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As I walked into the local pet-supply store a few weeks ago, I was greeted by a rescue group with several hopeful hounds who were up for adoption. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” I said, as I reached down to pat a cute beagle mix on the head. “I’ve just adopted an ex-racing greyhound. I’m going to pick him up this Saturday.”
“Good for you!” one of the volunteers exclaimed.
She didn’t resent the fact that a discarded racer had found a home with me: She realized that it doesn’t matter where you rescue your dog from, as long as you adopt a homeless dog instead of buying one from a pet store or breeder.
October is “Adopt a Shelter Dog” Month, and even though I adopted my dog a few weeks early, now is a great time to pay a visit to your local animal shelter or rescue group if you’re looking for a new best friend.
Shelters are bursting at the seams with dogs of all sizes, colors and ages who have ended up homeless through no fault of their own. Many were taken to shelters because the downturn in the economy caused their guardians to lose their jobs or homes. Other dogs found themselves homeless when their guardians divorced, had babies, were deployed overseas, were admitted to nursing homes or passed away.
That last reason was also the case with the greyhound my mother adopted. She had absolutely no intention of adopting a dog when she accompanied me on my visit to the greyhound adoption group’s kennel, but she fell hard for a sweet, bewildered older dog who had been brought in just a couple of weeks earlier after her guardian had died. (Like many rescue organizations, the group has a policy stating that it will always take dogs back, even years later, if things don’t work out.) Cleo is a perfect lady – gentle, affectionate and well mannered – but just a teensy bit of a clown. You couldn’t ask for a better dog.
Like many shelter dogs, Cleo and Jasper – the greyhound I adopted – are house-trained, neutered, healthy, friendly and eager to please. Jasper is newly retired from greyhound racing and, having spent his entire short life in a kennel – first at the track and then at the adoption group’s facility – he is adjusting to such things as stairs and storm doors and even the sound of crickets chirping at night.
Like most dogs, he’s a quick study. He just needed somebody to give him a chance.
Unfortunately, there aren’t enough homes for all the thousands of dogs discarded by the racing industry every year. According to Grey2K USA, at least 3,000 greyhounds may be killed in one year alone (statistics are hard to verify because several states do not keep proper records) – nearly a quarter of the 12,800 dogs bred for racing in 2010.
Animal shelters face even more daunting percentages: They are forced to euthanize about half of the 6 million to 8 million animals who pass through their doors annually. The difference is that racetracks, along with breeders and pet shops, are contributing to the problem – animal shelters are trying to solve it.
We can all help work toward the day when every dog has the loving home he or she deserves by always adopting from shelters or rescue groups and refusing to patronize any breeder – but especially never buying an animal from an online classified ad or from a pet store, both of which often serve as fronts for notoriously cruel puppy mills.
Every time someone buys a dog from a breeder, he or she deprives a homeless dog of a chance at a home. And the only way that we are going to stop the madness of euthanizing millions of healthy, friendly, terrific dogs is by adopting (and neutering) them. It really is that simple.
And they really are terrific. Cleo and Jasper are proof of that.
Alisa Mullins is a senior writer with the PETA Foundation. Distributed by MCT Information Services
