WATERSIDE – Andrea Fuller-Tate laughs as she gets puppy kisses from her dog, Sable, whom she affectionately calls her “45 mile an hour couch potato.”
Sable is a two-year-old greyhound who once raced at a Florida-based racetrack. She “wasn’t very good,” joked Fuller-Tate, and retired from her career at the age of two when the racetrack closed.
That’s when the Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada stepped in. The group, based out of Musquodoboit, rescues the dogs, brings them to a kennel and finds homes for them. As tracks close down, thousands of dogs need homes, and tracks across the U.S. are shutting down as the economy worsens.
Fuller-Tate adopted Sable through the group in July and became a volunteer with the organization. Right now, there are 15 dogs waiting for homes, but in January, the situation will become critical, with 36 animals from another closing track coming to the kennel, which normally holds only 25 dogs.
“Foster homes have been found, but that’s assuming the current 15 dogs find homes by then,” she said. “This is a really slow time of year, so we’re hoping families in Pictou County will consider adopting a dog.”
The situation at that track, Ebro, is pretty dire. When it shut down suddenly earlier this year, the track made a deal with the trainers that they could keep their animals in the kennels there until January, but one trainer allowed his 32 greyhounds to starve to death.
“It’s so unnecessary,” said Fuller-Tate softly. “Why would you let 32 dogs starve? GPAC doesn’t normally work with this track, but because of the situation, we agreed to take a shipment.”
Before finding homes for the dogs, they receive all their vaccines, a full head-to-toe checkup, blood work, dental work and the dogs are spayed or neutered. It costs $275 to adopt the dog, which barely covers the medical attention they receive, and if the checkup reveals any problems, GPAC will cover the costs of treatments down the road.
“This is a breed that has very few health problems because it’s been bred out,” she said. “If a puppy is born that’s got health problems, it’s often put down because a sick athlete isn’t a good athlete, and that’s what these dogs are – athletes.”
The organization also provides support afterwards, and if the dog or the family aren’t the right fit, GPAC will take the animal back and find the right match.
Most of the dogs are between the ages of two and four and are already housebroken.
“These dogs have never lived in a house, so they’ve got some funny little quirks,” Fuller-Tate explained. “They don’t know how to do stairs, and we had to put Scotch Tape over the patio doors so she’d see it – otherwise, Sable probably would’ve tried to run right through the windows.”
The breed is also good with children, she added, and are bred not to be aggressive.
“If my son Austin starts to bother her, she just gets up and walks away. They’re not fighters – they’re flighters. They’re not guard dogs, I’ve barely heard her bark.”
They don’t take up much room, she said, and don’t need much exercise, but if they’re let outside they must be on a leash or in a fenced area.
“That’s the biggest myth – that they’re so high energy and require a lot of work,” Fuller-Tate said. “But they’re really just 45 mile per hour couch potatoes. They just want to be lazy, and they do it quite well.”
People can apply to adopt
Interested in adopting a greyhound? Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada can be reached by phone at 902-889-2214 or visit www.gpac.ca for more information
Here’s the process:
• Fill out an application form and submit it. Within a few days, a placement representative, like Andrea Fuller-Tate, will be in touch.
• A home visit will be done by placement representatives. They’ll give families an idea how a greyhound would fit into the family. It’s a low-key visit, says Fuller-Tate, and will look at how families interact with the dogs and give suggestions on any situations that might need to be corrected if the family does get a greyhound.
• A second interview occurs with Jeanette Reynolds, the founder of GPAC, at the kennel in Musquodoboit.
• On “hound day,” the final step in the process, families come to the kennel when a large load of greyhounds arrive to pick out their dog.
