Hound Haul

Today I finally reached a goal that I’ve had all year: helping with a hound haul!  Volunteers with Southeastern Greyhound Adoption (SEGA), my April charity, transport greyhounds from the racetrack to our kennel in Acworth, Georgia.  This is the first step for these newly retired greyhounds to find permanent, loving homes.

Hound hauls occur about every six weeks or so.  I’ve particularly wanted to go on one this year, but the scheduling has never worked out until now.  The hauls usually occur on Saturdays and are announced about a week in advance.  Every other time this year, I had already planned a century or other big commitment on hound haul days.  This time the haul was on a Friday, which is unusual, but I could finally make it work by taking a half day of vacation from work.  I’m so excited that I got in a hound haul just under the wire during A Year of Centuries!

Most of SEGA’s greyhounds come from Florida.  They used to come primarily from the Jefferson County Kennel Club in Monticello, Florida, but that track has closed within the last year or so.  Today’s greyhounds came from various unknown places in Florida, but they were processed through the adoption kennel at the Ebro racetrack.

There is a special place reserved in heaven for Pam and Glen Davis, two saints who transport the greyhounds on the first leg of their journey.  Pam and Glen live in South Georgia and pick up the greyhounds at the track.  They carry as many greyhounds as possible and meet other SEGA volunteers farther north in Georgia.  Today’s meeting point was near Newnan, Georgia at Summerwind Farm, the home of John and Laura Parker.  John is president of the Southeastern Greyhound Club (SEGA's parent organization), and both he and Laura are longtime, avid greyhound supporters.  Four other haulers and I gathered at Summerwind Farm for the greyhound handoff from Pam and Glen.

We unloaded the greyhounds one at a time and let them walk on leashes and take a nature break.  It was so fun getting a first glimpse at all of these new greyhounds up for adoption.  Today’s haul included four males and six females in a rainbow of colors.  I walked Superior Tally, a large, beautiful female:

Here are the other nine hounds:

This is Pam and Glen’s greyhound haul vehicle:

Today they carried the females in crates in the van and the males in the trailer, which has a separate space for each dog.

Because I was driving by myself and don’t have any crates, I was assigned to carry Dancin Tweety and Flying Stella, two pretty mellow females.  They were extremely sweet, despite not cooperating for this photo opp:

If the greyhounds aren’t transported in crates, they are muzzled to make sure everyone stays safe during the drive.  Riding in a car – along with just about everything else – is brand new to these greyhounds.  If only they knew all the good things in store for them!

Stella and Tweety did fairly well on the ride.  Tweety did try to climb into the front seat with me a few times, but I managed to keep her in the back.  Particularly when we were on the interstate, they mostly lay quietly on the dog beds that I had spread in the back of my vehicle.  Tweety also “tweeted” (barked) a time or two; she has a cute bark.

I had been listening to an audio book on the way to pick up the greyhounds, but I was too focused on driving safely and keeping an eye on the dogs to listen to it after the pickup.  Instead, I turned on the radio.  They liked Lenny Kravitz the best.

Pretty soon we arrived at the SEGA adoption kennel, which is located at the Lake City Animal Hospital in Acworth, north of Atlanta.  Additional volunteers were on hand to help unload the hounds.  A few at a time, the greyhounds were turned out into the fenced-in run:

Tomorrow morning, still more volunteers will bathe the new arrivals.  Dr. Toby Carmichael and his staff at the Lake City Animal Hospital will check the hounds over, spay or neuter each one, and provide any other needed medical care.

I don’t know what the plans are for these particular greyhounds, but some newly retired greyhounds go into foster homes.  By utilizing foster homes in addition to the SEGA kennel, we can bring in even more greyhounds.

As you can see, greyhound adoption is a multistep process that involves numerous volunteers.  I’m honored to work with such a great group as SEGA and to help these magnificent greyhounds find their forever homes.