Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 5, 1993 TAG: 9309020053
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Karen Davis
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Bogie is a greyhound. Until he was retired from racing at age 3, Bogie lived his entire life in a crate or kennel. His world was the racetrack. He spent his time waiting to chase an artificial lure in a 30-second race, after which he was hosed down and returned to his crate to wait some more.
Bogie was not accustomed to ordinary household noises, like a telephone or television, because he never had been in a house, had never seen and heard the normal things that most dogs experience early in puppyhood.
When greyhounds go in a house for the first time, they're like "puppies in adult clothes," said Seil Stein of Manassas, Virginia's representative for Greyhound Pets of America, a nonprofit organization that places retired racers in good homes.
"They've never seen mirrors, staircases, sliding-glass doors or, in most cases, televisions," Stein said. "When their feet first touch a linoleum floor, they look like they're on roller skates."
Fortunately, they learn much faster than puppies.
"You only have to show them once how to do something," Stein said. "They are very smart."
The Lynches adopted Bogie through a GPA chapter. Several other greyhound rescue and placement organizations operate throughout the United States, but GPA is the largest, according to Stein.
Nationwide, more than 30 GPA chapters placed 3,500 dogs last year. The dogs that didn't find homes or that weren't kept for breeding were destroyed.
Racing dogs are young when their careers end, since mandatory retirement age is 5 years. Some have been injured, have muscle damage, scars or missing toes. But many are healthy and sound enough to become pets.
Although GPA doesn't keep figures on dogs euthanized, Stein said humane organizations estimate that from 35,000 to 50,000 greyhounds are killed each year when they no longer race well.
When Laurie Lynch read about this practice in the newspaper, she thought it was a horrible waste and wanted to do something to help. She already was thinking about getting a dog, so she called a GPA contact and requested adoption information.
"I was against the idea from the start," said husband Andy. "I gave all the standard arguments against having a big dog in the house and with our cats."
Nevertheless, he agreed to go with Laurie to meet one of the available dogs.
"This was all new to me," Andy said. "I had never shown or bred dogs. And to me, a greyhound was a dog that lived on the side of a bus."
But their meeting changed that.
"Bogie came straight to me and put his head in my lap and melted my heart," Andy said. "He picked us as his family."
Andy was so won over, one greyhound wasn't enough. Several months later, he and Laurie got Sophia, also a retired racer, from a private owner.
Both dogs easily befriended the couple's five cats. But all new greyhound owners are warned to muzzle and supervise their dogs around cats and other small animals at first, until the dogs learn to distinguish them from the mechanical lures they've been chasing around the track.
The Lynches also were advised to buy crates and keep the dogs confined when no one was home during the adjustment period.
"Some people think it's cruel to keep dogs in a crate, but that's what these dogs are familiar with," Andy said. "They've lived all their lives in a crate. They're used to it, and they feel secure there. They regard the crate as their den."
After the first few months, the Lynches left the crate doors open while they were away and allowed the dogs access to certain areas in the house. They put up baby gates to block off some rooms.
The dogs live indoors, even though the Lynches have a fenced-in yard. They take them to a park twice a week to give them room to run in an open, grassy space.
Because greyhounds have little body fat or hair to insulate them, they do not tolerate extreme temperatures well and should be kept inside during the hottest or coldest times of the day.
Their sparse coats mean less shedding in the house. But their low body fat and small livers make greyhounds sensitive to most flea products and anesthesia. They lack enough fat to store chemical wastes from these products, and their livers are too small to process the poisons quickly.
"You have to find the right products," Laurie said. GPA recommends several, or "ask a vet who has experience with sight hounds," she said.
And because greyhounds are sight hounds, bred to hunt by sight rather than scent, Andy and Laurie recently joined the Blue Ridge Association for Sighthounds. Participation with their dogs has gained them a new social outlet, new friends and a new hobby - lure coursing.
Lure coursing is a simulation of live-game chasing. In field trials hounds race after an artificial lure as it rips across a large field via a convoluted pulley-on-a-string system. Dogs are judged on their enthusiasm, speed, agility, endurance and ability to follow the game.
Although greyhounds are bred to race, they are not generally nervous and hyperactive, as a lot of people believe. The opposite is true, according to Stein. "Their idea of exercise is getting off the couch to eat."
Proponents of the breed say greyhounds are affectionate, quiet, gentle, good with children, nonallergenic and cat-like in their cleanliness.
Stein said GPA interviews an applicant and visits the home before placing a dog. If a dog doesn't work out in its new home, GPA will take it back. After placement, the organization keeps track of dogs in an annual report and has even aided in the recovery of some that got lost, Stein said.
For a $190 tax-deductible donation, Stein said, GPA has its dogs spayed or neutered, gives them shots, checks for heartworms, cleans teeth, clips nails and grooms them before turning them over to new owners. Each dog also comes with a new collar and lead, ID tag and a book about greyhounds.
For more information on adopting a racing greyhound, call Greyhound Pets of America toll-free at (800) 366-1472.
Send general-interest questions to The Pet Column, in care of the Features Department, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.
Karen L. Davis is a Roanoke free-lance writer and pet owner. Her column runs twice a month.
by CNB