"I...have fostered 43 dogs so far"

My story: my first Greyhound came along when I was living in Jacksonville, FL. We saw an ad in the paper for a Greyhound looking for a home. I think this was around 1990. There was a rescue at the track, but this lady was doing it on her own, one dog at a time. We took home Athena, who was a sweet brindle girl. Not long after that we decide to get a male. The lady hooked us up with a kennel that had dogs looking for homes. We drove down there and out of the row of dogs available we brought home a huge black male. These two enjoyed romping on our 1.5 acres in North Jacksonville.

Fast forward to the birth of my son, then a divorce, and a move back to Southern California where my family lives. We had a rescue Doberman at the time; they are another breed I have always loved. This dog passed, then along came a Dobie puppy. A few years later we decided she needed a friend. After attempting to find a smaller breed I liked (there aren't many), I decided to get another Greyhound. We met Sharyn and Roger Deeringer of SoCalGAL, which used to be Needle Nose.

Seamus (TJ's Lee) came along not long after that; he was a lovely black boy. The time came for another when my Dobie girl was not doing well. Lord Byron entered our lives. Byron was absolutely one of the most perfect creatures ever created. Super dark brindle almost chocolate in color. What a handsome boy he was, and he knew he was special. Another girl came along finally: Sabrina, who was never registered. One of the best meet-and-greet dogs ever. She loved modeling the snoods my friend makes. Such an awesome dog. We sadly lost her to osteo on her seventh birthday. Sheldon AKA Springwater Bam came along after Seamus passed away. I affectionately call him my Boo Boo 'cause he loves his momma so much. Sheldon adores his toys and runs around the house carrying them. Byron left us a little over a year ago, and now we have a feisty girl named Lacey AKA Our Ira. Love her to pieces even when she wants to go after the little dogs we see on walks. That is about it for my story. I forgot to mention I went to the track in Jacksonville when I lived there. I was in the UK in 1989 and remember going to a dog track there. Can't remember the name off the top of my head. I have loved horses all my life and Greyhounds remind me of a horse in a dog's body. Such beautiful creatures.

Oh, forgot to mention I started fostering 5 or 6 years ago for SoCalGAL and have fostered 43 dogs so far. :)

I support Greyhound racing due to what a wonderful job the racing industry does with the dogs. The dogs we adopt wouldn't be as they are without the careful breedings, constant socialization, and proper training by the racing industry. The dogs love to run and I don't want to see that end as we will lose the breed we love.

Linda Leitinger
Southern California

Comments

"As a person who helps connect humans and Greyhounds..."

As the President and Founder of Forever Home Greyhound Adoptions, as well as having 13 of my own Greys, I feel like it's important to weigh in with my views as not only a Grey mom, but as a person who helps connect humans and Greyhounds, every day for over 20 years now. With all the allegations and controversy surrounding the Greyhound racing industry lately, I feel like it's high time that more of us on the adoption side of the road make our thoughts and feelings known. Having been in the adoption world for well over 20 years now, I think I have seen and heard just about everything, and I am here to tell the world that all the anti-racing slandering of the industry is shameful, hurtful, and untrue. Most of the AR mouthpieces that spout toxic lies the loudest, have probably never ever seen the inside of a racing kennel, and maybe never even witnessed a Greyhound race. Well, I HAVE, and I can truthfully say, that most kennels are cleaner than some people's homes, a

"She was not 'culled' like a puppy farm inmate"

It's about the dogs! It's been not quite four years since I became a "Crazy Greyhound Lady," retired racers have that effect on a large number of their adopters. NGA greyhounds have amazing careers as athletes and then are fortunate to have an adoption rate of over 95% when those careers are over. Now it's time for all of us who appreciate all that goes into the breeding, training, and care to stand up and defend racing against the endless lies put out by profit-driven extremists. My husband and I have adopted two retired racers and volunteer extensively with our adoption group, including traveling to the track to pick up new retirees and doing home visits to help match prospective adopters with dogs. We had the oh-so-common experience of mutual love at first sight when we met each of our hounds. Coming up with a testimonial should have been an very easy task. Instead I struggled with draft after draft, they all fell short. One day I realized that it was not

"And one year later we visit the first time a racetrack."

My Story: so sorry my English is not perfect I hope you understand me?! I am from Germany and in 2002 I met my first greyhound. He was from the last closed racetrack in Italy and was in a shelter in Germany. His name was Teseo (Teseo della Capitale). The beginning of a very deep love to greyhounds. But Teseo was so sad an scared and unlucky ... now we know he was unlucky with us. He was the first time alone ....He missed other greyhounds. But eight weeks later we adopted Zama (Teresas Hope). A female from the same track. And Teseo was so happy! He changed in a lucky and wonderful boy. At first we hate everything about racetracks. We heard from rescue groups so terrible things about this. This was a very bad area and all people are bad. But we met other greyhound owners in our town and we talked about everything ... and about the racetrack too. They told us so much other stories about the dogs and the people and we changed our opinion. And one year later we visit the f

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