"Obviously, they learned that from the farms and the kennels."

I met my first greyhounds when I was 3 years old. My grandfather had them in Iowa. They weren’t racing dogs, but hunting. Fast forward to late 80s early 90s and I began to go to Dairyland Park in Wisconsin. I always spent more time in the adoption center than the actual racing area. I met some wonderful people who truly loved their greyhounds, mainly a woman named Robin. We became friends and we were able to go to the kennels. Talk about happy, happy pups. I was introduced to kennel workers and trainers. One of pups became the mother of one of my pups.

Robin also sent me to Emerald Greyhound where I got to see puppies from a couple of days old to those who were ready to leave for schooling. Again, nothing but caring people and very well socialized pups. She also introduced me to Dr. Jenifer Barker who was the track vet and is our vet for the greyhound adoption groups, Greyhounds Only and Greyhound Alliance. I had it in my mind that my first greyhound must be black and I would name it Shadow. Robin found him and lo and behold, his father was my favorite racer, Chevy Montecarlo. Our Samoyed passed away and Shadow was so lonely. Robin again came through with SM Petty Blue. He and Shadow went on to become TDI Therapy dogs. As with life, I lost Shadow and knew he needed a buddy. Robin again found Frankie Michael who became Buddy. Robin eventually left the adoption center and I began to meet people from a group called Greyhounds Only. Through them I adopted Mystical Haley, Moon MT Mary, JR’S Drifting Smoke. I also became involved in Meet & Greets, other special events, and helping with hauls. I met so many fantastic people who loved the greyhounds as much as I did. One of my friends was fostering Fire Out Electra and thought I would be a great match. He became Tric and truly was my heart dog. I received a call from the President of GO about an emergency foster, Eunice Bloom. She walked through my door, was immediately renamed Twiggy and along with Tric became the Dynamic Duo. Sadly, they passed away within 14 days of each other. As I had done in the past, we needed to find a buddy for Tric. On December 2, AJN Street Credit, (Oliver) joined our lives Dec. 2 and Tric passed away Dec. 11. It took until February and this adorable little, black girl, Par Maddie picked me.

All of these pups had such personalities but also a common ground for being loving and caring. That’s before they became a part of my family. Obviously, they learned that from the farms and the kennels. To say they are abused in any stage of their life is such a blatant lie. Eyes are not just for reading; they are for seeing the truth for yourselves. Please make up your mind from what you see in person, not for what you read. Vote No on 13 please.

Diane Eckelberry Keith

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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