Forever Greyhounds Strives To Educate The Community About A Truly Unique Breed Of Dog By Deborah Welky
Kerry Friedman already owned two dogs back in 2005, but she fell in love with greyhounds while apple-picking in upstate New York. “I call it ‘the forgotten breed,’” she said. “People just don’t think of adopting a greyhound.” Yet when she spied a female greyhound at a rescue group’s booth set up at the entrance to the orchard, she was drawn in. “We wanted to take it with us, but we were getting ready to move to Florida and didn’t know how we’d fit her in our Toyota Camry with the other dogs and our two teenagers,” Friedman lamented. By January 2006, she was settled into her new Florida home and ready to reconsider the adoption. But greyhounds wait for no man. Luckily, Friedman ran across another adoption booth when she and husband Alan attended an event in Delray Beach. “He says I planned it,” she recalled, laughing. Yet Friedman didn’t take home a dog that day, either. Instead, she asked whether they were accepting volunteers. They were. Two months later, she was a busy volunteer — and the proud owner of two greyhounds. For Phyllis Gauger, another Welling-
ton woman who was soon to become close friends with Friedman, her love for greyhounds was sparked by a fashion show. Each model walked the runway alongside a greyhound and, before she knew it, she was volunteering. “I got my first greyhound in 2008, and my second several months after that,” Gauger recalled. “I would foster the dogs, but this one in particular had the attitude of, ‘You don’t want to foster me. You want to keep me.’ My husband was on board with it, so it was, ‘OK, you’re ours.’ And they’re like potato chips — you can’t have just one.” By 2012, Friedman was president of her own greyhound rescue group, Forever Greyhounds. “I didn’t really know much about them prior to the apple-picking,” she said. “They weren’t in my face, so I didn’t know anything about their personality and temperament. They’re 45-mile-anhour couch potatoes!” When the group that Gauger and
Greyhounds Harry and Yanni. PHOTO BY SUZANNE ANTONIA
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Friedman were working with disbanded, Friedman founded Forever Greyhounds, and Gauger became her first volunteer. They foster dogs, work on fundraisers and help with the prerequisites necessary to transport this fairly large breed of canine. Friedman said one of the biggest misconceptions about greyhounds is that they need to have a big yard with room to run. “You don’t need a big yard or a big house,” Friedman said. “They thrive in apartments, as long as they get a good walk every day. I walk mine for an hour in the evening when the sun goes down. They’re not tolerant of heat, and they always need to have a leash on outdoors. But they’re quirky, funny, and make you laugh every day. They go deep into your heart; they go deep into your soul.” Gauger noted other myths regarding the breed. “People think they can’t have a greyhound in a house with another animal because they’ve been trained to chase rabbits. They don’t use real rabbits at the track,” she said. “And people think they’re hyper; they’re not. They’re sprinters, so once they’re done, it’s nap time.”