Life changing billboard

Opportunity comes around where you least expect it. The year was 1998 and I was sitting in the Oakland Airport waiting for my flight back to L.A. My eyes focused on a billboard that changed my life.

I had been thinking about getting a dog now that I was on the road to self-employment. All my adult life I wanted a dog but worked too many hours to consider it. I had started to do online research and was leaning toward poodle rescue because that was the dog I grew up with. I thought I wanted a small dog that didn’t shed.

I looked up and there was a billboard of a greyhound wearing a stocking cap. Greyhound? The only greyhound I had ever seen was painted on the side of a bus.  Maybe it was the absurdity of the stocking cap or the kind look in the dog’s eyes but I wanted to know more. I wrote down the URL.

Once back home it took me all of 15 minutes to complete an application online. Then I read voraciously about greyhounds. Within the week, I received a call saying someone had to come to my house and talk to me and all the occupants. The adoption rep (Lynda) came with her greyhound who promptly vomited all over my patio; she said he was carsick. He (Cody) was a beautiful gentle giant.

Lynda made some recommendations for making my home and yard dog safe. I told her I wanted a petite female. After I was approved by the adoption group, it was time to meet some greyhounds. The first place they sent me was Garden Grove. I lived in Redondo Beach. After about six freeway interchanges and several wrong turns, I met Painter who was a big black and white male. He was kind of shy but walked well on leash.

The next day they told me I could meet a petite female but I had to drive to La Habra Heights, more freeway interchanges. I decided Painter was the one. While some people make their dog-choosing decisions on temperament, cat tolerance, or age – I based my decision on drive time.

Painter – a big hunk of greyhound love

Painter entered my home on the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 1998 at 4 ½. He was my best friend until he went to the Rainbow Bridge on December 10, 2006 at 12 ½.  He was an ambassa-DOG and loved by many.

Being a greyhound adopter has changed my life in so many ways. While I love all dogs (I’m allergic to cats), there’s something magical and magnetic about the soul of a greyhound. Adopt one!

You can read how the airport billboard campaign happened and lucky for me that I was in the right place at the right time.

Thanks to The Greyhound Project for permitting me to use the billboard graphic.

Photo courtesy of Greyhounds2Go

April is Adopt-a-Greyhound month. I can think of 20 reasons but here are 10 reasons to adopt a greyhound:

1. They truly know the meaning of retirement.
2. They curl up to the size of a ball if they need to.
3. They expand to the size of the entire bed if they want to.
4. Now you can’t get out of that daily walk you promised the doctor.
5. You can dress greyhounds up as reindeer for Christmas.
6. Greyhounds are natural born interior decorators and love to rearrange your pillows.
7. They’re bigger couch potatoes than you are.
8. You can blame them for the flatulence permeating the room.
9. You can’t confuse them with Labradoodles (no offense to Labradoodles)
And….
10. Greyhounds are forever thankful for saving their lives.

Tucson Greyhound Flash Mob – April 15 – 7 to 8 p.m.

You can find adoptable greyhounds here:

Tucson
Arizona Greyhound Rescue (AGR)
View available dogs here. AGR has meet and greets at PETsMart, PETCO, and Bookmans. Volunteers are always needed especially foster care families.

Greyhound Adoption League (GAL)
Their website is down now (technical hiccups) but yes, they are operational, but hard to reach. Will link to the website when it goes back online.

Sahuarita/Vail
Greyhounds 2 Go
They are a small group with an arm in San Diego. My current greyhound — Jett — is from Greyhounds2Go.

Sierra Vista
AZ Greyhounds Inc. has the motto, “making the world a better place, one greyhound at a time.”

Sedona/Prescott
Greyhounds of Verde Valley
The mission is to place greyhound dogs in safe, loving, forever homes as pets. The greyhounds come from Tucson dog track and are placed far and wide from Lake Havasu to Phoenix to Las Vegas.

California has many adoption groups in San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Fillmore, and into Northern California. Racing greyhounds come from the Tijuana dog track, Tucson dog track, and other locations. For a complete list of rescue groups across the United States and worldwide, visit this page.

Animal Planet has great things to say about why greyhounds might be the breed for you.

(Jett Greyhound was adopted by Karyn Zoldan in August 2011. His hobbies are long walks, stuffed Kongs, and flirting with female greyhounds.)

By a nose - photo by Jeanne Ribas

Update: Watch the greyhound flash mob video from La Encantada shopping center in Tucson.

Could this be a first? I googled “greyhound flash mob” and came up with no predecessor. Consider the Tucson greyhound flash mob a first of its kind anywhere.

According to Wikipedia, a flash mob or a flashmob is a term coined in 2003 to denote a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual or sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purpose of entertainment or satire.

In this case it’s a group of people — greyhound adopters — and their beloved greyhound pets and foster hounds. Though the act may seem pointless to some uninformed bystanders, the flash mob is gathering to celebrate Adopt-a-Greyhound month and to show what a wonderful breed greyhounds are.

Unlike the dogs at your feet who went through traditional puppyhood, most greyhounds participate in the cruel sport of dog racing where as exploited money machines — dogs die; where dogs are routinely injured — broken hocks, broken legs, paralysis; where dogs disappear; where dogs are hauled all over the country from track to track so somebody can squeeze another dime out of them; where dogs are fed substandard raw 4D meat from dead, dying, diseased, and downer animals; and where female greyhounds are injected with anabolic steroids. There are still seven states where live dog racing exists; Arizona has a track in South Tucson.

Yet, if you have ever met a greyhound and looked into their eyes, they are elegant, thankful creatures who instinctively find the softest spot in the room even though they existed in small hard cages during their racing years.

And if you have never met a greyhound up close and personal, now is the time to come to La Encantada Shopping Center and observe this “greyt” flash mob and to interact with its participants, both 2-legged and 4-legged.

When my first greyhound Painter pranced into my life on November 26, 1998, he changed it forever like no other event before or since. Greyhounds are profoundly eloquent in their own unique way.

But back to the flashmob hosted by Arizona Greyhound Rescue. All Tucson greyhound adopters and foster care families, regardless of where you acquired your hound from, are invited to bring their greyhounds to La Encantada Shopping Center on Friday, April 15, from 7 to 8 p.m. Please leave other dog breeds at home.

Perhaps there will be some entertainment…group roo, anyone?

See you there! Jett Greyhound and I will be wearing bandannas.

(Photo is courtesy of Jeanne Ribas. Playmates Buddy Roo and Misty were nose to nose.)