Ray's story - all the way from CA, USA
Exactly 8 weeks ago today I set off from Manchester to Los Angeles to bring Ray home to England, a new baby puppy to join our family. Here’s the story of how this little ray of Californian sunshine came all the way to join us in England ...
At LAX - Ray at 16 weeks old, waiting to board our flight from LA to Paris - the first leg of our epic trip back to England
A very special litter of puppies
Ray was bred by two fantastic ladies called Jeannie and Julie who are both based in LA. I had known of Jeannie ("Amore" Italian Greyhounds) for years as she has been involved in IGs for almost forty years, with an impeccable reputation as a breeder/exhibitor. A few years ago a beautiful IG called Red caught my eye on Facebook and I started following news of her. Red was bred by Jeannie, and I admired from afar as this gorgeous girl set the US show ring on fire, finishing Top IG in the USA in 2023 (second was Brutie's sister) and then Top IG in Canada in 2024, and making history along the way by becoming the first Italian Greyhound to win Best in Show awards in both the USA and Canada.
Red, Ray's older sister who I fell in love with. Jeannie (far right) bred Red and Ray. Next to Jeannie is Kim (Red's human mum) who co-owns and handles Red. An amazing team who have made IG history along the way.
I took Brutie out to show in the US in 2023 and finally got to meet Jeannie in person, plus I got to see Red strutting her stuff in the show ring. Red was breathtaking, even better than I expected - super-stunning, and importantly, Red was confident, happy and full of beans.
I stayed in touch with Jeannie via Facebook and then last year, I plucked up the courage to ask if Jeannie would consider me as a home for one of her puppies in the future. I didn't expect Jeannie to say yes but I knew that if I was lucky enough to be considered, then I was prepared to wait for another ten years for a puppy if I had to. What I didn't know when I contacted her was that Jeannie was retiring from breeding and showing IGs after almost 40 years in the breed - a huge loss to the world of Italian Greyhounds.
But Jeannie had one last litter of Amore IGs, a very special litter. Not only was it her last litter of Amores, it was also a repeat mating between the sire and dam that produced beautiful Red and there were three beautiful little pups.
A very precious litter of puppies - the last to be bred by Jeannie under her Amore kennel name. Ray with her sister Coco and brother Leo
To my complete amazement, Jeannie offered Ray to me from this precious litter of puppies. The decision wasn't even a decision, Ray was coming to me in England.
Preparing to bring Ray home
Planning for Ray to come to England started immediately. The main complication when flying with a dog in the cabin is that they're not allowed to fly directly into GB in the cabin on a regular scheduled flight. As a result, when flying with a dog, I fly into a European city and then cross to GB by ferry or the Eurotunnel. Plus, I had to make sure Ray complied with the health certificate requirements for entry into the EU and GB: microchip, rabies jab, tapeworm treatment.
Julie and Jeannie were brilliant, working on Ray's socialisation and training to help ensure that Ray would cope with the long trip to England. By the time I arrived in LA, Ray was already happy spending time in her airline bag.
For this trip, I decided to fly in and out of Dublin and cross into GB on a ferry from Dublin to Holyhead as it's relatively close to Manchester where we live. Everything was booked and I set off in December for LA, ready to spend a few days with Ray so she could get to know me before she started her big life adventure with me.
All the best laid plans ...
What should have been a long but straight-forward journey was scuppered at the last minute when all ferries from Dublin to Holyhead were cancelled because of storm damage at Holyhead which closed the port, plus FedEx failed to deliver Ray's health certificate on time so she couldn’t fly as planned anyway.
The night before we were meant to be flying home, I had to find a new route to get us home, no mean feat when travelling with a dog! After 5 hours backwards and forwards on the phone to Delta and Air France, we finally found a route home.
- Flight #1: LA to Paris with Ray in the cabin
- Flight #2: Paris - Dublin, Ray in the cabin
- Ferry overnight from Dublin - Fishguard (SW Wales) in a pet-friendly cabin with a bed
- Train Fishguard - Manchester - over 6 hours on the slowest train ever
And Fedex finally delivered Ray's health certificate for travel and we were good to go!
Ray's epic homecoming
Our final journey home took over 45 hours, and Ray and I arrived home in Manchester three days later than originally planned. I was exhausted and Ray definitely coped better with the journey better than I did!
Ray on the flight from LA to Paris. The early bag training paid off. I was able to have the bag on my lap for almost the whole flight and Ray was a superstar!
I shared updates from our journey home on our Facebook and Instagram pages and I cannot express how grateful I was for all the kind words of support from our customers and other friends - they gave me such a boost when I most needed it on that very trying and tiring journey home.
I was absolutely amazed at how Ray just took everything in her stride despite being bombarded with new sights, sounds and smells at every step of the way on her epic journey from LA - her temperament is a real testament to her breeders, Jeannie and Julie.
The pee/poop question ...
Lots of people asked about managing a 16-week old puppy from a pee/poop perspective on the flight in particular. I made sure that Ray was well fed and watered all the way through our journey - I would never risk dehydration for any dog but especially not a baby puppy, and with such a long flight from LA to Paris, it was inevitable that Ray would need to pee and or poop at some point on the flight.
I basically prepared for the worst. My hand luggage included dog nappies, pee pads, zip lock bags, poop bags, disinfectant wipes and regular wet wipes. I had custom made bedding for Ray's airline bag (of course) - a memory foam mattress with a Waterproof Bed Liner, with spare bed covers and blankets in my hand luggage too. After all that prep and kit, Ray only had one accident (a number 1) on the whole journey from LA all the way back to Manchester and it was a doddle to deal with.
Already the boss of the boys
Ray has settled into our family like a dream and the boys absolutely adore her. Brutus has a new best friend to play with and Theo (almost 14 now) gets more quiet time without Brutus bothering him. Ray is already the boss of the boys even though she's tiny!
Ray and I have started training together, learning to work together as a team at obedience and ringcraft, and I hope that she will make her debut in the show ring in the next couple of months but there’s no hurry. The showing thing is my hobby and only time will tell if Ray will humour me on it. The most important thing, as with all our dogs, is that Ray remains healthy and happy.
In the meantime, Ray is an absolute joy and full of mischief - she has a glint in her eye that says trouble. She's cute and she knows it!
I feel incredibly lucky that Jeannie and Julie entrusted this beautiful girl into my care - our very own little Ray of Californian sunshine all the way from LA.