Our Adventures With Retired Racing Greyhounds, Truly, Maggie and Walker



Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Greyhound Railroad

We went on another Hound Haul last week.  We met the man who brings the retired hounds from the tracks on the first leg of their journey.  He and his wife have been hauling hounds out of Florida for as long as I've been associated with SEGA.  I like to think of these wonderful people as Conductors on the "Greyhound Railroad."  The Greyhound Railroad transports hounds over the road to the safety and security of their Forever Homes - with a stop or two along the way.

The Conductor came rolling in to Perry, GA exactly on time.  There were seven hounds - three boys and four girls.  
The Greyhound Railroad Car.
Two big boys can't wait to get out.  It's time for a potty break!
The Conductor unloads the hounds one at a time.
The were a total of three additional Greyhound Railroad cars waiting for the Conductor in Perry.
These volunteers take the hounds on the second leg of their journey, from Perry to the SEGA kennel in Ackworth. 
Each hound gets a dose of Capstar to kill fleas and ticks.  They don't like it.
Then each gets a SEGA collar, leash and muzzle.
They get muzzles because they won't be riding in crates and no one wants any boo-boos along the way.
Here comes her muzzle.
Then each one gets a long walk.  This boy pulled Sawyer around the entire field.
She's being a good girl.
Hounds and their volunteers in the Potty Field.
Awww!
Tim and Sawyer.


Potty breaks are over.  Time to load up for the next leg of the journey!  Next stop:  SEGA kennel.
We took two girls that happen to be sisters.  This is Rowdy Ringo.
This is Rowdy Ruffles.
Ruffles lives up to the Rowdy part of her name.  It took her a while to relax.  She was so excited.
Ringo was a little less exuberant than her sister.  She was happy to lay down for most of the ride.

Ruffles and Ringo had a number of conversations with each other.
They were worried about what was happening to them.  
"It's o.k., girls.  Everything is going to be all right."
"Ringo, I promise you everything is going to be fine.  You will end up in your Forever Home with your Forever Family."
I told them stories of what their Forever Homes would be like.
They loved hearing about their Forever Families, too.
After a couple hours, we arrived at the SEGA kennel.  More volunteers were waiting to give them baths.
Then a volunteer will take "glamour shots" of each hound for the SEGA adoption web page.
The very next trip these hounds take will be to their individual Forever Homes.  No more track, no more racing, no more Greyhound Railroad, no more kennel.

The Southeastern Greyhound Association (SEGA) is a volunteer organization.  They are an amazing group of people.  Everybody has his/her own part to play and they play their parts with diligence and good will for each other and for the hounds.  Just recently, the members celebrated the adoption of the 2,000th hound.  2,000 greyhounds found their Forever Homes through SEGA.  Wow!

13 comments:

  1. Well done to all concerned. Those beautiful dogs will now have the chance of a happy life.

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  2. How great that there are people willing to help these gorgeous dogs. I love that Ruffles, good job he is a few thousand miles away!
    Lynne x

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  3. Ruffles is adorable! I hope they all find their forever homes quickly.

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  4. I love hound hauls!!! They are so exciting! Those are some gorgeous hounds too!!!

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  5. Awww. Rowdy and Ruffles are so sweet. Makes me want to come and adopt them straight away! Funny you call it the Greyhound Railroad. I've been toying with writing a post about greyhound "slave" names (aka their racing names). Seems we are thinking along the same lines.

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  6. Put many a miles on the car on dog hauls. We've even done all-breed transports. Just nice to know they're out of the kennels and going to a real home.

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  7. Looks like you all (and the dogs) had fun on the hound haul. I know the pups appreciated the lift to start their new lives :)

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  8. What a wonderful thing! Great pictures of the hounds getting ready for their retirement.

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  9. I love reading these stories about greyhounds on their way from the race kennel to their new homes! And look at how pretty Ruffles is! Look at her impressive muscles!!

    She's gorgeous and it's lucky for me she's not closer.

    'Potty Field'! Ahahahahahaha!!!

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  10. My husband and I have done two hauls (one all the way from FL to VA and the other from SC to VA). I love it - they are so much fun! I always get a little emotional thinking about how their lives are about to change!

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    Replies
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  11. I really admire those who put themselves out to help these deserving greyhounds. Well done and huge thanks to everyone involved in getting the gorgeous greys to their forever homes. You're all diamonds.

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  12. Thank you for doing what you do! We have Ringo! We adopted her in May of 2013! I googled her name and just came across this and it made me cry! God bless you and what you do to help these hounds get to their forever homes! We just moved from GA to CO (military) and Ringo is loving the mountains and nature trails. Thanks again.

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