I just read Adopting the Racing Greyhound, by Cynthia Branigan. It’s a classic, having first come out in 1992 and having been updated twice, in 1998 and 2003. I really got a much better sense of what would be involved in adopting a greyhound whose whole life had been racing. They are bred specificially for this and they stay with their littermates for months, in long enough runs that they naturally start racing each other just for fun.

If they are fast enough to become racers, their everyday life involves living in crates with several breaks a day. Maybe four times a day, they are out of the crate for under an hour for exercise and pit stop and sociable time with other dogs of the same gender. On race days, it’s more exciting, of course. They are handled a lot, checked for condition and so forth, and one photo shows a trainer interacting affectionately with a Greyhound. I liked Branigan’s tone in the chapter describing the racing business. She was neither outraged nor advocating, just telling us readers so we could understand the dogs better. For example, their routines are invariable and the dogs get used to that.

The book covers a lot more. After reading it, I am still interested in maybe getting a Greyhound sometime and my husband says he is open to it. I got it at Amazon: Adopting the Racing Greyhound

For now, we are enjoying life with our two dogs. Aging LarryDog is having a good summer despite his 16 years. Lola, our Rottie, is fascinated by our flock of chickens, new this year. She can’t get at them but she watches from from a distance.

Here’s a dream snippet I woke up remembering a few mornings ago. It was just these words: “Your Dog. Because he is more loyal than you are.” Hmm…