Fostering Greyhounds—

A Retired Racer Finds A New Home In Newtown

By Nancy K. Crevier

Coming into a foster home is never easy. And when the foster family is two adults, three children, two dogs, and two cats, it can be even more intimidating.

When 4-year-old Ginger arrived at Dawn and Art Adams’s Newtown home in May, she was recovering from surgery, on several medications, and pretty nervous. “She was shaking all over,” says Dawn.

Ginger is a greyhound. Her life prior to this spring consisted of a crate and the Plainfield racetrack. Family life, other creatures, cars, stairs, slippery floors, and furniture were as foreign to her as trees in the desert.

The Adamses were also a little nervous, particularly Dawn, who had instigated the foster dog program in their home. Before May 27, the family unit was happy as is. “I had heard about the dog track in Plainfield closing,” says Dawn, “and I had come in contact with greys [greyhounds], but I had no strong urge. I thought, ‘Someone else will take care of it.’”

 Then in May, on the heels of the Plainfield dog track closing, Dawn received an email from her sister-in-law in Boston. A Boston greyhound rescue group, said the email, was seeking foster homes for anywhere from 500 to 1,500 dogs who were displaced by the track closure. Some of the quicker race dogs would be going to other tracks, but many dogs needed to be safely placed as soon as possible. Kenneling these dogs would be costly for the nonprofit rescue agency, and fostering would socialize the hounds until permanent homes for them were found. Because one of the Adamses’ dogs was a dog rescued four years ago from a southern kill shelter, she knew that Dawn was in touch with dog rescue people in the area, and her sister-in-law hoped that this information could be passed on to anyone who could help.

Says Dawn, “I thought, ‘That’s something I can do. I’ve got plenty of room. I’m good with animals.’” She mulled over the possibility of introducing another dog to 13-year-old Nipper, a Sheltie, and Cinnamon, the 4-year-old mixed breed rescue pup. One of her big concerns, too, was how a greyhound would react to her two cats, Shadow and Carly. Carly, a doll-face Himalayan, suffers from kidney and vision problems and is unable to protect herself in any way.

Dawn knew from quick research that greyhounds are a hunting dog, specifically a “sight” hound. Whatever they see on their horizon is fair game to them, and their instinct is to go after it — quickly. In just three strides, they can go from 0 to 40 miles per hour. Still, the many other wonderful qualities she read about the breed, and her desire to help, kept her pursuing the idea (doggedly, one might say).

It seemed to Dawn that going through an adoption agency in Boston for a Connecticut dog would be cumbersome. Through a neighbor, she was put in touch with George Fox, a Greyhound Rescue and Rehabilitation (GRR) adoption representative from Bethel. He eased her concern about bringing a greyhound into a home with cats by explaining that each rescued dog was rated by volunteers as to suitability around children, the elderly, and pets, including cats. Any greyhound that showed too much interest in cats was never placed in a home with felines.

Further research about the breed, which Dawn stresses is essential to anyone considering a rescued greyhound, helped her to set aside other worries. She discovered that greyhounds are not a high maintenance breed at all. “One ten-minute walk a day and they’re set,” she says. “One of the biggest and best things is how they are wonderful on leashes,” she also found out, as they have been trained to the leash at the track. Foster parents must be willing to always keep the dog on a leash or in a fenced-in yard. Electronic fences are useless when pitted against the greyhound’s speed and agility.

Because of their affinity for snoozing all day, they make excellent pets for small homes; nor do greyhounds bark, and they hardly shed at all. Crate trained since early puppyhood, they are easy to housebreak. (Having never been inside a home, they are not housebroken when first rescued.) Reading about their gentle nature, love of comfort, and cleanliness only strengthened Dawn’s resolve to bring one of these dogs into her family home.

Her family needed a little more convincing — not that they didn’t want to help, they just knew her soft personality had a strong possibility of turning “fostering” into “adoption.”

“Art didn’t think it was such a good idea,” she laughs. “He knew how it would turn out,” and he pointed out to her that their extended pet family was already quite sufficient. But with a little sweet-talking, Dawn was able to convince him to allow Mr Fox to do a home study. Not all homes are suitable to a fostering situation.

A Home Study

A home study involves a thorough inspection of the house, the yard, a family’s make-up and personality, and the personalities of other pets in the home by adoption representatives. George Fox and Christine Johnson, president of GRR, brought along a very special inspector when they visited the Adams family. “A very large, dark greyhound came along, I think to test how we would react to the breed,” says Dawn. Apparently, the dog gave their home the seal of approval, as within a week they were contacted. GRR had picked out a petite, golden female named Ida to be fostered by the family.

“The foster family provides the love and socializes the dog as a pet,” Dawn says. “They [greyhounds] don’t know how to play, use the stairs, or walk on shiny floors. Everything is interesting to greyhounds in a home. You’re introducing them to all these new experiences.” Foster parents must also keep a foster evaluation report of the dog’s general attitude, compatibility, behavior, schedules, and routines, as well as rate the dog’s reaction to new social situations.

Before she could get to all of that, though, Dawn knew that the trembling, withdrawn dog that had just arrived needed the healing power of touch. “I stroked her, and talked to her, and calmed her.” Only after the quivering had subsided did she gently introduce Ida to the family and pets.

Nipper and Cinnamon were excited, of course, to have a new playmate, but quickly settled into a routine. By only her fourth day in the home, Jessie, 23, and Katie, 12, agreed when Art commented, “She fits in.” Although Ida had had an unexpected encounter the first day with Shadow that led to some startled responses on both their parts and a bit of spitting from Shadow, even the cats had readily accepted the shy new member of the household.

Two weeks into the fostering experience, Dawn realized she was “failing as a foster parent.” She emailed her adoption representative, Mr Fox, “I should warn you, we’re thinking of making this the ‘forever’ home for Ida….” Having been approached by Dawn’s 20-year-old son, Dan, at the first home visit, betting that his mother wouldn’t last as just a foster parent, the email was no big surprise to the adoption representative.

As the Adamses moved into week three with Ida (the name didn’t fit, explains Dawn, so she changed it to Ginger), though, they received what should have been good news: GRR had found a “forever” home for Ida aka Ginger. She would be leaving her foster home.

Decision Time

“Now we had to make a decision,” remembers Dawn. She called Art and after a bit of dancing around with each other, “He wanted me to say I wanted to keep the dog, and I wanted him to say he wanted to keep the dog…” they agreed that Ginger had to stay with them.

“She’s my shadow. It’s been such a good experience,” Dawn says. She enthusiastically encourages anyone considering greyhound foster parenting to get involved. Christine Johnson can be reached at 914-763-2221 or George Fox at 744-5493. More information can also be obtained at www.greyhoundrescuerehab.org.

“Be patient, be loving,” she advises. “Don’t change your life to fit the dog’s schedule, change the dog to fit your schedule — that’s how it will be when they go to their ‘forever’ home. Don’t change your whole world; let the dog become part of the family.”

GRR is an incredible source of support for first-time foster parents, providing tons of information, she adds, then jokes, “You’re not thrown to the dogs.”

They are expecting their next foster dog in late August or early September, which is when the Bridgeport track closes for the season. The struggle for Dawn will be to take her own advice: “Try to keep up your resistance. They are truly amazing dogs. It’s very easy to fall in love!”