Bella Vista's fastest retirees
Retired racing greyhounds make great companions.
Human or canine, an athlete’s life isn’t easy.
It’s a short career that only remains viable so long as youth holds out. Everyday life is dominated by constant training and a tightly-controlled diet. There are a handful of chances to shine, but always under the shadow of an ever-present risk of catastrophic, career-ending injury.
This career, one might argue, deserves a comfortable retirement.
Heidi Carlsen, a professional abstract artist in Bella Vista, seems to think so. Every day — when she heads into her studio and puts paint to canvas — her retired greyhound, Opie, is lounging on his cushion right beside her. Opie is the sixth racer she’s had.
Carlsen said the first time she adopted a retired racing dog was 18 years ago, and she’s been hooked on greyhounds since.
“Every dog person loves their breed,” she said. “People are just really into greyhounds.”
Alane Schultz is president of greyhound rescue group Greyhound Pets of America’s chapter in St. Louis. Schultz said that, while greyhound racing has declined over the years, there are still a lot of dogs being created for the sport. Once a dog is unable to perform, whether it’s because of an injury or age, the animal needs a home.
“It can be an ongoing struggle,” she said, “trying to help all the dogs that are available.”
Most hounds, she said, are retired by the age of 5, though some retire early, and others may show a lack of potential early on and never make it into training.
They make excellent companions, she said, because they’re very social creatures. They tend to be very affectionate, she said, and well-suited to living in homes.
“They’re real easygoing, laid-back, friendly,” she said. “They’re generally very affectionate, loving.”
Despite their incredible speed, she said, these dogs aren’t extremely energetic. They’re sprinters — they like to get a short bout of very intense exercise, and they’re calm most of the time otherwise.
Many tracks, she said, have adoption programs, but some dogs end up going back to the farms that raised them. Some, she said, can’t find a home and are put down.
Her organization, she said, works with the tracks to help as many dogs as it can. It is one of several greyhound adoption groups in the United States.
Schultz said greyhounds probably have more breed-specific adoption groups than any other breed.
It’s fortunate, she said, that the industry works well with her organization. She gets donations from several greyhound farms, she said.
“We have to fund raise,” Schultz said. “We don’t make money. We have a lot more money in each dog than we make in the adoption fee.”
That adoption fee comes in at $200. The organization has a handful of requirements for any would-be canine parents.
The dog needs to live indoors, for instance, which is important for this breed because they can be very temperature sensitive. Additionally, existing pets need to be heartworm-medicated and fixed, and the organization doesn’t adopt to any family with children under the age of 5.
The dogs themselves come microchipped, groomed, fixed, vaccinated, wormed, with their teeth cleaned. The organization also provides a martingale collar and leash to the dog’s new owner.
Carlsen’s last three hounds, she said, were adopted through this organization, and Schulz has been great to work with.
Carlsen and her husband, Steve Rogers, got younger retirees the first time around, but lately they’ve taken to adopting seniors, like eight-and-a-halfyear-old Opie, whom they adopted in May.
He is extremely affectionate, but very smart and curious as well, she said. These are common threads in the breed.
Opie’s also a bit of a goof, she said, occasionally sticking his head in grocery bags to see what’s there.
“He was such a clown,” she said, recalling the time she and her husband first met what would become their dog. “He made us laugh; that’s why we chose him.”
Like most greyhounds, she said, Opie loves to lounge, and he has at least half a dozen cushions throughout the house.
And while they can play hard for the few minutes a day they aren’t resting, Carlsen said, they aren’t a threat.
“I’ve never been run over by a greyhound,” she said. “They can stop on a dime.”
The older dogs, Carlsen said, are excellent companions, the only real downside being they aren’t around as long.
Her previous pair of hounds, a couple of girls, passed away roughly a year before she and her husband adopted Opie.
“The house is not the same without a dog in it,” she said.
But while the shortened relationship is unfortunate, it’s always amazing, she said, to watch a creature that’s been around so long learn to live in a home. Opie, she said, is just figuring out how to use stairs.
“They don’t know what windows are,” she said. “They don’t know how to use stairs, they don’t know how to play, they don’t know how to be a dog.”
The dogs’ lives revolved around their work, she said, and they typically haven’t had the chance to enjoy a more typical canine life.
Fortunately, she said, they do learn quickly — though her husband has hauled a 90-pound dog up and down the stairs on more than a few occasions.
The dogs often haven’t been house-trained, she said, but they are fully crate-trained, and quickly learn to identify their new home much the same as they would their crate.
Though their work has often left them with injuries, it’s rarely something that causes problems as a companion, she said.
Every greyhound Carlsen has had, she said, suffered a broken leg at some point.
Opie’s back right leg was broken, which left his foot slightly off-kilter. He also has a handful of scars on his chest and side from on-track incidents — not uncommon among race dogs.
“Whatever happened to him, he’s been in some rough stuff,” Carlsen said.
While they do need some additional care that other dogs might not — a sweater to wear in the winter, for instance — she’s found they’re the perfect breed for her home.
“They’re really incredible dogs,” she said. “I don’t think we could have any other dogs.”