MAC'S STORY

To-day Mac peacefully and with great dignity made his way to the bridge. This is his story.



MAC’S STORY
12 April 1997 to 18 December 2007



Mac was born in Ireland and named Coin Machine for reasons unknown he never became a racer and his early history is not known. In February 2005 Mac made his way into the care of Greyhound Gap and had several foster homes before eventually being re homed. Unfortunately an existing dog in the family started to bully Mac and the family had to make the sad decision to return Mac to Greyhound Gap. We had just contacted Gap with a view to fostering and a few days later Eric made his way to Kettering to collect Mac. What a sorry looking little man he was with his legs and paws all chewed up with nerves.

It became obvious very quickly that Mac was suffering from separation anxiety, which meant he was very unsettled and howled the place down if left alone. With Lisa’s (founder of Gap) help we started trying to sort out the SA, one suggestion was to put Mac in a separate room with a bone for a few minutes with a view to building up the amount of time he was left, great idea and might have worked if Jim didn’t keep opening the door and letting Mac out.



Mac had only been here a few days when playing with Jim in the garden their heads clashed and Mac’s head was punctured by Jim’s tooth and of course it became infected, oh the shame of having to contact Lisa and tell her we’d broken a gap dog, but worse was to come. A few weeks later, Eric was walking the dogs on lead when he heard a crack like a twig breaking but it wasn’t a twig it was Mac’s leg. Eric rang me up on his mobile and I quickly drove the car up to the field whilst Eric struggled to carry Mac back. He was rushed to the vets and after x-rays it was discovered his leg had just fallen to pieces. We were so lucky on two counts, first that Lisa insisted on his leg being mended and not amputated which was the cheaper option and secondly that Tom the vet was even prepared to try such a huge operation. Gap swung into fund raising mode to raise the £2,500 that was needed and Tom ordered the huge plate and pins needed to put Mac’s leg back together. There followed months of recovering for Mac and ear bashings for me every time Eric walked the other dogs’ boy did he howl and let me know he wasn’t amused!




Mac being the strong willed fighter amazed everyone with his recovery and by the time he got the all clear we were far to attached to him and he to us to ever let him go and so he became a permanent part of our family.

Mac was the funniest of hounds, very vocal and his eyebrows would move around as he spoke to us, his idea of playing was to bark loudly whilst spinning on the spot, something Eric tried to capture on film but as soon as Mac would hear the ping of the camcorder go on he would stop still and freeze. He also had this way of laying on his back whilst throwing his legs round as though he was air cycling, again Eric has spent many hours trying to capture Mac in action with very little to show for all his effort. Mac was always one step ahead of the game.

When Vikki was pregnant Mac became totally obsessed by her and would get hold of her arm and drag her to a sofa, then spend hours sitting with his head on her bump. As soon as little Ben our Grandson was born he completely lost interest in Vikki, but loved the little baby and was so gentle with him.

If Mac had been a human he would have been like Frank Muir with a dickey bow tie, or James Bond, oh how he loved the ladies and you could just picture him saying “well hello ladies, the names Mac, Mac Bond” we called Mac many things, Mac Man, HRH Mac after his beautiful ermine coat and other not so complimentary names.




Mac has a huge character and assumed everyone he met would love him and mostly they did. If he was off lead and he saw a dog he would run over and introduce himself and had been known many times to disappear off with their owners, no loyalty to us. Best of all Mac loved to go off out with Eric in the car, didn’t matter where or why he just loved to go out in the car with his Dad.

To say we all fell under Mac’s spell is an understatement, we adored him as hopefully he did us. We will miss Mac more than words can ever explain. It has been a pleasure and an honour to share the last two and a half years with you Mac man.

Sleep tight Mac
Run free with no more pain. Little Rocky dog will be there to meet you and introduce you to Dill, Poppit and Puddin, they will be your new pack until we meet again.

Loving you always Mum and Dad. Rulu, Sandy, Jim and Lucky.