Rescuing a Greyhound
Note: This is part one of two blog posts written by my friend, Bill Waites who in the creator of the Second Chance for Greyhounds website. He is also an avid blogger.
She eats, she sleeps, she walks, she pees and poops. Then she does it all over again
That’s pretty much a day in the life for us and our beloved greyhound. She is the fourth greyhound that has owned us. Our first never made it beyond being spayed. The anesthetic was too much for her fragile body.
The second was with us for a few years. Then she succumbed to a disease we never knew existed, a tick-born infection that can lay dormant for years and then suddenly materialize in blood that is too thin to coagulate.
The third was with us for 8 years after retiring from the track after three years of racing. She was a superbly affectionate dog. Old age got here.
Our fourth is still with us. She quit the track at 4 1/2 years and has allowed us to live with her for 6 1/2 more years.
We absolutely adore her, as we did the three before her. Her name is Taos, based on the town in New Mexico that has been important in our lives.
Taos is an extraordinary animal, even more so than most greyhounds. She is lithe and lean with a spectacular brindle coat. When she first picked us out, she had a parch of bare skin on her rump. It was the result of years of lying on the concrete floor of a kennel cage. Before long, with a real dog bed to sleep in, the coat came back. It was a milepost day for all of us.
As with most greyhounds, she is a world-class sleeper. For some, who think of greyhounds as very active dogs – after all, they race – it is ironic that greyhounds spend so much time as couch potatoes. Think about it, though. They are sprinters. They expend an incredible amount of energy over a short distance. Then they recoup. Even when they live at the track, they spend most of their time sleeping or in short hibernations.
Life on the track is not very pleasant. Some owners are very caring for their racers. Others are not. But even the best don’t really get attached to their keeps. They are not pets; they are property.
As a result, when they stop winning, they become expendable. Greyhounds that do not find adoptive owners are put down. They may be at the prime of health. But their time is up when they no longer pay for their cage and board.
Learning about this terrible fate is what brought us to adopting our first greyhound. Some people call it rescuing. In a sense, it is a rescue. But to us that implies a debt from the dog that devalues beautiful and loving relationship she gives us.
Please watch for the second post for tomorrow….
Comments
By Bill Waites on February 9th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Thanks, Jen, for printing these articles.
I am reading them from Abu Dhabi, were my wife and I have been for 10 days.
We had to leave Taos at home.
It made me smile to read about her.
BTW, the Muslims who live here say they do not keep house dogs because they consider them “dirty”, which they attribute to bacteria that build up in their mouths. They do keep hunting dogs because they believe their saliva is cleaner, since the don’t actually kill their prey.
I’m not endorsing these beliefs. Just reporting something I learned while visiting here.
Anyway thanks for the reminder of what awaits us at home.