"All of the sudden nothing else in the world mattered to her"

“Is that a greyhound?” “Yes!” “Is she a rescue?” “We adopted her”. “Oh that’s so cool! I heard they are great dogs.” “They are.”

When we first adopted Trixie, we were handed a sheet with a diagram of a Greyhound, with notes to indicate all the markings on her body. The toe nails which were white versus those that were black. The color of her fur on her tummy. We were told how many races she ran and how many she won. She had a collar with her racing name written on it. She also had a muzzle with her name on it. It’s clear that these items have been with Trixie since she started racing, as they were visibly worn. “Wow, she’s got all her own gear, with her name on all of it. At least we know she wasn’t some no-name with a number. I will have to save these things for her” I thought.

We bring Trixie home. Everything is completely new to her — stairs, TV, countertops with food, riding in the backseat of a car, other dogs that weren’t greyhounds. Whenever she hesitated (which was often), we just reassured her and told her she was doing great. We were strangers to her, but that is all she needed. She trusted us completely and was comfortable with a stranger leading her around. “There must have been decent people in her life” I thought.

Trixie struggled with loose stool the first few weeks we had her. I was confused. We had bought the most expensive dog food we were comfortable purchasing and she wasn’t doing well. She eventually just stopped wanting to eat at times, along with struggling with loose stool. Then I learned that racing greyhounds are fed a raw diet at the tracks and that she was probably just trying to adjust to the kibble. I felt uncomfortable knowing that she ate BETTER at the track than she was now, so we made the dive into raw feeding. Her stool instantly improved and she has never missed a meal since. “I guess that makes sense… that they would feed them well at the track. An unhealthy greyhound isn’t going to perform very well” I thought.

We live in a small apartment with no yard. Trixie gets plenty of walks and time outside but I wanted to take her somewhere she could really RUN. I started googling and learned of something called “lure coursing”. They drag a lure in a field and let the dogs chase it, for fun. Sometimes there is a competition as to who can follow the lure the best. I knew Trixie would enjoy this so I joined a greyhound club here in Georgia that organized the lure coursing events. I was happy to see that the fee to join the club was something like $15 a year. I linked up with the lure coursing crew and met them out on a big open field. That is where I met John Parker, who is now the Vice-President of Greyhound Adopters for Racing. He clearly had an enormous amount of experience and his biggest concern was the safety of the greyhounds. I felt at ease knowing the people here knew so much about the dogs and the sport. It was also clear they were here on their own time, for the dogs. As John set up the lure, Trixie changed. All of the sudden nothing else in the world mattered to her. She fixated on the lure and began howling and whining as the lure dragged quickly along the grass. We had to move her behind a car so that she would lose sight of the lure and calm down. At the end of the day, we gave Trixie the chance to finally chase the lure herself. She was so incredibly happy that day. “It’s too bad she can’t experience this more often. At least she had plenty of running back in her racing days!” I thought.

These experiences, along with my own critical thinking, researching and interactions with people involved in Trixie’s racing career that have brought me to my own opinion on Amendment 13. I urge people in Florida to vote NO on Amendment 13. More regulation? Sure, I can get behind that. But do not erase this. It is such an amazing experience for the dogs. As many people claim — greyhounds ARE great dogs and it is because of the work that goes into making them the exceptional athletes that they are. I would never call the people who raised and cared for Trixie as "dog abusers". They deserve a heart-felt thank you and the ability to continue their passion of caring for greyhounds.

Alex Wolfarth