NEW Luxury Greyhound Coats

We're excited to introduce our new Luxury Greyhound Coats. They are elegant, smart and cosy. We currently have two styles; Ariane shown below. Fleece on top and lined with soft faux leopard fur, and twin faux leather straps. The snood has a deep fur trim without the need for fold over. Arnaud is similar with baby giraffe fur. They look good with fleece colours camel, black or brown.

Louis is modelling the Ariane coat, and Louis below in the Arnaud. There is a matching martingale collar to go with each coat and a luxury throw in your colour choice.   

Time to get the warm coats out

Yesterday was the first real frost we've seen this year, but for late November, it's to be expected. It was sunny and bright later which made for a real Christmas feel to the day. Today was another hard frost with the added fog early, so we were unable see our friends walking in the park. It's nearly mid day here and the sun's peeking though. Love the crisp mornings with the sun out, England is so beautiful at this time of the year, and Cannock Chase is full with the glorious burnt orange colours on those trees with leaves remaining.

We've now ditched the raincoats for a while and have fished out the Double Fleece coats which are super cosy and warm. Here's Louis and Ellie wearing their warm twin top fleece coats on Cannock Chase.  

The Purple Poppy

Tomorrow is Armistice Day, the day England remembers those who lost their lives protecting our nation during the many conflicts of the past 100 or so years. Traditionally we will wear a red poppy as a symbol of remembering those whose lives were extinguished in such huge numbers and often so young. There were millions of other victims of war too.......

The Purple Poppy

What it means: This poppy was created in 2006 to remember the animal victims of war. All donations go to the charity Animal Aid, who say of their appeal: "During human conflicts, animals have been used as messengers, for detection, scouting and rescue, as beasts of burden and on the front line. Please wear a purple poppy and help us to raise awareness of these forgotten victims." "Animals are not heroes, they are victims. They do not give their lives, they are taken."

How to wear it: Alongside your purple, white and/or red poppy.
War affects all living things. Lest we forget.

Bonfire Night?

Bonfire Night....sounds cosy, fun and good doesn't it. But not so for our hound friends. We have a trembling household when the bangs go off. It seems they get louder each year. I've seen them displayed in shops, with names so fearful you'd think we were in a war zone protecting ourselves from an enemy. But hey, it is only a bit of fun isn't it. Well it isn't fun for animals, indoors or out. The birds outside have roosted for the night, so they will be affected, the cows, sheep and horses, foxes, small mammals and others must all be terrified.
We understand that Teresa May has a petition going asking for people to support regulation for fireworks - signed of course, and shared. How many people who fire these 'weapons' into the sky actually think about those who may not share their enthusiasm for such noise? Hate to be a damp squib, but for me when I see our houndies in such fear and terror, I can't go with the majority of firework revellers. I hope one day it will be regulated so that only responsible, licensed individuals can be allowed to light them and let them off, and ideally in brownfield site areas away from anything that breathes! Had my annual bonfire night moan now. Just hope it doesn't run for the next fortnight....as it often does

 

October is nearly upon us, and it will be Halloween before we know it, and
then Bonfire Night. We used to love it as children, on Halloween night we always had a large Pumpkin which my mum would skilfully carve into a scary evil monster face, with a candle behind the face.

On Bonfire Night, we would have our friends visit to sit round the bonfire with us. We'd have roasted chestnuts - which were started off in the Aga, and finished off under the bonfire along with bonfire baked (and usually burned) jacket potatoes with loads of butter which we would sit and eat in front of the bonfire with grubby fingers and a sparkler in the other hand. My father would be in charge of the fireworks - which by today's standards were pretty feeble in comparison. To start with there would be the inevitable Roman Candle (or two) and a few whoosh, wow rockets which used to amaze us how they flew so far into the night sky. Then my father would sneakily let off the old Jumping Jacks, these were curled up corkscrew type fireworks, that would jump all over the place (as the name suggests)....they seemed to follow you wherever you ran. Wasn't so keen on those, and then the good old Catherine wheel, which he would nail to a tree, light the end, then we would wait expectantly while it decided to spin....or not! (Often the latter), he usually had a couple of spares, and generally at least one would work. It was a great night, we really looked forward to it.

As I've grown older (and wiser, and more cynical) I now see the damage that fireworks cause, not only to people but animals too. I often wonder if the people who enjoy the displays so much ever give a thought to the animals who don't understand what the noise is about. Horses, sheep and cows in the fields, birds and wildlife and of course dogs (and cats). I think they have now become a nuisance and spread fear to so many animals. The days of the gentle sit round the bonfire with a the odd banger and a few rockets, seems to have gone to extremes; it seems there is a quest now as to who has the loudest, most spectacular show. I'm no longer a fan. Take me back to the old days!

I

Words from Annette Crosbie

Sunday.....lovely day, very windy but glorious sunshine. Hounds seem to love bouncing around on their walks when it is like this, (as opposed to limping along in the high heat). Lou and Ellie were like a couple of spring lambs in the park today.
Found a wonderful poem the other day written by Greyhound Super Hero Annette Crosbie. It was posted on Facebook last week and lots of people loved it. Facebook has a habit of 'losing' posts and they are pretty random about which ones as well, so rather than lose it completely I want to re-publish here as I am pretty certain it will stay put on our blog: So here it is - sealed for posterity on Blogger, (hopefully for all time)

Loving Grey Thoughts...

Do you think they know when I kiss them that:

They are treasured.

That I cry for all the other Greyhounds who will never be kissed.

That I do not care that they just ate something other than a breath mint.

That their racing wins never mattered to me.

That I never cared about a beautiful lawn.

That the shoes are replaceable.

That I absolutely, positively, worship the ground that all 16 of their paws walk on.

That they are loved so much more than as a pet, but more like a friend, a confidant, a child.

Well, it's been a scorching hot summer with temperatures here in Staffordshire reaching 30c degrees on some days, though 27c was the average and that ran on for what seemed like weeks. I'm sure it's been much the same all over the UK. However, now we're getting back to our normal British weather that we all know and love (!) which is bright sunshine interspersed with showers. So it MIGHT just be time to think about one of Lily Peeps new line Shower coats with a hood. They're ideal for those quick blasts of rain that come unexpectedly, and are solely for showers and quick downpours (for heavy rain, you would need a Classic or Chi Chi raincoat)

They are available in 3 colours, black, red or royal and come with a complimentary drawstring carrier so you can pop them into a bag just in case. Check them out here, and if you like them, please let us know. (If you don't, then please let us know that too, we love feedback, so feed us!)

New line - Photo Tee Shirts

We have a fantastic local printer who has been in the town for years, EVERYONE locally uses them including JCB who have just ordered 1000 of Mike's excellent quality tee shirts. We are now joining the ranks of his customers for tee shirts. We have a sample of one of them on our Lily Peeps website page under photo tee shirts, and an image below. 

I can genuinely vouch for the quality of the printing, they are the best I have ever seen. There is NO border around them, they are all individually edited to show the image in its true colour and texture. They are not the cheapest tee shirts on the market, but I believe they are the best. They'd make a great gift for a birthday, or Greyhound event.

We decided to 'sell and share' to help Greyhounds. So we are donating £1 for every tee shirt sold to a Greyhound charity, starting with Ruth's RGT Kennels at Perry Barr, (where my two lovely fur babies came from). We'd like to get £500 - it's a target - if we get that figure we will then support another Greyhound charity, either Greyhound Gap in Stafford who work their butts off helping hounds that are the hardest to home, or Galgos del Sol, who you all know are amazing.

While reading an article the other day on Google I was horrified to hear that so many Greyhounds from Ireland who don't 'make the grade' for racing are shipped to Spain for the Galgero's to use in hunting trips, when they are finished with the dogs, they favour hanging as a method of disposing of them. We hope you will support and like this page and spread the word. Facebook page Action for Greyhounds

Anyway, here is a picture of my lovely Louis proudly displayed on my tee shirt. He looks brilliant! (Well he would wouldn't he.......he is) :)

Natural Flea Control

We all want our hounds to be healthy and parasite free, but do we really know what is in those little foil packets that we routinely force into our hound's blood stream - with nothing but the best of intentions. If we learned for example that we were dosing our dogs with pesticides containing (amongst other things)  neonicotinoids, known to profoundly affect the nervous system of bees when they visit plants for nectar on fields or crops which have been sprayed. Knowing this might make us stop and consider alternatives. 

This video sheds a little light on the subject of alternatives which you may like to consider.

 

Yes the raincoats are WATER-proof....

It is officially the wettest January for 250 years according to this Guardian article  http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/01/january-uk-wettest-winter-month-250-years

With so much rain (and yet more forecast) we want to be sure that when we venture out into the 'monsoons' we can keep our beloved hound's bodies dry and warm. We get asked all the time if our raincoats are REALLY waterproof. Well the answer is yes, they REALLY are waterproof.

The cloth we use is very top quality (and very pricey unfortunately) but it IS waterproof. Our suppliers classify the fabric as 'all-day-waterproof' which we understand means the fabric can be out in the 'weather' all day in the pouring rain, and not let the pesky raindrops seep through.

IMPORTANT proviso to this is that the coats are never washed above 40 degrees, with no high powered detergents, and no tumble drying. They wash well on a quick 40 degree wash with a good spin, ours will dry on a warm (but not boiling hot) radiator, in no time.

On the subject of raincoats.....here's a little lady modelling our Classic Waterproof Raincoat, this one has cotton lining, and is available on the website www.lilypeeps.co.uk

Happy New Year 2014 !!

Wishing all our customers (and their owners!) a wonderful Happy and Healthy New Year 2014

As the slogan says, we all have a brand new start from today.
January 1st 2014 is the first blank page of a 365 day book. All we have to do is write it, believe it, and act on it!

Good luck in 2014