Who am I?
Someone asked me this on Facebook a while ago when I posted as “Lurcher Link Rescue” and it’s been pointed out to me that, although some of the Lurcher Link stalwarts are well aware of who I am and how Lurcher Link came about, some of the new comers may not know.
So… my friend Kez and I used to volunteer for a lost dog organisation called Lurcher Search UK in the late 1990s and through this we became aware just how bleak life was for unwanted / stolen / lost Lurchers who were picked up as strays. There were a few Greyhound and Lurcher rescues around, but no dedicated Lurcher rescues. So we had a few chats about how we could go about setting one up, but as both of us were mums with young children, it was a bit of a pipe dream.
A few years later my family moved to where we still live now, where there was a disused workshop on the premises which we thought could be used as a small kennel space for one or two Lurchers in need, if any ever came our way. In the meantime Kez and her friends had been having a chat too and we were kindly offered a substantial donation to set up the rescue by one of their contacts. So, Lurcher Link officially came into being in December 2003.
I started up an online forum ( https://www.lurcherlink.org/llink/forum/index.php ) to post details of dogs needing homes and for like minded Lurcher folk to be able to have a chin wag. It’s still going, but the traffic has slowed down quite a bit since Facebook came on the scene. All the details of the Lurcher Link dogs needing homes and other people’s dogs needing rehoming can still be found on there though, as well as a fantastic Lurcher FAQ with some wonderful bits of advice from people who have lived with Lurchers for years.
As Lurcher Link grew, we took in more and more dogs until it became obvious that we needed to have a purpose built kennels to meet the dogs’ needs and to make my life simpler. At that time I was running the rescue, raising my family, working part time and looking after my disabled mum, so time was precious. With some serious fundraising and large donations from a few wonderful people, the kennel building came into being and the new occupants moved in. We soon found out though that however much kennel space you have, it’s never enough and there’s always one more dog needing help. So our house became the overflow for any young pups, elderly, or poorly dogs in need of TLC and we created a network of foster homes from volunteers.
A few years later, I was diagnosed with a debilitating illness called Sarcoidosis (an auto-immune condition) and degenerative arthritis in my spine and knees, which was affecting my ability to carry out the day to day physical tasks needed to look after the dogs. So, Lurcher Link took on a part time kennel hand, Kieron, and paid for him to do an apprenticeship in Animal Care with a local college whilst working for us. My son, Luke, covered the shifts that Kieron didn’t do and all went well, with me being freed up to catch up with the admin side of things.
This continued for a few years until Kieron left to pursue a carer in reptile care and we then welcomed Tamzin (Tammy) on to our team. Tammy is doing a part time degree at Durham University, so she and Luke split the kennel care between them, with Charlotte (my daughter) covering any emergencies and looking after a dog we have in our isolation facility, who really doesn’t like other dogs. Charlotte also set up and tailored our new CRM system to our needs when we realised that Lurcher Link really had to move with the times and become more compliant and make better use of online resources. This has been quite a steep learning curve for me as I’m of the note pad and pen era, but with tuition from Charlotte and Tammy, I’m getting there!