Layla RIP

The tears are ours, of course (courtesy of photoshop) ! Layla our greyhound who was six and a half years old had to be put to sleep yesterday. She had bone cancer in her right shoulder which we learnt about before Christmas. Gradually her limp progressed until she was unable to put any weight on her right front paw. She was in constant pain and unable to settle. What was so hard about the decision to call the vet was that she was still a relatively healthy dog with a lovely sleek coat and lots of energy, who would have good days and bad days but it was clearly very painful for her and even harder for us to watch her move about in such pain. Even up to a couple of day ago she would always get up and go to the door when I was getting ready to take Zoe, our other dog out, desperatey wanting to go out on her morning walk across the dunes on Belhaven Beach.

Layla has been with us for about three and a half years. She was a rescue greyhound from the Scottish Greyhound Sanctuary. She had like most rescue gryehounds been a racing dog in England. She was reasonably successful, having accumulated a couple of seconds and two first places. However, she developed a habit of turning her head round to look at the other dogs and that is a definite 'no-no' in racing ciricles. She was sold for breeding in Ireland but did not come properly into season and that's when we acquired her. Like many racing dogs she was unused to human company as it's supposed to keep them hungry for the chase. She was therefore quite lacking in confidence and used to walk almost hiding behind your legs. With the company of Zoe and other dogs who she met at the weekends plus a lot of affection she grew to be a confident and outgoing dog.

Like many greyhounds she was very affectionate and would rub her head against you looking for affection. I will certainly miss her welcome in the morning when she greeted me with greyhound yowl ( I am not quite sure how you can categorise greyhound-speak) and a lunge forward to rub up against me demanding lots of petting and strokes.

She lived for her morning walk on the beach and as we gradually learned to trust her she would race off into the dunes joining us ten to fifteen minutes later on the beach to play catchy with Zoe. There is nothing that gave me a greater thrill than to see her running flat out on the beach with Zoe chasing after her. It also honed my skills in action photography ! Surprisingly she also loved the water and would go charging off into the sea or the river.

She also had a mind of her own and would occasionally go charging off on her own. There's a field adjacent to the walk we did at the weekend where she liked to disappear and when it was near harvest time she literally disappeared because you could not her in the wheat but she would make her own way back home after about 15 or so minutes. On the afternoon walk she had a habit of disappearing into the the reeds round Seafield Pond and I had to wade into the reed bed to find her often in inappropriate footwear. She loved rabbiting and one week a couple of years ago she caught a rabbit practically every day despite our best endeavours.

Nonetheless we could not have asked for a more affectionate dog and she will be sorely missed.