"They have all been happy, friendly, easy-going dogs..."

My first introduction to greyhounds was in Dewey Beach at Greyhounds Reach the Beach in 2000. I drove through Dewey Beach and they were everywhere! I thought maybe this is the dog for me as I was thinking of getting a dog and had no idea what breed I wanted. So I went back home to Maryland where I was living at the time and looked up a local greyhound adoption group and made a phone call. I told the volunteer that I spoke with that I had never personally met a greyhound. So she invited me to come to her house to meet her five greyhounds! We did the meet and greet in her yard as she said it would be a little chaotic in the house. As I remember, I only met 2 of the 5, but fell in love immediately! It only took a couple of leans for that to happen! I went right home and filled out the application and within about a month and a half, I had my first greyhound, Secret Witness aka Secret. She is my heart dog and I lost her at the age of 12 from liver disease. After I got Secret, I helped out the adoption group at meet and greets and occasional parades.

At that time, I believed what everybody was believing, that the dogs were not fed well or taken care of and spent long hours in the crate to only come out for short bathroom breaks and every 3 or 4 days to run a race. I definitely thought that I had rescued Secret from a horrible life. After Secret, I adopted my second greyhound Alfie and I only had him for 5 years as I lost him to osteoporosis. By that time I had moved to Delaware, so when I was ready to “rescue” my third greyhound in 2015, I contacted a Delaware greyhound adoption group and adopted my third “retired” racer. Since then I have educated myself and fostered several dogs with this group. They have all been happy, friendly, easy-going dogs with the best dispositions and I now realize that they are this way thanks to the owners and trainers at the kennels that are so passionate about these dogs and love and care for them as though each dog was their very own. I have only been to a race once and I have not had the opportunity to see the kennels, but I have heard from other volunteers that the kennels are clean and the dogs are loved and well cared for. They would not be the sweet dogs that we bring into our homes after retirement if they didn’t have that care and love. Please, Florida people, vote NO to amendment 13. Let the dogs do what they were bred for and love to do!

Mary M. Buckey
Ocean View, Delaware

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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