from greyhound dog Racing to HEARTBREAK TO Rescue

I am sabrina the Ex-Racing greyhound dog. this is My Story

The last Greyhound dog racing event I’d won for my owner and trainer was on October 24, 2018. Just two years old and with just two days of rest I was forced to run a race again. This time I didn’t win but I was severely injured and my Greyhound Dog Racing career was over. Now what?

Scared, broken and covered in scars I was shipped off in great pain to a shelter for unwanted ex-racing Greyhounds. And there I sat day after day, week after week, month after month. My only comfort was a bed of torn paper on the bottom of a dirty rusty cage where I was let out of twice a day for a bathroom break and to stretch my legs. And if I was really lucky I would get fed. I entertained myself by chewing on my cage. There were no toys or things to amuse myself. I had been thrown away. Used up. Garbage.

Then in late spring I was led to a van in the parking lot of the shelter where I was spayed by a mobile veterinarian service. I woke up crying in intense pain. I barely had time to recover when I was led again out into the parking lot at the shelter this time a broken and blood-stained muzzle was placed on my face and I was put into a Greyhound transport trailer. This was familiar to me as I had come up from Florida in one similar. So this seemed not so scary. Little did I know.

Me and many of my old ex-racing kennel kennel mates, including ones with broken legs, broken hocks and ones with rusty screws sticking out from their infected limbs were packed like sardines into the trailer and off we went. Were we going back to Florida?

Turns out that a Greyhound Adoption Center in Washington State had arranged for all of us unwanted Ex-racers from the cruel Greyhound dog racing world to be shipped there so we could receive proper medical care we desperately needed, nutrition and to meet our forever families.

Was my bad luck as a racing greyhound dog about to change?

We drove straight through from Alabama State to Washington State with barely a stop. We were not fed but received water, if we could drink through our muzzle. The muzzles were on all of us to protect us from harming one another being so tightly confined for many days.

We arrived late in the evening and we were quickly unloaded. There were so many people helping us, petting us, taking us on little walks in a big enclosure and making sure we were ok. I remember them telling us we were beautiful Greyhounds and that we were safe now.

I was taken care of by so many kind people. I was checked over, fed, weighed, matched to my paperwork, photographed, and put to bed on a soft blanket in something called a crate. There were so many desperate Greyhounds needing to be rescued there that there were no kennels available for me. 

The next day I was bathed, dewormed, checked by a veterinarian and was taken for a nice walk by one of the many gentle and kind volunteers there. Even though everyone was so kind, I didn’t feel well and I was scared. What was happening to me now?

What I didn’t know was that one of the volunteers had connected with my future forever family who were living on Vancouver Island in Canada. The volunteer had sent them a couple of photos of me and they were coming to meet me after their holiday away. I was really nervous about this. What if they saw all my scars and how skinny I was and thought I was ugly?

I waited patiently while still recovering from my surgery and still struggled to feel better. I had not received any parasite control at the shelter or the track and now I was very sick with one called Hookworm. It would nearly take my life a year later.

Was my past in greyhound dog racing finally over? would be adopted?

Finally, the day had come when the couple from Vancouver Island had arrived. I heard from some of the volunteers that they were going to look at a couple of Greyhounds just in case we didn’t connect. A volunteer brought me into the greeting area to meet the couple. Instead of being friendly and nice all I wanted to do was jump all over the counter and grab food. I was so hungry that I couldn’t help myself. By the time the volunteers had calmed me down it looked to me that the couple had left. I was taken back to my crate and cried myself to sleep. Now no one would want me. I was just a foolish Greyhound.

The next morning, I woke up to the sun. I went out to stretch my legs and have a bathroom break and then had some breakfast. I tried to get back to sleep but there was so much excitement that the noise kept me awake and interested in what was going on.

I was soon led out the greeting area again and there was the couple from yesterday. I wasn’t going to mess this up so I was on my best greyhound dog behaviour. I snuggled both of them and they both said my fur was so soft. The lady took my leash and led me to where the Greyhound Shop was. She began trying coats, collars, muzzles and harnesses on me. All in purple. Next thing I knew I was being asked to hop up into their vehicle and away we went.

We had a very long drive but I was cozy in both my new soft crate and in my new purple coat. I was nervous and wanted to cry but I was afraid to so I stayed quiet. We had a couple of stops on the way and I got to wet my paws in the Canadian pacific ocean. It was very windy out and the tide kept chasing me and the lady laughed every time and kept asking me if I was ok.

It was now getting dark and the day seemed so long. I was getting tired and my body hurt.

We got back into the vehicle and drove a short distance to where the lady told me we were taking a ferry to my new home. She said all the sailings had been cancelled due to the storm so it would be a long wait. I got lots of little walk breaks while we were waiting but it was really windy and I just wanted to be in my soft crate.

Finally, there was an announcement made that we could board the ferry. The trip was very rough and everything was loud and the ferry was banging on the waves. And water was splashing up over the front of the ferry. Both the man and the lady stayed in the vehicle with me. They seemed very worried about me during the rough seas. The lady was also worried she said about the very large outlaw motorcycle gang parked next to us. She said if one of their bikes fell over, we might have to run and hide. 

Eleven hours later we pulled up to a gate that opened for us and we drove up the driveway. I let out a big nervous bark and the lady said to me, “Sabrina You Are Home now!  And you will be safe and loved for the rest of your beautiful life”.