Choosing a pet greyhound
Choosing a dog is a weird endeavor.
I drove an hour and a half to Burlington, Wis. to choose my first dog from a handful of retired racers awaiting to be adopted at a kennel used by Wisconsin’s chapter of the Greyhound Pets of America.
I’ve long been intrigued by greyhounds. When I was little, my father took me to one of the racetracks in Wisconsin--when they still existed here--to watch the hounds try to outpace each other for a chance at chomping on a speeding furry lure.
Dairyland Greyhound Racetrack in Kenosha—the last of five in the state—closed in 2009 after years of financial losses.
There are still racetracks in other parts of the country and some retired racers make their way up to Wisconsin for adoption.
I was always struck by the athleticism of the dogs. Greyhounds are fast. One of the fastest animals on earth. They reach speeds of more than 40 miles per hour. They’re also regal and have very striking, long muscular bodies. But they also make great pets, based on all the things I’ve read.
The reasons for that were pretty clear at the kennel. For the most part, greyhounds are really chill. I didn’t hear one bark in the entire time I was at the kennel. Some of them jumped up for attention. Some licked faces. Some ignored the humans, choosing to commiserate with their four-legged comrades.
I met about six dogs, with the aim of choosing one to adopt. They all seemed like great potential pets, but two stood out to me. One was an almost entirely black greyhound, whose racing name was Master Achiever. The other was a large brown and black brindle greyhound named Bitte.
Despite grabbing my attention, for entirely subjective reasons, I had no idea how to make a choice between these dogs, or any of the dogs. Choosing a dog by spending a few minutes with them, is difficult. You have to go with your gut.
In the days leading up to the kennel visit, I looked at photos of several of the dogs online and some cheeky first-person bios written about them. And since these dogs were racers, and because the Internet is the Internet, I watched some of the dogs’ races to see what I could learn about their character.
Perhaps, the fact that one of the greyhounds was always fast out of the gate meant he had a lot of energy. Or the fact that another greyhound could never seem to find a good line around the turn meant he was... let’s say... less focused.
I looked for anything that could help make a decision. If all goes well, my new partner in crime will be with me for more than a decade. It felt like a big decision. But honestly, none of the research helped.
In the moment, I just had to make a choice based on what I was feeling and what I thought the dog was feeling. I don’t know if we will be a perfect match--and that probably doesn’t matter. I feel like there was no wrong decision. The fun of this whole thing will not be the choice, but allowing the choice to play out in whatever way it does.
There’s a lesson in that somewhere. I am not entirely sure what, but I’ll let you know if me and my black greyhound figure it out.
CRAIG SAUER is a writer, communicator and former journalist living in Fitchburg, Wis. He dotes on a greyhound named Archie.
