When I Saw My First Retired Racing Greyhound It Was "Love At First Sight"
Zepher's Story

The whole adoption process was amazingly quick and easy. They get dogs that come in for adoption every week. During my home visit with Julie, her husband and their Greys Bella and Zayla, Julie had informed me that she thought Stu and Barbara had a good match for us coming in during the coming weekend. You have no idea how excited that made me feel. GSGA are so good at matching the right dogs with the right families, its amazing how much time they take in doing this for the adopting families. I think it was the next day and Stu had called me letting me know that two dogs were coming in this next weekend and he was telling me all about them.

Bettys Zepher was her racing name. Stu thought she really was a greyt dog, she had raced 95 races(winning many) than having a litter of puppies, she was ready for retirement. She was almost 6 years old then. I have to admit I wanted a younger dog, for selfish reasons really. But when we met Zepher at the Walnut Creek Fall Festival, my husband and I fell in love with her. Stu thought she was a greyt match as she had a litter of puppies and he thought she would have even greater patience with my little Cairn Terrier, my Ragdoll Cat and my Birdies. I regret now that I even thought of wanting a younger Greyhound, she was P-E-R-F-E-C-T for us. She was more loving, laid back and gentle than I had ever hoped for. Yet still so goofy and silly with her spirts of energy 3 minutes/3 times a day . I also never really knew that a dog could out sleep my cat. WOW..... 12- 14 hours a day, thats what you call a L-A-Z-Y dog. I see why they are now called the 45 mph couch potato. I will admit that when we talked about getting another dog, my 15 year old daughter was hoping for a cute, fluffy, playful puppy. The night we brought Zepher home, she was disgusted that I would want a skinny, dinosaur size(as she put it) dog and not a cute, fluffy puppy. Within just the first hour, I will never forget how it warmed my heart to see my daughter warm up to her. She didn't know but I peeked in on her petting her head, talking to her, hugging her and then spooning with her . I had given her the Greyhound Fever. Zepher had a long and successful racing career. Her time as a racer and the variety of situations that she had been exposed to have given her an appealing confidence. She is a friendly, happy, outgoing hound. Which is a greyt help with the newest member of our family, our 2nd hound Bijou. Being only a year and half old, and not as experienced with the outside world, Zepher sets a greyt example for her. Teaching her the joys of retirement.

I have so much to thank GSGA, Stu and Barbara and the whole group for the warm welcome to this fantastic group of Greyhound lovers. I will always be amazed at the extent they go for these loving, sweet and gentle giants (small dog in a big dog body really). They are definitely worth it, I have fell in love with this breed and know that I will never own another breed of dog. There is such a misconception on Greyhounds. Even both sides of my husbands and my families couldn't believe we were adopting a Racing Greyhound, they were one of the ones saying things like "You need a huge yard", "They need to run everyday", "They are aggressive, thats why they wear muzzles", "You need a BIG house too". We heard it all, and all of it blew out the window when they got to know Zepher.

The simple truth on how easy and wonderful these dogs are to add to your family. We did our homework and also read " Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies" before we let any misconceptions enter our minds. Truth is, anyone interested in adopting one of these beautiful creatures really needs to just meet one in person. Just visit us at a local meet and greet. What you see, is what you get when it comes to Greyhounds. Hopefully after anyone meets a Greyhound, will also have their own "Love at First Sight". Just as I did..... :D

Thanks for reading "Our Greyhound Story".

This story was submitted by greyhound owners The Friend Family