jack be nimble picture. Off lead, coming when called in the corridor of the Swan in Walton – this little girl is very special.
March
Poor old Champ – he didn’t really know what he was meant to do. “Sniff at the yummy hot cross buns Champ…” “ Don’t eat them!” And Janie picking the raisins out so that he wouldn’t eat them. We couldn’t find the right street scene for Champ, so took him into the Crown in Chertsey where the slightly chewed buns found a sunny spot on a windowsill.
April
Ashley was the perfect little black sheep for this shoot – we were spoilt for choice!
Cock-a-doodle-doo
Just a strange thing to do at Painshill Park. No wonder Chief looks worried.
Little Bo Peep
The sheep picture that didn’t make the calendar was Little Bo Peep. I had in mind an elegant greyhound in a bucolic setting with sheep gently nibbling in the background…my greyhound of choice selfishly went and got herself a home though so we went off to photograph sheep at the Company of Animals in Chertsey with a couple of untried models – Bubbles and Spot. We hadn’t reckoned on incredibly tame sheep who scared the hounds by coming up to sniff at them. The boldest sheep was called Michael Jackson giving us the joy of a photo of Michael Jackson with Bubbles – but not much else.
May
The AGA shop in Cobham made a wonderful setting for the Queen of Hearts to do a little baking. The staff in the shop watched on as we stood Inca in front of various oven doors…but it wasn’t quite working. The display on the counter top was perfect – but far too high for a greyhound. Fortunately, we found a bench to move around and stand Inca on – not quite what the staff were expecting but a perfect height for a greyhound to do a little cooking.
June
If you’re looking for a greyhound who will lie down then Jim is your dog! He didn’t make the calendar a couple of years ago despite some splendid lounging around with a magic lamp…so this was his chance at fame. A lovely sunny evening saw us heading over to Waverley Abbey – a beautiful spot that is well worth the trek from the car park to the abbey – particularly if you are carrying royal blankets, crown, fiddles, pipe and bowl – oh, and a couple of bags of royal dog shit. In the end photo you can barely see the abbey, but I think Jim had a nice trip out.
Ding dong bell
Ding dong bell became a bit of a search for the perfect well (to put poor pussy in of course). Hughie looks gorgeous here at the well on Abinger Common but the well just doesn’t look like..well, a well!
July
What a lovely little thing Tinkerbell is. And what a straightforward shoot it was. We even had time to play around a little.
August
The trouble with a picture of Jack falling down is that it just looks downright scary – even though in both of these our Jacks (Lobelia and Wily) are actually standing up. (Please note that no crowns were broken in the making of this calendar).
Georgie Porgie
I don’t know if you remember what a wet summer it has been – this photo shoot just about sums it up! A reluctant Georgie (Brook) and three very wet crying girls (and a slightly snivelling Maureen) – we ran away and gave up!
September
Eli was just perfect as our Little Boy Blue – he lies down when he’s asked to and he’s just an all round super model. Thank you Eli.
October
Lovely Snowy took her first trip to the pub (the Swan in Walton again) in her stride and calmly stood and laid down on sofas whilst her picture was taken. She is having a little restraining hand on her bottom here – but she didn’t really need it.
November
Whilst we were able to let Prada jump free over the candle stick, it didn’t seem such a good idea to let Smudge (Wee Willie Winkie) run through the town (Farnham) unrestrained. So here you see two of the key players in this year’s calendar – Janie and ‘Dirty Rotten Kitty’ who has squeaked his way through a number of the photo shoots (and fallen into the well, down hills, lost sheep,…)
December
Back at the Swan in Walton again for December (we should have a loyalty card) with the very handsome and laid back Pedro. The manager kindly lit the fire just for us – and so that Pedro could warm up his plums.
