Fast Friends

This past Sunday the Hergenraders adventured. (Yes, adventured is a word. It’s the verb used to describe leaving the house at 7:30 AM, driving hundreds of miles to participate in kind-of crazy ideas, and getting home twelve hours later.)
Part of the adventuring included visiting the Gulf Greyhound Racetrack in Texas City. Not to make a little extra cash betting on the dogs, but to meet some Greyhounds and see if they would be a good addition to our family.
Because when anyone meets our family, they always remark, “Wow! Y’all REALLY need a sixty pound, three-foot dog running around this house!”
Or maybe not. Maybe no one ever has said that, but what’s adventuring if it’s not fueled by crazy ideas? And rescuing a racing greyhound is either the craziest idea we’ve ever had or else the best…
Reasons it might be the best…
….Greyhounds are the calmest dogs ever. The Racetrack was hosting a rescue dog reunion, so there were about 100 Greyhounds gathered together in the viewing area. Calm. Silent. Stoic. Welcoming to our romping kids. If the kids learned nothing else at the track, they certainly learned not all dogs are hyper. Consistently, every Greyhound owner told us about how soulful and sweet their dog was. The kids were mesmerized.
….Greyhounds have a proven track record (pun intended) for not biting kids. Obviously this is at the top of our criteria. Surprisingly, a lot of breeds can’t claim this.
… Thousands of Greyhounds are euthanized every year. If I had a dollar for every time Catie or Elisabeth has broken into tears about dogs being euthanized, I could buy a Greyhound track. But then I’d own a Greyhound track, which would be awkward.
Reasons it might be an insane idea…
…Again, the size. Greyhounds aren’t rambunctious, so they don’t seem so huge. But you know what else isn’t huge? A nice beagle.
… Retired racers are almost always about two years old. M and I both like the idea of the kids feeling ownership over the next dog we get. Would they feel more ownership over a tiny puppy? Maybe so. Or maybe would they feel like Mommy needed to maintain the pup. Either way, a teeny, tiny puppy would be pretty cute.
…the application process to adopt a Greyhound is INSANE. Twelve steps, including three live interviews with each member of the family, a home visit, reference check, and required books to read. Shouldn’t this rigorous screening tell us something? Like M asked the Greyhound Lady during our first interview, “So, does it end up not working out for lots of people?” Again, maybe a nice Beagle mix from the pound would be less maintenance for a high-maintence family like ours.
Either way, I’ll keep you posted!