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A monthly newsletter to keep you informed.
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In June there were 11 new arrivals for America Greyhound from a breeding farm in Arkansas. We also took 2 additional dogs to other groups on this haul and had 7 adoptions.
This makes our year to date totals 78 arrivals, 13 hauled for other groups, and 59 adoptions
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As you are probably all aware, the class of dogs that entered TGIE, The Greyhound Inmate Experience, in April all had something in common (other than the fact that they were all retired racing greyhounds). Every single one of them was black!
The adoption kennel at the Mobile Alabama racetrack where TGIE gets the dogs for the program is almost always filled to the gills with dogs needing a ride to their forever home, and often, there is a disproportionate number of black dogs in that mix.
Why? Because even in 2016, black dogs are still avoided by some groups, still considered the least appealing dogs and still the hardest colored dog to move into an adoption group.(note: one of American Greyhound's goals is to always strive to take in more black dogs than what would typically come to us-and we do!)
Last December we learned that the adoption kennel's inventory of available pups was made upof well over 50% black dogs. While we had discussed the possibility of an all-black TGIE class in the past,it had never been something we could put together. With the situation in Mobile being what it was, it seemed like the time was right. So, in April that's exactly what we did.
This past Thursday, those nine black beauties (American Greyhound has nine of the twenty dogs in the program) graduated from the program and are now in their foster homes eagerly awaiting their adoptive home. And, in addition to the nine dogs we bring to TGIE at the beginning of each ten-week session, we also bring additional dogs up on the hauls which go directly into foster care. We brought five additional dogs this past week, and as you probably can guess, they were all black as well. So, between TGIE graduates, fresh dogs right off the track, and the normal numbers of black dogs we take
into our adoption program, we have a large stable of black dogs at the moment.
If you have been thinking of adding a new dog to your family, there would be no better time than right now. And, with such a large array of new dogs to choose from, you're sure to find just the right dog for you and your family.
To learn more about our available dogs, contact one of our adoption coordinators at
[email protected] or by contacting them from our web site.
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| 2016 American Greyhound Picnic |
It's that time of year again when I start planning for the American Greyhound picnic.
This year the date is September 10, 2016. The picnic is always a lot of fun and everyone has a great time. This is why I need you once again to assist me in putting on this huge shindig. It gets bigger and better every year so I need some volunteers to help set up some things the night before, help set up a few hours before the picnic and help clean up after the picnic. I know I can count on several of you to help make this event a huge success once I again this year.
You can contact me at (219)241-5051 or by email at [email protected].
I look forward to your email letting me know that you are willing to assist.
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| Woman's Giving Circle Grant |
In June, American Greyhound applied for and received a grant from the Women's Giving Circle of the Crown Point Community Foundation.
The grant was written to assist American Greyhound with transportation expenses of more greyhounds from race life to a sweet life. Detailed in our grant was the call American Greyhound received about the greyhounds that were displaced in Mobile, Alabama, and our volunteers who made the long trip to bring 27 greyhounds north to their foster families and eventually their forever homes. The grant also discussed our planned trip in June to Arkansas to welcome more greyhounds, including broods and studs, into retirement.
American Greyhound would like to thank the Women's Giving Circle for their generous donation.
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July 7 marked another TGIE parole. This one stands out for me for another reason other than the fact that these hounds were all black. What makes this haul stand out to me as a foster coordinator is how wide American Greyhound's fostering reach has grown! If you look at the map, you'll see all the locations where BLACK foster hounds went Thursday marked with a star. This is just from Thursday's haul! If you drew a line connecting all the stars, it would total 460 miles! That is such a vast reach to be representing American Greyhound. This is a huge accomplishment for the greyhounds. Our foster homes near and far were there for these hounds when they needed them. I cannot thank our foster homes, transporters, and all our other volunteers that have made this possible enough for their dedication. From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! If you want to join our foster homes and change the world for a greyhound, give me a call or shoot me a text. Saving one dog won't change the world, but the world will surely change for that dog!
Nicole Graves
Foster Coordinator
219-395- 4432
[email protected]
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| How I Met Luka and How He Changed My Life |
I had been interested, OK, obsessed with retired racing greyhounds for over 20 years but the time was never right to bring one into my life. About 9 years ago I noticed that the greyhounds were going to be at a local Petco doing meet and greets from Thanksgiving to Christmas. It was right across from my Mom's favorite restaurant. After lunch we went over to the store to see the hounds. When I told the meet and greet rep that I had always wanted a greyhound she asked why haven't I sent in my adoption application. My Mom was the sticking point. I had a very lively wired haired fox terrier at home along with two parrots. Everyone had to get along. I had never had two dogs at the same time before. The rep suggested I bring my Scout in to see how he got along with the hounds. A week later I did just that and found that Scout was not afraid of them nor overly interested in them. This could work.
I went out to the adoption kennel on St. Patrick's Day to look at the available hounds. There is where I first laid my eyes on the most beautiful, sweet red brindle hound named Grey's Island Mocha. It was love at first sight.
After he met Scout and I had my orientation with the director of the group , he was mine. Well, sort of. I still had to convince my Mom that a greyhound was a good fit into our home and lives. We had never had a big dog or more than one dog in our home. She wasn't sure it would work.
It took about 2 weeks but I finally convinced my Mom to let me adopt my hound who by that time was now named Luka after a character on my favorite TV Show-ER. Luka Kovac was a handsome man and my hound Luka was most handsome.
When I walked into my first meet and greet at the same Petco where I had first met the wonderful meet and greet volunteers, I felt like I was coming home to my family. I was beaming. My heart was full of joy. I had no idea how adopting this boy was about to change my life and my world forever.
I have become a meet and greet volunteer. Luka and I at one point worked 5 monthly meet and greets a month. I have met the most amazing people. The greyhound community has become my family. My greyhounds Luka and Carter( who is a TGIE greyhound adopted from American Greyhound in 2014) have the most wonderful Aunties and Uncles.
Because of adopting my Luka I have gained confidence. I can talk to anyone, anywhere about greyhound adoption. I have traveled by myself (something I would have never considered doing before Luka) to greyhound events in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Louisville and for my 50th birthday Luka and traveled over 900 miles to attend Beach Bound Hounds in Myrtle Beach. I had never seen the ocean and wanted to do something big for my birthday. With Luka by my side I can do anything. Whenever I start to doubt that I can do something I remind myself about the trip and the courage it took to drive that far alone with my hound and I tell myself that if I could do that- I can do anything.
Luka is my heart dog. I think most people reading this knows what I mean when I say that. We are so bonded. He was a very shy boy when I met him but now he attends meet and greets and understands the important work he is doing. He does things that make him uncomfortable just because I ask him to do it. I can see that he is still somewhat shy sometimes and prefers not to have his face touched but he is so good with children, other dogs and even babies. He is so gentle and sweet with everyone.
Luka once greeted a friend who had never met a greyhound in person with a big smile on his face. She was afraid for a second seeing all those shiny white teeth. No worries I said, he is smiling at you. She said "he makes my heart sing" and this was just after spending a few minutes with him. That is my boy. He makes my heart sing every single day.
I have a sign that I reads Change Your World- Change Your Life- Adopt a Greyhound. That can't be a more true statement.
Janice Brinegar
Oak Lawn, IL
[email protected]
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| Do You Like to Shop Online? |
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Please consider using one of these two options:
iGive -
Every time you shop at any of the 1,700+ online stores in the iGive network, a portion of the money you spend benefits American Greyhound. It's a free service, and you'll never pay more when you reach a store through iGive. Just make sure to start your shopping through the iGive website. From the iGive website, you will then go to the websites of the stores where you would like to shop. You must go to the iGive website first in order for your purchases to benefit American Greyhound. There is also an iGive app that can be downloaded to your phone or tablet as well. To get started, just create your free iGive account and Start iGiving at: www.iGive.com/americangreyhound (click here for the link to join iGive).
Does your office buy supplies through Staples, Quill or Office Max? All these stores are part of the iGive stores and their donations range from 1.2% to 1.6% of your purchase. I recently made hotel reservations for a business trip through iGive. The benefit to American Greyhound was 1.6% of my hotel bill at a Hampton Inn. I purchased some greyhound pictures through iGive and Art.com and my purchased earned 4.8%.
Amazon Smiles -
When you need to shop on Amazon, shop thru Amazon Smiles (https://smile.amazon.com). You must choose American Greyhound as the cause you are supporting in order for American Greyhound to receive the benefit earned from your purchases. You will not pay anything more for your purchases to shop through Amazon Smiles and American Greyhound will receive a percentage of the amount you spend.
Together we can raise money for American Greyhound without spending anything we wouldn't already be spending. And isn't that a gift in itself?
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Taking Our Greyhound to Canada
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Rhett and I recently took a road-trip to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was lovely. It was also our first road-trip as a whole family. Yes, we took little miss Roxie Hart along with us. Typically for vacation, we drop her off at a friends house while we go have fun. We really wanted to bring her on a vacation with us, though, and this was a perfect opportunity. We weren't flying, and we don't have kids, so we loaded up the car, put her little bed in the back seat, and off we went.
We did do our research before leaving. What would we need to take our dog across the border into Canada? What about her food? We looked up Canadian law, and found as long as you weren't going to sell the dog food, any amount under so many kilograms was allowed. All we really needed was her latest paperwork stating she was up-to-date on all her shots. Easy enough! There were plenty of Airbnb lodging options that were pet friendly, so that was taken care of. We brought her an extra water bowl to keep in the car with her, and I kept some treats in my purse. The whole trip went very smoothly.
The doggie packing list: We collapsed her kennel and loaded it into the trunk. The bed that usually goes in her kennel went into the back seat along with our cooler full of snacks. We brought her one blanket, one toy, one cow hoof, her food and water bowls with her small bowel riser, enough food for the few days of travel, a bottle of melatonin (she gets anxiety), and all of her paperwork. We made sure her collar had all her tags on it, and that there were enough poop bags on her leash. Other than the bed, it all fit into one big reusable shopping bag we got at Mariano's.
After packing for her, we threw our own stuff into the trunk and drove off. Whenever we stopped for gas or a snack, we'd walk her around a bit to stretch her legs. She's pretty good at following the "potty" command and going, even if she doesn't really need to go that bad. Then we would drive on. At the border, we could've smuggled her in! She was so quiet, and didn't even perk up at the passport check. The guy was real inquisitive about Rhett and I. When we mentioned we had our dog with us he looked surprised. He asked for the paperwork, glanced it over, handed it back and said it looked good. No questions about Roxie. She was cool. Lots of questions about Rhett and myself. That was easy, and it was the part I was most worried about!
Once at our destination we set up her kennel next to our bed, put her bed and blanket in it, and settled in for the evening. She slept soundly in it every night. She wasn't so sure about this new place we were staying in, but her kennel made her feel more secure I think.
In the morning we took her on a long walk along the beach of lake Ontario. She started to love Canada around then. Just like everywhere else, anyone who saw Roxie just thought she was beautiful! We had a lot of people stop us and ask questions about her. I think she was a bit relieved to get back to the Airbnb for a bit. We gave her some melatonin, put her in her kennel with the extra bowl of water, and went out to explore downtown Toronto for a few hours. We waited outside to make sure she wouldn't whine or try to break out of her kennel (she's quite the hound-ini when she wants to be). The city itself is very pet friendly, with water bowls outside every 3rd shop or so, and lots of patio seating. Probably every 3rd person we ran into had a dog. When we got back from our day, Roxie was happy to see us and calm as ever. I was impressed with her. It was a quiet evening, and the 3 of us just lay in the bedroom playing games and snoozing.
Day 2 was our big day, Roxie got to go to Niagara Falls! The weather that week was supposed to be pretty moderate, but of course a heat wave came through that day. I'm pretty sure some people thought we were bad owners because Miss Drama Queen Roxie was panting super hard and walking slow like she had heat exhaustion, but refusing to take a drink. We parked only a 3 minutes walk away from the Falls. We tried to keep on the grass because the pavement was a little too hot for dog paws. Once we finally got down to see the Falls, we stopped under a shady tree to let Roxie cool off. The walkway along the falls from the Rainbow bridge (back to the States) to the Visitors Center at the horseshoe (south) part of the falls was just over a mile. We stopped probably 10 times along our way to sit in the shade and cool off. Roxies extra bowl was packed in Rhett's backpack, and we had a big water bottle just for her that we'd use to fill it a little at each stop. I know it sounds tedious, but It actually made for a very relaxing and enjoyable day, just moving slowly along, enjoying the sights and sounds.
During our stops, we met a lot of people who stared at her, and some who wanted to talk to us/her. We met a grandmother and grandson from Australia who also rescue greyhounds (Australia has a huge greyhound rescue. They take in dogs not only from Aussie tracks, but the bring in grey's from tracks in Taiwan, China, and Thailand, too). We met an older couple from Florida who live near a few active tracks. A man from Montreal was highly impressed with her, as he had only ever seen Italian Greyhounds in real life. And we met a woman from northern India who asked if Roxie was a Saluki. Then she talked about how seeing Roxie made her heart so happy, because it reminded her of home, when the men would march through her village on their way to war. They had Saluki's who were known as caravan dogs, because they traveled with the caravan of soldiers and provided food for them by hunting. Each person who approached us had a different story about a greyhound (or greyhound cousin) in their lives. Everyone who stopped us told us how beautiful she is. And they're all right. She is the most beautiful dog! And spoiled...
Roxie started to feel more comfortable around lunchtime, when we stopped in some shade away from the crowds, overlooking the Falls. She thought the big grassy plants tasted super good. We spent some time taking pictures at the horseshoe falls by the visitors center on the south end of the park, where Rhett and I took turns using the restrooms. While Rhett and Roxie were waiting for me to be done, Rhett put out Roxies water bowl and sat on the rock ledge with his backpack off to the side of him. A sweet old Asian man came up to them and dropped some coins in Roxie's water bowl. Rhett tried to protest, but the man didn't seem to speak any English. I guess they looked homeless? Bonus for us on having a water bowl that makes it look like we're beggars. Hahahaha!
By the time we had done all of our activities, the heat wave had passed, the weather once again became mild, and we started to make our way back. The walk back only had one "cool off" stop where we had enough cell service to call our parents and say hello. We didn't need to make the stop for Roxie that time, but she got a drink anyways. Then she did something I've never seen her do: she wallowed in the grass. I'm talking full on belly up, feet up, rubbing her head and shoulders in the clover. I wish I had gotten a picture it was so funny! She finished real quick, but she just lay in the grass and smiled for awhile. Then we went "home." Roxie crashed in the back seat the whole way back. I don't think she moved once. We wore her out good.
When we got "home" we put her in her kennel so we could go get us some dinner. I'm pretty sure she slept the entire time we were eating, because when we got back, she was still sleeping. We took her out to potty, and all of us went to bed. We always gave Roxie a few opportunities to eat each morning and evening, but she didn't each much during the trip unless it was a treat. I didn't expect her to, but we brought enough food just in case she did find her appetite. She resumed eating as normal after our vacation was over. We also made sure to keep her on her normal potty routine, and there wasn't one accident the whole time.
The next morning we drove home, and Roxie did great, again. We didn't even have to mention her at the border, and again, she didn't even perk up. She did so well all day. When we did get home, she immediately went and laid on her dog bed as if she had missed it more than anything in the world. It took her another day of sleep to recover, but I think she had a grey-t time! Rhett and I sure did!
The unabridged story can be found on my dog blog at http://greatdogtour.blogspot.com/2016/07/a-greyhound-in-canada-eh.html :)
-Mary Hildebrandt |
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