Hi Guys.
Everyone is asking what happened to Mark, Jill and Ella.
For your information I'll only print the simple facts. Take what you like out of it.
The story involves David Gillies and Elaine Coulter who adopted Jill and Ella on 13/03/2012 and Mark on 03/03/2013. Their partnership has just split, making it curious as to why they adopted Mark so recently.
Two weeks ago they wanted to return Mark for being dirty in the house. We hadn't a kennel available. On Tuesday we contacted David to say that we could take Mark. He said that Mark was with Elaine. He said that Jill and Ella were fine.
We tried to contact David or Elaine by phone all day until 6pm. Neither would answer.
The following are all documented.
At 6.25 we contacted Elaine on facebook saying that we knew Jill and Ella were with David and that she wanted Mark rehomed. We told her a kennel was available.
At 6.26pm Elaine said she wanted to keep Mark but it looks like he'll have to come back. She told us that she was missing her lovely babies.
At 6.31pm Jimmy asked when he could expect Mark back.
At 6.49pm Elaine stated that she'd have to get in touch with David who had Mark.
At 7.25pm Jimmy stated David doesn't have Mark.
At 7.29pm She stated that she did not have Mark, David does.
At 7.45pm Jimmy asked " Where is Mark ? "
At this point Celia was in a great flap believing that perhaps Mark had been put to sleep. We drove to Pumpherston to see David but he was not home. We hung around till nearly 11pm waiting for someone to appear. While waiting there Amanda texted us to say that Mark was on the Dogs' Trust website. Shortly afterwards Ann Cain texted to say that Jill and Ella were on it too.
Celia was finding the whole evening extremely stressful.
On returning home we found that:
At 7.54pm Elaine had texted " Oh my Goodness David has taken Mark to the Dogs' Trust ".
Next morning we got in touch with the Dogs' Trust who told us that all three had been rehomed ( although Jill was standing there and the others were missing but marked " reserved " ), even though they were only handed in on Thursday. They also stated that DAVID and ELAINE HAD BOTH AUTHORISED THE DOGS TO BE TAKEN IN BY THE DOGS' TRUST.
Unfortunately Jill and Ella who have lived together for years have now been separated by the Dogs' Trust who do not see this as a problem. Personally, I may be wrong, but I think quite differently.
Competition - - - - - - How many lies and cover ups can you spot ?
Two highly accomplished liars methinks.
I will pass this information around the other dog rescue centres.
Jimmy.

only one word for people like that,and its not printable.

Some human beings never fail to disappoint, and disgust, me

This is BEYOND cruel ... ok, so we don't like dogs being returned, HOWEVER, surely if you had any feelings for your dogs you would return them to the place they originally came from, where people know them / their personalities.

NO thought has been given to the welfare of these dogs - Jill & Ella will pine for each other, and WHY take on another dog, Mark, a month before you split up ?!?

This is, at best, thoughtless and, at worst, cruel, and is, frankly, beyond my comprehension

Susan.

I can’t really understand this, did they decide in splitting up involve everybody else? Why to be so malicious about where the dog is and I am sorry but to claim that Mark is dirty in the house; I would say you need to give the dog a chance and TEACH him since they never lived in the house. As for the lassies that is just plainly cruel and I would say they will suffer and would not be surprised if they develop separation anxiety. No one thought about the wellbeing of the dogs. Love? Missing the babies? Don’t think so.

According to the West Calder DT website, Ella is reserved and Jill and Mark are still available. The site may not have been updated of course, but it just might not be too late to persuade DT to keep Jill and Ella together.
Marion

There are lots of irresponsible people...They are a good example.

I cannot tell you how horrified and upset I am for you both.

I just can't get over why any individual who has the honour of sharing their couch with a greyhound could do this to them - let alone to you both. Their actions, and their behaviour, is beyond comprehension.

Horrified.

I am absolutely furious; people like these make me disgusted to be part of the human race.

Why do some people have to be so two faced and down-right selfish and self centered is beyond me. It is absolutely disgusting the way Elaine and David have behaved.

I am at a total loss; being the dog lover that I am I do not know how any decent human being can do something like this, and then lie about it all?

All three dogs were beautiful and it breaks my heart to hear of this. On the lighter side at least something worse did not happen to the dogs.

As if Celia does not have enough to deal with at night, the stress she endured was not necessary and could have been easily avoided.

Elaine and David, you should both be totally ashamed of yourselves. How dare you treat GRF like this. How dare you. I hope you both get your just deserves, and people know about what you have done. I hope no animal, greyhound or not, should ever have the misfortune in being in either of your care in the future.

I don't think any of us will ever know the stress Celia and Jimmy endured on Tuesday night worrying Mark had been PTS.

The lies are disappointing, handing them into the dogs trust is disappointing. What is really awful is Jill and Ella being separated after being lifelong companions.

Sometimes there really are just no words.

Wee update.
Ella has been rehomed.
Not Jill.
Jimmy and celia.

With Celia's permission, picture of Jill taken yesterday

This is so sad makes your heart bleed. It is a shame that the DT did not think it would be better for them to go together.

This is just heartbreaking ~ for Jill, Ella & Mark, for Jimmy & Celia and for everybody involved with GRF.

When these 'people' took the dogs on, presumably they signed a contract ~ can this not be enforced, or is it too late now? If Dogs' Trust knew where they had come from originally, surely they should have had the decency to suggest that the dogs be returned to where they were known.

I just cannot comprehend the actions of these people ~ it is ABSOLUTELY disgusting. Hopefully no-one will EVER allow them to re-home dogs again.

Susan.

That's what I was thinking too Susan, surely the contract which everybody signs when rehoming a dog should mean something to DT.

To support Celia and Jimmy I have contacted Dogs Trust Head office with the message below asking for some answers. We will see what response there is from from our message.

This is the contact page if you want to contact them at their head office.
Dogs Trust Head Office Contact Page

It might work as it did with other situations when the troops rallied round for Celia and Jimmy before.

As a member of Greyhound Rescue Fife, Baltree Kennels, Gairneybank, Nr. Kinross KY13 9JY. I was very disappointed to learn that you had taken in 3 of our Rescue Greyhounds at your West Calder branch which were adopted from our rescue centre one just at the beginning of march this year . It is in the adoption agreement that the dogs must be returned to our rescue centre if they cannot kept by their adopters. Unfortunately they were not! If your centre did some background checks this problem could have been resolved unfortunately two dogs that have been together for many years have now been separated. The centre at West Calder was approached by our rescue centre owners Mr & Mrs Fernie but the again the situation could not be resolved. I would ask that you look in to how these 3 dogs Mark, Ella and Jill could not be returned to Greyhound Rescue Fife. in the first instance. I look forward to your prompt reply before I make judgement on what I thought was a worthwhile Dog Charity! George Petrie




George & Morag

And the Hounds

Good idea George I have written them now too.

I have now e-mailed Dogs Trust too.

I cannot stop thinking about these poor dogs and, in particular, Jill & Ella who must be totally confused and distressed

If I feel like this, how the hell must Jimmy & Celia be feeling ????

I see that Mark & Jill are now both marked as 'reserved', and that Ella is no longer on the website ...

Copy of my e-mail below:

Susan.


"I have always thought very highly of your Charity, however, I am deeply disturbed to learn that your West Calder branch recently took in three greyhounds - Jill, Ella & Mark - who had previously (Mark only at the start of March 2013!) been re-homed by Greyhound Rescue Fife.

When adopting a dog from GRF, the new owner is required to sign a contract stating that if the dog can no longer be cared for, for whatever reason, he/she should be returned to GRF. This way, the dog goes back to people who know him/her, and his/her personality.

The individuals concerned had no right whatsoever to take Jill, Ella & Mark to Dogs Trust and, had you done some background checks, you would have surely understood this. Jill & Ella have been together for most of their lives, and WILL pine for each other. Mr. & Mrs. Fernie, who run GRF, have an AMAZING knowledge of the breed - Dogs Trust, on the other hand, sees every breed of dog through its doors.

I would appeal to you, as an animal charity, to give this matter serious consideration, and look forward to your early response."

Just to let you know I have also sent a stinger of an e-mail to Dogs Trust.
I am so sad at the plight of these dogs and that photo just tore the heart from me.
Hopefully we can all pile the pressure on the trust so it never happens again.
Please god it can be resolved.

And as for those two heartless people (didnt want banned with my choice words) I hope they get their just rewards and Karma comes back to them.
Mary

Whoever called those people thoughtless was being overly generous.

To do what they did was utterly heartless, and downright cruel. And that's without considering what they did to Celia and Jimmy. I hope they're proud of themselves. (Actually, what I really hope for them would probably get me banned if I wrote it here)

I have also contacted the Dogs Trust. I thought they were better than that.

Hi all,

I don't mean to stick up for dogs trust here but really the culprits here are David and Elaine.

The Dogs Trust can only go on the information they are given by the owners, have taken in 3 greyhounds on good faith and rehomed them. Obviously it's upsetting that Jill and Ella have been rehomed seperetly ... but the dogs trust weren't to know they had been together their whole lives unless David and Elaine had told them (which going on this story does not look likely).

I don't think it's right to complain to a rescue centre who have rehomed dogs who goodness knows what could have happened to them.

We do not know what David and Elaine told them about the dogs, and they should have stuck to the contract and given them back to Celia and Jimmy! This is tragic. And so sad for Jill and Ella but I think we need to be careful. We can't blame dogs trust for rehoming dogs they took in on good faith.

I'm sure if they had known the facts they would have called Celia and Jimmy straight away to raise the alarm.

Jen Eddie and Wisp

Such a sad story

Hi Jennifer,

I see where you're coming from as I don't think this is written in any of the above but dogs trust knew full well they were GRF dogs from outset.

I believe it's their policy in such situations to contact the original rescue but for some reason they were happy to breach policy, never mind common decency, in this instance.

As a result , there has been a lot of upset so I think they should hear about it to ensure it doesn't recur.

Karen

Agreed Karen. I think the more emails, the better

An utterly appalling story. I've said it before and I'll say it again - there should be a register for these people that is made available to all dog rescues. It wouldn't have made any difference in this case, but at least they wouldn't be free to try the same thing again. It makes me wonder how rescue centres are supposed to know if somebody has been banned from keeping animals, or if that's just down to the friends and neighbours of these people reporting them after the fact, but that's another matter...

I have to agree with Jennifer. Dogs Trust can only deal with the facts as they are presented to them, although perhaps a lesson could be learned here and greyhounds traced back to the original rehomers via their tattoos. Once either Jill or Ella were rehomed by Dogs Trust what could be done? Would it be fair to disrupt them further? Difficult questions. We can only hope now that these rehomings work out successfully and that these three dogs can rebuild their lives in decent, loving homes. On the plus side at least they've been rehomed quickly.

Moving forward, if we ever have this situation arise again, perhaps it would be helpful to have a network of emergency temporary foster homes in place. Something to think about perhaps.

EDIT: I was writing this before I saw Karens post. If Dogs Trust were indeed fully aware of GRFs involvement before they rehomed the dogs then that is poor form to say the least. Can anybody categorically confirm that Dogs Trust were aware these were GRF dogs before they rehomed any of the dogs?

This is an appalling story-i cant imagine Archie and Sweetie ever being apart its heartbreaking-i have e-mailed as well, hope if we all do then they may take some notice about their procedures-as for the owners they should be thoroughly ashamed i dont know how they sleep at night.

Steve,
No register would help... There are so many ways of obtaining animals...

Hi Everybody,
Thanks for all your concerns and comforting posts.
It's nice to know that we have all your support.
Steve - - - I spoke to the DT lady who confirmed that she had been immediately told that they were ex GRF dogs. She also said it was her opinion that the dogs would have no problem being separated
I am personally relieved that the dogs landed in a rescue kennel. At least they are all safe. All have now been rehomed so their story is ended and I wish all three a very happy future life.
I was shocked to find out that the DT had them after spending three hours late at night around Pumpherston, with a very upset Celia believing the worst had happened, when the DT could have informed us, as I believe they are supposed to, immediately they received them.
However, the main thing is Jill, Ella and Mark are now safe in homes.
Jimmy.

They should have informed you Jimmy. Sorry I had thought the couple may have spun them a yarn as well.

It's a shame that Jill and Ella need to be separated what a shame :( and Mark won't have a clue what's happening to him is it any wonder that he's not clean in the house if that's what's happening.

Anyway,

I hope their new homes are nice 😃 x

Poor Jill & Ella

My girls have been together since birth , I know they would be devastated if they where split up
They hate it if one is at the vets without the other

Sad that this couple did not stick to the agreement and let FGR help find new homes for these dogs


Mags

Hi there I agree with jimmy least the beautiful dogs now hopefully have ever lovely homes, poor souls the ordeal they went through. I do think all centre's like cardinals car dog home and the. Bothwell cat and dog home should be given those couples names they should never be allowed pets again.... Scum bags x

The irony:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXVnCJ7WeCk&feature=youtu.be