"I finally came to realize that these dogs were happy ..."

My love for the NGA greyhound started in the year 2001. I was working at a PetsMart and came across some swag in a cabinet for a local greyhound society. I saw the beautiful silhouette of a greyhound and was oddly intrigued. You see, I was a cat person at the time. I had no interest in noisy, slobbering dogs. Shortly thereafter, a woman brought her greyhound into the store and I became very excited having never seen a greyhound in person before. She wasn't very personable and seemed annoyed when I asked to pet her grey. I paid no mind to her grumpiness. It was love at first sight.

I researched the breed online and came across horrifying photos of what I now know were Spanish Galgos. I bought into the online propaganda, hook, line and sinker. At the time, I was in my early to mid 20's and knew I couldn't responsibly afford a dog, so I decided to wait. While waiting, I found a greyhound adoption group about an hour and a half away and decided to volunteer to get to know the breed. When talking to the kennel director of Project Racing Home, the topic of abuse of racing greyhounds came up and Kimberly told me otherwise. She explained how well greyhounds were treated at the track, and her confidence and knowledge on the subject intrigued me and off I went to do more research. After volunteering for a while I finally came to realize that these dogs were happy and healthy and my perception was changed because well... common sense. Four years later, in 2005 I adopted my first grey.

I didn't get the chance to visit a greyhound track kennel (Jacksonville) until about 6 months ago and it only solidified my conclusion. I saw happy pups and trainers who cared for all of those dogs. They explained their tricks of the trade to make powerful athletes. Love and impeccable care was part of the recipe as well as clean, well kept kennels and structured schedules.

I'm on my second generation now, 3rd and 4th greyhounds. I want to thank the trainers, owners, adoption staff and volunteers for raising, caring, and loving my beloved Cleo N Jace (Jace), Marinara (Mary), Boc's MagicSpell (Spell, Voodoo) and RCK Sunny Day (Sunny). I wouldn't have such wonderful dogs without you all, nor see the light and truth of the NGA Greyhound.

By the way, I no longer own cats.

😉

Lori Petta
Knightdale, NC

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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