HRH, Princess Rena (of Croydon)

19 February 2010 – 9 February 2022

A Honcho hound with the race name Rena’s Princess, Rena raced at Sittingbourne and won a sixth of her events, so pretty average given there’s a one in six chance of placing first. You can watch a clip of her actually winning here. I gather after her racing career was over, she was sent to Ireland for breeding but didn’t produce any pups.

Rena was then shipped back here to a trainer who doesn’t treat his dogs particularly well (when his kennel was shut down and purchased by Celia Cross Greyhound Trust in late 2018, the sheer squalor in which these dogs lived was laid bare – horrifying and desperately sad.)

Somehow, she ended up at Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare, making her one of the lucky ones. It is fair to say that Rena’s life up until she found herself at WGW was wholly unremarkable.

We met on Saturday 16 April 2016. It was pissing down with rain and we didn’t particularly gel that day. A fairly quiet and aloof black girl with a diamond dusted face already at the age of six, she was kennelled by herself because she liked her space and she generally minded her own business, not seeking attention or affection from walkers.

Yet I woke up in the early hours of the Sunday morning (17 April 2016) feeling panicked that someone else would sneak in and adopt her before me. I turned up at WGW at 10am that day.

Denise Dubarbier, then WGW Manager, said: “whad-do you want? We aren’t open til 11.”

And I said: “Can I take Rena out?”

Denise rolled her eyes in a knowing way and replied: “Hang on, let me see if she’s had her breakfast.”

Rena and I went to West End Common and I just knew she was the girl for me. I adopted her on 30 April 2016 and that was the day she left Rena’s Princess behind to become HRH, Princess Rena (of Croydon).

Just after I adopted her, we found out about a walking group for greyhounds – the West Sussex Greyhound Walking Group (WSGWG) – and started going to their walks. It’s thanks to this group that the walks at Chelwood Vachery and Loxwood are on this site.

Rena and I were typically driving for upwards of an hour to the WSGWG walk locations from our home in Croydon, which I didn’t mind but those long car journeys got me thinking that there must be people in Surrey that would be interested in the same sort of thing…

So, we unashamedly “borrowed” the idea and Surrey Sighthound Walking Group was born.

In the nearly six years Rena and I shared, we went on so many adventures together. She blossomed into a fun, daft, silly goose, who was my best friend and a reassuring weight on my bed through thick and thin.

I was shattered when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma and helped her on her final journey a few days later in the comfort of her donut bed in our lounge, just ten days before she would have turned 12.

Rena brought immense happiness into my life, and I’ve met many wonderful people because of her. She leaves a lasting legacy in SSWG and this site.

Reeny-Roo