Love at first sight...
GRA Canada is operated by Freddie and Bill Cowan from their rural kennel facilities near London in Southwestern Ontario. Here is their story:
Our first closeup encounter with Greyhounds was a Home Show at Daytona Beach in March, 1992. We went to the track the next day and volunteered to foster a shy, brindle female called "Nuffy" aka Getum Fasta Nuff. Like many first time foster folks we failed the course, and returned to the track the next day, and filled out the adoption papers. Nuffy became our "guiding light". When we moved back to Ontario in the fall of 1992 we decided that we needed to find a companion to Nuffy."

The Start...
We finally found a GPA rep in Ontario, but when we contacted her we were told that we couldn't have a Greyhound as we lived in an apartment, and should also return Nuffy to the Daytona group. We finally found our second Greyhound in Kentucky in July, 1993. Bandit was a big 85 pound "nut" who continually disqualified himself from races at Wheeling Downs for interference. His misbehaving turned out to be our gain. These were wonderful animals who adapted to apartment, and city life quickly and without problems. We then decided that everyone in Ontario should have at least one Greyhound on their couch. We began researching the breed, and Greyhound racing. It was obvious that there was no shortage on supply of Greyhounds available for adoption. Two people who provided us with loads of information were Susan Netboy and Louise Coleman.

One evening the end of August, 1995 we received a phone call from Harold Fisher, a dog farmer from Florida. He had two 10-years old brood moms who needed a home. Could we come for them? We were not ready but felt this was either a test or fate. We rented a cargo van, and left for Florida. We had six crates in the van and asked Harold if he has more Greyhounds needing homes. The next morning we loaded up two 10-years old brood moms, two 7-years olds, and two 6-years old Greyhounds. The trip that usually took 23 hours was a lot longer this time. Since we were completely green at this, we stopped every three hours to let the dogs stretch their legs and get some fresh air. An hour away from home, I asked my wife "What have we done?". We lived in a one bedroom apartment on the sixth floor with two Greyhounds. Here we are now with six more dogs and no home for them to go to. We stopped and phoned the local TV, and newspaper and arranged for them to meet us when we arrived. WE made the 6:00PM and the 11:00PM news on TV, and the front page of the morning edition of the newspaper. One of the local vets offered to board the dogs for free of charge. The dogs were also fed, bathed, and checked out by these great people. By 5:00PM the next day all six Greyhounds had found homes. This was our first trip, and it is the one we will never forget!

UnloadingContinued...
After six months "working" out of the apartment and bringing in 6-12 Greyhounds each trip, we realized that if we were going to do this "adoption thing", we had to re-group, re-organize, and do it right. We took a year off, moved to the country, and set up our temporary kennel operation. Now we were able to bring in 24 Greyhounds at a time. Three years later the farm was sold and we had one month to relocate. With 8 Greyhounds and a Great Dane sharing our lives as pets, and 31 Greyhounds in the kennel, we had NO FUN to find a new home. However "the Man Upstairs" once again came to our rescue and we found our present location. We have now been here for four years and things have gone well.
We now average 20-21 adoptions a month, and have not had to advertise for almost three years. Our adopting families and their Greyhounds do our promotion. We receive 6-8 phone calls, and E-mail inquiries each day. Greyhound families in many cities arrange to have "Greyhound Awareness Days" at local pet stores, vet clinics, or malls to spread the good word about these wonderful animals.
Since that memorable weekend trip to Florida in September 1995, we have made 55 more trips to the US, and have brought back almost 1,200 of these wonderful retired racing Greyhounds to Ontario families.

Home / Back / Next